Emily Kristine Pedersen is enjoying being back on the LET and being able to catch up with players as she gets ready to tee it up at the Aramco Saudi Ladies International Presented by PIF.
The Danish star won the inaugural edition of the event back in 2020 at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club and she went on to win the LET’s Order of Merit.
As such golf clubs holds a special place in Pedersen’s heart, but she is excited to play at Riyadh Golf Club for the first time.
“I think back when I won that event was probably some of the best that I played, for a while leading up to that,” she said.
“Royal Greens [Golf and Country Club] is very special to me. I love it there. And I’ve always felt great around that track, so obviously a little bit sad to see we are leaving there, but also excited to see what Riyadh has to bring.
“I love coming back to play on the LET. Unfortunately, I had to play a bit on the LPGA to try and keep my card at the end of last year, but I tried to come back as much as I can.
“I have a lot of really good friends here and it’s always special to be playing on the LET. It’s where I grew up in my professional career and it’s just great to catch up with everyone. One week is too short to try and catch up with everyone.”
This week there is a prize purse of $5m USD that is equal to the men’s equivalent up for grabs with a winner’s share of $750,000.
Pedersen gets her campaign underway at 11.55 am (local time) alongside Korea’s So Mi Lee and Germany’s Chiara Noja.
Having never played at Riyadh Golf Club, the Solheim Cup star is playing the course for the first time this week.
But with some changes to the course since last year’s Aramco Team Series Presented by PIF – Riyadh, the Dane believes the course is playing more like Royal Greens.
She explained: “I have had a look at the front nine and obviously, I was following the event last year. I saw that the scoring was super low, so I was kind of expecting it to be a lot shorter and a lot more wedges than it has been.
“It’s set up a little bit more like Royal Greens [Golf and Country Club] and I think that plays into my favour so I’m excited to see how it goes.
“It’s important to show your face in a lot of different countries and the more you play in different countries in America, Asia, here, and different places in Europe, it helps grow the game everywhere.
“I think it’s good to be seen as a player that is playing globally and then hopefully, the better you play, the more you show up to the different events, that’s going to inspire people to maybe turn pro or maybe go out there and travel to different places in the world to play golf.”
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