Tag: Golf
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Woods heralds return with spectacular Turkey photoshoot
By Tony Jimenez
ISTANBUL | Mon Nov 4, 2013 3:20pm EST
(Reuters) – Tiger Woods features in a strokeplay event for the first time in six weeks at the Turkish Airlines Open starting on Thursday and will herald his return by taking part in a spectacular Bosphorus Bridge photoshoot.
The world number one is due to arrive in Istanbul by helicopter on Tuesday before becoming the first golfer to hit balls from East to West on the iconic bridge that separates the continents of Europe and Asia.
Woods will then travel down to the south-western city of Antalya on the Mediterranean coast to take on Europe’s finest in the $7 million tournament at the Montgomerie Maxx Royal course.
The 14-times major winner also played in last year’s invitational eight-man World Golf Final in Turkey but this season marks the first time the country has hosted an official European Tour event.
“I had a great time during my first visit to Turkey… and I’m looking forward to playing there once again,” Woods said in a news release.
He has not played a strokeplay competition since finishing tied for 22nd place at the Tour Championship in Atlanta in September, the final event of the U.S. PGA Tour’s money-spinning FedExCup series.
Among the 37-year-old American’s title rivals this week will be U.S. Open champion and World Golf Final winner Justin Rose.
“It’s going to be fun to play in Turkey again,” said the 33-year-old Briton. “It’s great for Turkey to have an event in the Final Series.”
This week’s tournament is the penultimate event in the inaugural Final Series, the European Tour’s new FedExCup equivalent.
Rose is third in the Race To Dubai money list on 1.87 million euros ($2.53 million), behind Graeme McDowell (2.05 million) and FedExCup winner Henrik Stenson (2.20 million) with just the Turkish Open and DP World Tour Championship in Dubai to come.
Ian Poulter, fourth on the list with earnings of 1.66 million euros, will look to go one better in Antalya than his second-place finish to American Dustin Johnson in last week’s WGC-Champions Tournament in Shanghai.
Former world number one Lee Westwood also features in the 78-man lineup this week but Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald and Sergio Garcia are absentees.
First prize is worth 848,930 euros.
(Editing by Ken Ferris)
via Woods heralds return with spectacular Turkey photoshoot | Reuters.
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Tiger Woods to finish year at Turkey, Malaysia and California events
Tiger Woods to finish year at Turkey, Malaysia and California events
Posted at 4:05 PM by Mike Walker | Categories: Tiger Woods
The PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs and the Ryder Cup are over, but Tiger Woods goes on.
On Friday, Woods announced his schedule for the remainder of 2012 on TigerWoods.com. Next week, Woods is playing in the Turkish Airlines World Golf Final in Turkey. The week after that — Oct. 16-18 — he is hosting an amateur event at Pebble Beach. Then Woods goes back overseas for the CIMB Classic in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Oct. 25-28. He will conclude his season as usual at the World Challenge event he hosts at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Calif., Nov. 28-Dec. 2.
Though Woods does not mention it on his website, he is also scheduled to play Rory McIlroy in a one-day exhibition match in China on Oct. 29.
Here are some more details on Woods’s schedule from TigerWoods.com:
Turkey:
Tiger Woods begins a busy international schedule next week when he competes in the $5.2 million Turkish Airlines World Golf Final, Tuesday through Friday, at the PGA Sultan Course at the Antalya Golf Club in Belek, Antalya.
In Tuesday and Wednesday’s group stage, Woods will compete in three match-play rounds, with the winners and runners-up of each group advancing to Thursday’s semifinals in advance of Friday’s final.
Tiger will be joined in the eight-man field by top-ranked Rory McIlroy, Charl Schwartzel, Lee Westwood, Hunter Mahan, Justin Rose, Matt Kuchar and Webb Simpson. The tournament will be televised to more than 50 countries.
Turkey will also host the Turkish Airlines Ladies Open and the World Amateur Team Championship, being held this week. The latter has been played for more than 50 years, and the winning trophy is named after President Dwight Eisenhower. The event has been conducted in more than 20 countries, and Woods was part of the winning U.S. squad in Paris in 1994.
Pebble Beach:
Tiger will return to the U.S. the following week to host the Tiger Woods Invitational presented by USLI, Oct. 16-18, in Pebble Beach, Calif. Amateur participants will play three of the best courses on the Monterey Peninsula and will also be treated to a special exhibition and dinner hosted by Woods. All proceeds from this private golf event support the college-access programs of the Tiger Woods Foundation.
Malaysia:
Next up for Tiger is the third annual CIMB Classic in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Oct. 25-28, at the Mines Resort and Golf Club. Woods is one of 36 committed PGA Tour players who will join 12 others in pursuit of $6.1 million in prize money. Other notable entrants include Nick Watney, Jason Dufner, Bill Haas, Rickie Fowler, Carl Pettersson, John Huh, Kyle Stanley and defending champion Bo Van Pelt.
