Fireballs GC’s Ancer set to defend at PIF Saudi International
Fireballs GC star Abraham Ancer defends his PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers title this week, nearly two years after his victory, and he goes into the tournament with renewed confidence after admitting he has been learning to stop putting too much pressure on himself.
Ancer was impressive when he claimed this event in wire-to-wire fashion in February of 2023. He finished two shots clear of Cameron Young and was full of confidence facing the new season. However, things did not go according to plan.
“Right after the victory, I think I was extremely excited for the year,” Ancer said at Riyadh Golf Club, where the event is being played for the first time. “I guess the victory gave me a lot of confidence, but maybe I raised my expectations quite a bit. Obviously, competition is extremely fierce, and I didn’t really quite have the season I would have hoped after the win.”
Ancer did not win again as an individual in 2023, although he helped his Fireballs GC team triumph at LIV Golf Tucson and LIV Golf Jeddah. He had to wait another year before claiming individual honors once more when he beat Rippers GC Captain Cameron Smith and Crushers GC's Paul Casey at LIV Golf Hong Kong in April.
It was the result he was looking for and has helped him arrive here feeling that a successful defense is a real possibility.
“This year ended up being a really solid year, won in Hong Kong and played a lot better than what I did the previous year," Ancer said. "It is definitely trending in the right direction. … I wasn’t thinking about these results. I was just playing a little bit more free golf, a little bit more like a kid, which is definitely nice.
“I think mentally when I first came to LIV, I was putting a lot of pressure on myself. The game was there, but mentally I did struggle quite a bit, to be honest. I was really trying too hard. This season I just let that go and started playing golf. I started playing how I knew how to play golf, and the wins started showing up.”
The 33-year-old won in 2023 at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in Jeddah, so he will have to familiarize himself with a new layout this week.
“Played nine holes yesterday, and I’ll play 18 today in the Pro-Am. It seems like it’s a very fun golf course,” he said. "I talked to some of my buddies that played here in April. They said they made some changes, made it longer. It’s going to be tougher. So definitely looking forward to the challenge.”
The PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers is the season-ending event on the Asian Tour and The International Series.
Boasting prize money of US$5 million, it is the most lucrative event of the season, with the winner earning US$1 million.
(Photo by Paul Lakatos/Asian Tour)