JEDDAH, 17 January 2008 — Saudi Arabia joins some of its Gulf neighbors as a hub of golfing activities in the region as it hosts two international golf tournaments including the 28th Pan Arab Championship, which starts with the opening ceremony on Saturday.

Except for Morocco and Syria, who both begged off, all member-countries of the Arab Golf Federation are seeing action in the annual event at the Dirab Golf Club near Riyadh. According to Yousef Mahfouz, member of the Saudi Golf Committee and chair of the tournament’s technical committee, Lebanon are flying in at 9:30 p.m. today with the rest of the teams expected tomorrow.

Defending team and individual champions Bahrain are expected to field their bankable stars cousins Nasser Yacoub and Abdullah Sultan and Hamed Mubarak, while UAE will have three-time national champion Khalid Yousef in its roster.

Egypt, the second team to have the most number of championships after Bahrain and winners in 2005 when they hosted the tournament, and Tunisia are among the teams to watch in the competition along with host Saudi Arabia.

Kingdom No. 1 Othman Almulla, who is enjoying a rich vein of form, will lead his country’s campaign to try and stop the Bahraini juggernaut.

Almulla, who won the Qatar Open amateur tournament to qualify for the $2.5million Commercial Bank Qatar Masters co-sanctioned by Asia and European tours, will be joined by team captain veteran Ali Balhareth, Ali Al-Sahli and Fahad Al-Mansour in the four-member team three to count tournament.

The Kingdom junior team who will be seeing action are Khaled Attieh, Abdulrahman Al-Mansour, Khaled Eddiweesh and Abdullah Al-Hussain. Saudi Arabia is fielding a second team under the AGF rules that give the host country the option to enter its junior squad in addition to the regular men’s team.

The other teams entered are Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Jordan, Palestine and Libya. Mahfouz said a technical committee meeting is set for 10 a.m. after the morning practice round on Saturday. The opening ceremony will follow at 3:30 p.m.

After the Pan Arab event the Kingdom will host its first European PGA Tour golf tournament with the Saudi Masters for seniors being staged at the Dirab Golf Club from March 19-21.

The European Seniors Tour has previously visited Abu Dhabi and Bahrain in the Gulf region while the main European PGA Tour also has a long association with Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Qatar. But it will be the first time that Saudi Arabia will have hosted an event with the PGA European Tour Group.

It is expected the field of 72 professional golfers will include eligible players such as Carl Mason, winner of the 2004, 2005 and 2007 European Seniors Tour Order of Merit, and Ian Woosnam and Sam Torrance, both multiple tournament winners on The European Tour and winning Ryder Cup captains.

The international field will be supplemented with six regional amateur players.

Dirab Golf Club, one of six all-grass championship courses in Saudi Arabia, is located 40 kilometers southwest of Riyadh and nestles in the picturesque Tawfiq valley. It boasts a 7,280 yard par-72 championship course, featuring lush tree-lined fairways set against the backdrop of the Tawfiq mountains.

Casey Ready to Defend

Abu Dhabi Title

In Abu Dhabi, Britain’s Paul Casey said he felt no extra pressure at defending his title at the Abu Dhabi Championship, where the European Tour will start its ‘desert swing’ series of events today.

“It’s just another tournament for me,” the world No. 21 told reporters at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club yesterday. “Of course, I have a lot of experience of playing on this course and have shot low rounds on it. But that doesn’t mean anything,” said the Englishman ahead of the $2 million event. The 30-year-old captured his eighth European Tour title 12 months ago after producing a stunning comeback in the final round.

Starting the day with a share of sixth place three shots off the pace, he carded a closing 65 to beat the challenge from Miguel Angel Jimenez and Sweden’s Peter Hanson.

Casey is now hoping to achieve something he regularly did during his amateur days but has never pulled off as a professional — to successfully defend a title.

“A 65 on the final day was really the best final rounds I have played in my professional career. Now I feel prepared and feel relaxed,” the Englishman said. — With additional input from agencies