Turkish Open: European Tour Announces New Event for 2013

The European Tour along with the Turkish Golf Federation and Chubby Chandler’s International Sports Management announced that the Turkish Open will be held beginning in 2013 and will offer a $7 million purse.

The field for the Turkish Open will be limited to the top 78 players on the European Tour’s money list and will be held the first week of November, 2013 on the Montgomerie Maxx Royal Course in Antalya, Turkey, preceding the European Tour’s final event of the year the Dubai World Open.

The Race to Dubai concludes with the Dubai World Open and is limited to the top-60 golfers on the European Tour’s money list.  The winner of the Dubai World Open not only receives the first place check of $1.3 million but also collects a $1 million bonus from the $3.75 million bonus pool shared among the top-10 golfers on the European Tour.

The Turkish Open will add a FedEx Cup Playoff feel to the end of the European Tour’s Race to Dubai. With the limited field and large purse, it offers a huge increase in money available to the top European Tour players.

After the announcement of the ISM sponsored Turkish Airlines World Golf Finals earlier this year, which is held this week opposite the Portugal Masters, super agent Chubby Chandler was not a favorite of European Tour Commissioner George O’Grady. 

The Portugal Masters being played this week opposite the Turkish World Golf Finals became another of the European Tour’s lesser events left competing for headlines versus a large purse limited field-event featuring the top players in the world.

O’Grady has to be ecstatic now that he has a new $7 million event to offer his members for the next three years. It gives his tour the world’s golf spotlight after the FedEx Cup Playoffs and the Ryder Cup or the Presidents Cup are completed.

The Turkish Open will be played over the Montgomerie Maxx Royal Golf Course and was designed by Colin Montgomerie in conjunction with European Golf Design.  It opened in 2008 plays to a par 72 and is 6,486 meters in length.