Lydia Ko (COVID-19) will not defend title next week in Saudi Arabia

Lydia Ko will not defend her title next week in Saudi Arabia.

Ko, who won the Aramco Saudi Ladies International last November, withdrew from this year’s event on Saturday after testing positive for COVID-19 following last week’s HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore.

Replacing Ko in the field is Angel Yin, who will join Anna Nordqvist, Georgia Hall, Carlota Ciganda, Bronte Law, Pauline Roussin-Bouchard, Anne van Dam and Emily Kristine Pedersen in the field.

The tournament, which was moved to a spring date on the Ladies European Tour calendar this year, will be played March 17-20 at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City. The purse is $1 million.