Woods to play in new $ 7 million Turkish Open
LONDON: World No. 1 Tiger Woods is to compete in the inaugural Turkish Open in Antalya in November, the European Tour said yesterday.
The $7 million event at the Montgomerie Maxx Royal course in Belek will form part of the new Final Series on the Race to Dubai, Europe’s lucrative end-of-season equivalent of the US Tour’s FedExCup competition.
Fourteen-times major winner Woods also featured in last year’s unofficial World Golf Final in Turkey played at the nearby Antalya Golf Club.
That invitational eight-man tournament was won by Justin Rose who claimed a first prize of $1.5 million after he defeated fellow Briton Lee Westwood by one stroke in the final.
“I had a great time during my first visit to Turkey,” Woods said in a news release. “The fans who came to watch made it a really special event and I’m looking forward to playing there once again.” The Turkish Open is to be held from Nov. 7-10 and will have a 78-strong field.
The European Tour’s inaugural Final Series also comprises two events in Shanghai, the $7 million BMW Masters from Oct. 24-27 and the $8.5 million WGC-Champions Tournament from Oct. 31-Nov 3.
The series offers a combined prize fund of $30.5 million and ends with the $8 million DP World Tour Championship in Dubai from Nov. 14-17.
Day, Manassero, Weekley among
latest to join US Open field
Meantime, Australian Jason Day, Italy’s Matteo Manassero and American Boo Weekley were among 26 additional players to earn exemptions for next month’s US Open golf championship, the US Golf Association said yesterday.
Seventy-eight players have now qualified for the 156-man field for the June 13-16 event at Merion Golf Club outside Philadelphia ahead of final sectional qualifying on June 3.
Day, the 2011 US Open runner-up to Rory McIlroy, and Weekley were among 25 players to join the field by being within the top 60 in world golf rankings.
Weekley vaulted 56 positions in the world rankings to No. 55 by winning the PGA Tour’s Colonial Invitational on Sunday, while Day was safely in with his ranking at 25.