Two-time PGA TOUR winner and world #24, Jason Kokrak, is the second international ambassador to join Golf Saudi in 2021, following on from icon of the game Gary Player in April.
One of the in-form players of the last twelve months, American Jason Kokrak will support Golf Saudi in its journey to bring the great game of golf to new audiences both globally and within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
News of Kokrak’s ambassadorship was announced 24 hours before he was due to tee-off at the 149th Open at Royal St George’s Golf Club in Sandwich, England. The Open is one of the oldest golf tournaments in the world, and one of the most esteemed on the annual tour calendar. This year’s Open in Kent was originally scheduled to take place in 2020, however was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As part of his new role with Golf Saudi, Kokrak will look to share his own insights on how golf can reach new audiences and ensure its future development. Kokrak has been positive in his support of Golf Saudi’s plans to date and at the start of 2021 he played in his first Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers, where he made the cut, scoring a respectable three under through four rounds and finishing T41.
“It was fantastic to come over as a guest of Golf Saudi earlier this year and compete in my first-ever Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers. During my visit I was lucky enough to see the work that is being done to draw more people to our sport, particularly young boys and girls,” commented Jason Kokrak, who won his first two PGA TOUR titles in the past nine months.
“Golf Saudi is doing amazing things for the game whether it’s through their Mass Participation programs to drive youth engagement or their efforts to ensure environmental sustainability is taken seriously within the sport. So for me it’s a real honor to be named as Golf Saudi’s newest ambassador and to work alongside one of the most forward thinking entities within golf currently. I’d like to share my own insights with them and do my part in terms of growing golf within the Kingdom, while also telling my own fans about the many marvels that Saudi Arabia has to offer.”
The 2020/2021 season has seen Kokrak perform consistently well on both the PGA and European Tours, with victories coming in quick succession. The first being at Shadow Creek. one of the more exclusive courses in Las Vegas for the CJ Cup, where a two-stroke margin was enough to see off Xander Schauffele. This rich vein of form continued in 2021, where he managed to overcome crowd favourite Jordan Spieth and scoop his second tour victory in just 17 starts. Kokrak’s victory again by two shots, saw him rocket up the world rankings to a career high of 22nd and put him in serious contention for the U.S. Ryder Cup team.
Majed Al-Sorour, CEO of Golf Saudi, said: “Watching Jason star in this year’s Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers, it was clear his form was going from strength-to-strength. This is a player who has won at the big tournaments and has also featured in the Masters twice, appeared in eight PGA championships and five US Opens. This is no mean feat and at Golf Saudi we think his winning journey is just getting started and as such we feel this is the right time to develop a strong mutual working partnership, learn from his winning mentality and leverage that to support our ongoing development in terms of growing the game of golf in Saudi Arabia.”
