The Asian Tour’s top golfers take on some of the world’s best at next week’s PIF Saudi International, and Hong Kong’s Taichi Kho will be there right alongside them. Kho qualified for the opening event of the Tour’s 2022 season by finishing second at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in Dubai last November. His reward is to face the likes of Dustin Johnson – the defending champion and 2019 winner – Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson and Ian Poulter among a host of big names at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club. The strongest field the Asian Tour has ever put together for an event, features regional stars of the game with hundreds of Tour titles between them. Among them will be Jooyhung Kim, the 19-year-old rising star from Korea, who secured the 2020-21 Asian Tour Order of Merit title last weekend, after finishing joint second in the SMBC Singapore Open. He leads an impressive line-up that includes the likes of Thailand pair Thongchai Jaidee and Jazz Janewattananond, and Australian Scott Hend. Running from February 3 to 6, the tournament will also be one of the most lucrative in the Tour’s history with a purse of US$5 million. On the plane to Saudi! ✈️ Congratulations to the top 30 @AsianTourGolf players for qualifying for this year's event. #SaudiIntlGolf #SeeItAll pic.twitter.com/cDprLrTVD1 — Saudi International | السعودية الدولية (@SaudiIntlGolf) January 27, 2022 “It’s incredibly exciting to enter a new era for the tournament in partnership with the Asian Tour by seeing the elite players from the region take on the world here in Saudi Arabia,” said Majed Al-Sorour, deputy chairman and CEO of Golf Saudi and the Saudi Golf Federation. “There are some brilliant players who have qualified alongside some rising stars of the game across Asia that will have an amazing opportunity and platform next week to showcase their talent, in the strongest field in our history.” A number of Asian Tour players received invites to the tournament including Thailand’s 14-year-old golfing wonderkid Ratchanon Chantananuwat. The amateur sensation, nicknamed “TK”, nearly won The Singapore International, before finishing in third place. Singapore’s Koh Dengshan also earned a berth in the elite field in the Saudi International by being the top local player at the SMBC Singapore Open.