European Golf Tour schedule for Spring 2010 in Belek, Turkey

The Renault EPD Tour Winter Series will tee-off  in sunny Belek, Turkey on the Pines Course at the SUENO Golf Hotel BELEK from January 24th to 28th, 2010.

The second event will take place on the Dunes Course, also at the SUENO Golf Hotel BELEK from January 28th to February 02nd, 2010. The 3rd tournament willl take place between the 2nd and 7th of February at the Papillion Course designed by Colin Montgomerie. The final tournament will be held on the new and spectacular LYKIA Links Course at LYKIA WOLRD Links Golf Antalya from February 7th – 12th, 2010.

The European Challenge Tour will visit Turkey for the first time in 11 years with the announcement that Carya Golf Club in Belek, Antalya, will host the Turkish Challenge in April 2010.

The event, sanctioned by the Turkish Golf Federation, is part of a three-year agreement between the Challenge Tour and Carya Golf Club and heralds the start of an exciting partnership which will help promote the Antalya region as a golfing destination.

Carya Golf Club, designed by five-times Open Champion Peter Thomson and partners Ross Perrett and Tim Lobb, opened in 2008 and is regarded as one of the finest on Turkey’s Mediterranean Coast.

The tournament will provide a wonderful opportunity to further develop golf in Turkey from the grass roots up to encourage the next generation of professionals. Five Turkish professionals and three amateurs will be included in the field.

The National Golf Club is readying to host a leg of the Ladies European Tour, or LET, for the second time in Antalya’s Belek district.

The Turkish Ladies Open, which was organized for the first time in 2008, will be held from May 6 to 9 2010. The tournament, which offers 200,000 euros in prize money, will bring together 126 professional women golfers.

Dr. Bülent Göktuna, president of the National Golf Club, said such international organizations both help promote golf in Turkey and contribute to Belek becoming one of Europe’s top golf destinations.

The first LET event in Turkey, the 200,000-euro Garanti American Express Turkish Ladies Open, was won by Sweden’s Lotta Wahlin, who stormed to a maiden tour victory by 12 shots.

Wahlin finished with a 7-under-par total of 285. Johanna Westerberg of Sweden, South Africa’s Stacy Lee Bregman and Spaniard Paula Marti, the 2002 order of merit winner, tied for second place at 5-over.

The National Golf Club, founded in 1994, is the first golf course built in southern Turkey. The par-72 championship course was designed by Ryder Cup player David Feherty.

The tourism council understands the attraction of golf tourism to European visitors and property investors, creating plans to transform the country into a key golfing destination. The Turkish Golf Federation has designed plans for the creation of 100 courses within 4 years, aimed at generating returns of US$1 billion per year.

The holding of the 2010 European Challenge Tour in Belek provides an exciting opportunity for the introduction of golf tourism for Turkey. The tournament is also expected to provide a fantastic experience for Turkish amateurs of the sport and draw mass appeal to the awareness of golf tourism in Turkey.

Turkey Selected To Host World Golf Amateur Team Championships In 2012

Antalya, Turkey has been selected as the site of the 2012 World Amateur Team Championships, the International Golf Federation (IGF) announced following its Biennial Meeting.

These Championships will be hosted by the Turkish Golf Federation. The 25th women’s championship for the Espirito Santo Trophy and the 28th men’s championship for the Eisenhower Trophy will be played in September of 2012.

“The International Golf Federation enthusiastically endorses the selection of Turkey to host the 2012 World Amateur Team Championships because it represents the continued growth of golf in diverse countries around the world,” Jim Vernon, IGF Joint Chairman said. “We also thank Austria and Italy for their well-organized and attractive bids.”

“It is like a dream,” Turkish Golf Federation President Ahmet Agaoglu said. “I could not dream of this four years ago. Golf is the fastest growing sport in Turkey and we were very keen to get these championships. This will help promote and grow golf in our country and as the number of golf courses will continue to increase year by year, the number of young players will as well.”

Both championships, which gather the world’s leading amateurs, are played over 72 holes of stroke play. Each country is represented by a team of three players.

The 2010 Championships will be played in Buenos Aires, Argentina at Olivos Golf Club and Buenos Aires Golf Club.

The IGF was founded in 1958 to encourage the international development of golf and to employ the game as a vehicle to foster friendship and sportsmanship among the peoples of the world. Serving as the International Olympic Committee’s recognized International Federation for golf, the IGF is comprised of the national governing bodies of golf in more than 110 countries.