World Challenge:
Woods will conclude his 2012 season by hosting the 14th annual World Challenge, Nov. 28-Dec. 2, at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Calif. Last year, Tiger birdied the last two holes to edge Zach Johnson and win the event for the fifth time.
The elite 18-player field is expected to include a significant number of U.S. Ryder Cup team members. Proceeds benefit the Tiger Woods Foundation. Tiger always donates his earnings from this event to the Foundation, and to date he has given more than $8.7 million.
via Tiger Woods to finish year at Turkey, Malaysia and California events.
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Woods signs up for new $5.3m Turkey event
ESPN staff
July 3, 2012 « Van Commenee expects ‘heap of appeals’ | Martinez: Iniesta would never have made it in England »
Tiger Woods has signed a lucrative deal to appear in the World Golf Finals in Turkey as part of a sponsorship deal with Turkish Airlines.
As part of a three-year commitment to the new matchplay event – which debuts nine days after the Ryder Cup – it is believed Woods has built an appealing “relationship” with the country’s national airline.
Plans are in place for the event to offer “the richest first prize in golf” – reported to be in the region of $2.5 million – by next year, while this year’s winner will walk away with a cheque for $1.5m.
A host of top-name players are set to join Woods on the Antalya coast, with Rory McIlroy, world No. 1 Luke Donald and Lee Westwood among the strong field.
Somewhat predictably, the unauthorised $5.3m event has not been received well by the tours, although Chubby Chandler – the ISM chief executive who is leading the project – has acted to get them on side.
With the event being played from Tuesday to Friday, the weekend coverage of the Portuguese Masters and the Frys.Com Open will not be put in the shade. Additionally, a Turkish Open will be added to the European Tour calendar in April.
Turkey are among the nations bidding to host the 2020 Olympics and, with golf being reintroduced at the 2016 Games, having Woods on board could prove beneficial.
Woods, who overtook Jack Nicklaus into second place on the all-time list of PGA Tour wins with his 74th triumph at the AT&T National last weekend, tees it up at the Greenbrier Classic in West Virginia on Thursday as he fine-tunes his preparations for the Open Championship.
© ESPN EMEA Ltd
via Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald and Lee Westwood sign up for new $5.3m Turkey event World Gol | Golf News | ESPN.co.uk.
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Talking Turkey: Belek is bulging with golf courses but needs even more
By Clive Agran,
ContributorSensuous shaping is a feature of Turkey’s LykiaLinks Antalya. (Courtesy of Alternative Travel) BELEK, Turkey — Ancient ruins, sandy beaches, spectacular waterfalls, historic towns, majestic mountains, interesting cuisine and an extraordinarily benign climate evidently aren’t enough to attract today’s demanding tourist.
To compete effectively with other appealing destinations, it’s absolutely essential, even for the very cradle of civilization, to offer golf as well; not least because we golfers, with our high disposable incomes and frightfully good manners, make attractive tourists who are happy to holiday in what would otherwise be regarded as low season.
And so it was that golf began in Belek in 1994 when two Davids from the Emerald Isle, Messers Feherty and Jones, created the National Golf Club.
The formerly sleepy fishing village, principally famous for the Caretta turtles laying eggs on its beaches, subsequently morphed into a magnificent golf and holiday destination.
Although still primarily a seaside resort, today it contains no fewer than 14 courses, which is pretty well Turkey’s entire complement. Insiders say at least another half-a-dozen new ones are needed to cope with demand.
Belek also boasts dozens of five-star hotels. Returning turtles must marvel at the changes and wonder where it will all end.
Belek, Turkey boast ideal land for golf
One of the principal attractions of this delightful destination — to golfers perhaps more than the turtles — is that it’s only 45 minutes from Antalya airport.
Bordering on the Mediterranean and blessed with sandy beaches, there is a sizeable strip of real estate just inland from the beach that is absolutely ideal for golf and is leased out by the government for 50 years at a time.
Originally swampy, pine trees have been planted on the sandy soil to create what is now perfect-golfing terrain not unlike the Surrey heathland belt southwest of London or the forests around Pinehurst, N.C.
It also has the considerable benefit of a water table a little more than a deep divot below the surface. So attractive water features are sprinkled everywhere. What land hasn’t already been converted is almost certainly earmarked for golf.
Almost as impressive as the courses themselves are the attached clubhouses, which are huge, glass-plated, marble-floored, no-expense-spared, mini palaces. But even they are eclipsed on the Las Vegas Scale of Sumptuousness by the spectacular, way-over-the-top, five-star, leviathan hotels.
Built of biblical proportions, these gargantuan establishments are principally populated by Eastern European families for whom the Turkish Riviera appears irresistibly appealing. For the moment they seem content to play chess and ping-pong, but the worry for the rest of us is that one day they’ll discover golf and clog up the courses.
All inclusive is the Turkish way
I stayed in a spectacular hotel that, nominally at least, appeared to cater specifically for golfers.
Although Leetonia Golf Resort has no course of its own, it’s ideally located and contains a driving range, mini golf and putting green. Like its many neighbors, it offers a bewildering range of recreational activities that could keep you occupied all day before the in-house entertainment takes over at night.
