Carya Golf Club to host Turkey’s first

Challenge Tour event in 11 years

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE EUROPEAN CHALLENGE TOUR
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.
Fikret Öztürk Chairman of Carya Golf Club, said: “We are delighted to sign a three-year agreement with the European Challenge Tour and welcome the future stars of the world game to Turkey to compete. We believe Carya Golf Club is a first-class venue, and look forward to seeing how the top quality professionals enjoy the golf course.
"The whole region will benefit enormously from hosting an international golf event. There is so much on offer in the Antalya region for golfers, and with the worldwide TV coverage that will be here we can show Carya Golf Club and Antalya at it’s very best.”
Carya Golf Club is one of 15 courses in the Antalya region, running along Turkey's Mediterranean coastline and becoming increasingly popular as a golfing destination with its combination of great courses and perfect weather.
Inspired by the classic courses found in the UK, such as Sunningdale and The Berkshire, nearly one million heather sprigs have been planted around the course. In a first-of-its-kind project, the heather was propagated on site in specially constructed glasshouses. Carya’s free flowing holes run between established woodland and across a dramatic sand ridge.
From the Championship tees, the 7,186-yard (6,570 metres), par 72 course will be a demanding test of strategy for Challenge Tour players looking to break onto The European Tour.
Tim Lobb, of designers Thomson, Perrett & Lobb, said: “Peter, Ross and I knew from our first visit that this was a very special site for a golf course and that Carya Golf Club had all the potential to become both a commercially successful and highly enjoyable course for golf tourists, as well as an outstanding venue for professional golf tournaments.
“The heathland inspired design has captured the imagination of golfers and created a unique type of golf course in a region that is fast becoming one of the best golfing destinations throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa.”

For more information about Carya Golf Club visit http://www.caryagolf.com/