Mega-money matchplay

Latest edition of Golf World reports a new event in the calendar - Turkish Airlines World Golf Finals at the PGA Sultan course, Antalya. Matchplay tournament to take place in October (on a Tues-Fri to avoid clashing with crunch time for main tour events), with $1.5m going to winner, and $300k for last place(s). 8 men in the field, including Tiger, Rory, Luke and Lee... Also on the list are Rose, Simpson, Mahan and Schwartzel.

Apparently, Chubby / ISM are behind this event. Not entirely clear from the piece, but it suggests that this is indirectly an exercise in earning credentials for holding a large scale sporting event as part of a Turkish bid for 2020 Olympics (alongside Turkish Open on the European Tour in April).

Right, there must be at least 6 controversial points included in the above... I'll start by quoting Dire Straits - money for nothing and chicks for free...

Last I heard, Tiger has not said that he would play. Besides he doesn't have a good history with things associated with Turkey.

GPB wrote:Last I heard, Tiger has not said that he would play. Besides he doesn't have a good history with things associated with Turkey.

Thank God for that,,,,,,,,,,,,

GPB wrote:Last I heard, Tiger has not said that he would play. Besides he doesn't have a good history with things associated with Turkey.

Yeah... but earlier this month when this story first broke, Steiny responded, "We've been in discussions for a couple of months. It's not finalized but we're trying to work toward that end. At this point, Tiger's schedule is pretty fluid. We're looking at this year and seeing if the event is absolutely going to happen. Beyond this year, we don't know what the dates are for the Turkey event. "

Translated... I think Steiny was saying: "We're in, but we're still trying to add some 'digits' to the deal"... :-)

Note: The original article indicated Chubby was trying to work a three year deal... this first year with just the 8 players, then the next two a full fledged new sanctioned Euro Tour event. Steiny sounded very uncommitted to the longer term.

GBP,

Whats the tiger and Turkey story?

McLaren wrote:GBP,

Whats the tiger and Turkey story?

Thanksgiving and all that stuff..........

well he's certainly stuffed a few

Because this Turkey trot clashes with the PGA Tour's "Fry's.com Open", GolfWorld is quoting Chandler as saying "the PGA Tour is pushing back hard on releases, demanding players play specific events in return", and speculates that "Luke Donald might skip the event as a result".

Evidently Woods has an endorsement deal with Turkish Airways in the works! Surprising as I thought all his flying was on TWA.

Maybe we'll see him doing ads with Man U!

kwinigolfer wrote:Because this Turkey trot clashes with the PGA Tour's "Fry's.com Open", GolfWorld is quoting Chandler as saying "the PGA Tour is pushing back hard on releases, demanding players play specific events in return", and speculates that "Luke Donald might skip the event as a result".

Evidently Woods has an endorsement deal with Turkish Airways in the works! Surprising as I thought all his flying was on TWA.

TWA?

It's been a long time since TWA planes took to the skies.

George1507 wrote:

kwinigolfer wrote:Because this Turkey trot clashes with the PGA Tour's "Fry's.com Open", GolfWorld is quoting Chandler as saying "the PGA Tour is pushing back hard on releases, demanding players play specific events in return", and speculates that "Luke Donald might skip the event as a result".

Evidently Woods has an endorsement deal with Turkish Airways in the works! Surprising as I thought all his flying was on TWA.

TWA?

It's been a long time since TWA planes took to the skies.

And Ryan Palmer?

George,
TWA is shorthand for Tiger Woods Airlines . . . .

or Total Wa*k Airlines