The “all-inclusive” concept means you don’t have to pay for any of it, and all drinks and meals are also included. Although you’ll have to shell out to play golf, the hotel is happy to book tee times for you and can secure a worthwhile discount at most, if not all, of the courses.
Having played most of them, I can honestly say that I’ve yet to find a less-than-impressive one. They are all terrific, but here are my three favorites.
Must-play golf courses in Belek, Turkey
Because the topography and trees are pretty much the same, it’s difficult to create anything dramatically distinctive. That, however, is precisely what Peter Thomson has achieved at Carya Golf Club.
By deploying thousands of heather plants he has, in effect, produced a little bit of Scotland near the shores of the Mediterranean; a feat that bears comparison with winning the British Open five times.
The heather appears to be flourishing on the sandy soil, especially on top of the 75 or so bunkers. Measuring a challenging 7,168 yards from the back, Carya weaves its peaceful way through a pine forest and is surely destined to become recognized as one of Belek’s best, while the 150-yard long putting green must surely be a strong candidate should anyone be interested in staging a Long Putting World Championship.
A half-hour drive away from Belek is lovely LykiaLinks Antalya. Like an art expert peering at a suspect Rembrandt, I honestly couldn’t tell whether the “dunes” were genuine. What baffled me was they weren’t “igloos” but were shaped exactly like, er, well — dunes.
The bunkers have distinctive wooden sleepers behind them, and the overall effect is totally and utterly convincing. If it weren’t for the fact that the sun was shining and it was delightfully warm, once again you could easily have imagined you were in Scotland!
Finally, there are the two golf courses at the mightily impressive Sueno resort. Here, guests can gaze down from their lofty bedrooms onto both 18th greens, which occupy neighboring islands.
Sueno’s Pines Course is the tougher of the two and a potential European Tour venue. Long and pretty tight in places, it’s a serious challenge and, as its name suggests, heavily wooded.
Meanwhile the atmospheric Sueno Dunes Course, which has an appealing and slightly wild feel, meanders through the forest and offers a mix of scenic views, island greens and impressive waste bunkers.
Blessed Belek
Belek is blessed with pretty well everything you want in a golf destination and is mercifully inexpensive, so why not try a slice of Turkey some time soon?
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Belek Golf Village Turkey: One of Europe’s Top Golf Destinations
Belek is highly regarded as one of Europe’s best golfing locations, with its combination of luxurious five-star hotels and 18 golf courses to choose from, with two more in planning.
It is not hard to understand why it is the place that golfers and investors are impressed by.
The Belek region itself started it’s journey back in the mid-eighties specifically to attract tourists capitalising on its rich historical heritage, authentic surrounding towns and villages, along with almost year round Mediterranean sunshine.
It is not surprising that with the addition of the many golf courses, why this has become one of the most visited areas in Turkey.
Often overlooked as an all out location for general tourism through its emphasis for golfing holidays, it is now attracting those wanting a more refined, relaxed holiday rather than the hustle and bustle of its neighbouring town Side. To further enhance the reputation for refinement and quality there are now more luxury developments being planned, as not all visitors wish to stay at a hotel but would rather have their own property in Belek for a more intimate, relaxed carefree environment.
The investment opportunities in Belek are endless.
To be successful these developments must offer the same standard as the nearby five-star hotels to be considered a real alternative. One of the best new developments is the Belek Golf Village with facilities matching and surpassing the five-star standards.
The development boasts a collection of 1, 2 ,3 and 4 bedroom apartments and villas designed in a traditional way with modern influence and interiors offering a choice of traditional finishes or contemporary modern design. It boasts nine outdoor swimming pools plus an indoor pool, a Spa and Hamam, designer boutiques, food markets for all your shopping needs, pool side bars and restaurants, floodlit golf driving range, putting greens and the first in the area, a hilltop revolving restaurant overlooking the snow capped Taurus mountains one side and the Mediterranean sea the other.
All these are centred on a first for the region, an impressive Authentic Turkish, Boutique SPA Hotel with its own restaurant and Marrakech styled courtyard bar. This has just over 40 bedrooms with a mixture of rooms or suites. The whole area is hand cobbled with an impressive concierge service that offers transport to all around the grounds in golf buggies, keeping the environment safe for visiting families.
The Belek Golf Village development is not just an array of luxurious facilities as the purchasing costs for the region are very attractive, especially with its initial offers for early reservations. It is certain to entice those requiring an extra special holiday home or the savvy property investor looking for an opportunity to make an investment with a guaranteed income option in conjunction with its shared income facility with the boutique hotel.
Belek Golf Village has now opened its London office and welcomes visitors to discuss and receive a full brief of this Best of Turkey opportunity.
For more information, visit: www.belekgolfvillage.com or e-mail info@belekgolfvillage.com
via Belek Golf Village Turkey: One of Europe’s Top Golf Destinations – Telegraph.