Turkish Challenge The Challenge Tour will return to Turkey for the first time in 11 years when Carya Golf Club in Belek, Antalya, hosts the Turkish Challenge. The €175,000 tournament is part of a three-year agreement between the Challenge Tour and Carya Golf Club and heralds the start of a partnership that will help promote the Antalya region, which boasts 15 courses, as a golfing destination. Designed by five-times Open Champion Peter Thomson and partners Ross Perrett and Tim Lobb, Carya Golf Club opened in 2008 and is regarded as one of the best courses on Turkey’s Mediterranean Coast. 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. The course, which measures 7,186 yards (or 6,570 metres) in length, runs between established woodland and across a dramatic sand ridge. The event will provide a perfect opportunity to further develop golf in Turkey from the grass roots up, with five Turkish professionals and three amateurs due to be included in the field.
Moriarity turns to torrance for inspiration In recent months Moriarty, in Belek this week for the inaugural Turkish Airlines Challenge presented by Carya Golf Club, has been paying regular visits to Largs, the Scottish town where Torrance – father of Ryder Cup-winning Captain Sam – lives. Moriarty turned to Torrance, who also coaches 1999 Open Champion Paul Lawrie, after a disappointing 2009 season which yielded just one top ten finish, at the SWALEC Wales Challenge – an event he won two years previously. The Dubliner left the recent Madeira Islands Open BPI – Portugal feeling frustrated after missing the cut, but is confident of showing some improvement on his first Challenge Tour appearance of the season. He said: “I just needed a bit of a spark to get my game going, which is why I went to see Bob. We haven’t made any dramatic changes to my game – just worked a bit on my backswing, and it seems to be falling into place. I did some good winter work out in Portugal and put a few things into practice, so I’m hopeful of having a decent season. “Obviously I was a bit disappointed with how I played in Madeira, but that was mainly due to my putting – I couldn’t buy a putt all week. But I’ve been hitting it well in practice, so if I can sort my putting out hopefully I’ll have a good week. The course here’s in really good shape and the weather’s great, so I’m looking forward to getting out there and playing.” http://www.europeantour.com/challen...0794.html#moriarty turns torrance inspiration
A flawless six under par round of 66 saw European Tour champion Raymond Russell of Scotland join the English duo of Paul Dwyer and Ally Mellor at the top of the leaderboard on day one of the inaugural Turkish Airlines Challenge hosted by Carya Golf Club. In near perfect scoring conditions at Carya Golf Club in Antalya, Turkey, which was praised by Mellor as “probably one of the best courses we’ll play on all season”, the 1996 Air France Cannes Open winner Russell plundered six birdies to continue a fine run of recent form which saw him win a fortnight ago on the Alps Tour, one of the Challenge Tour’s approved satellite Tours. After a frustrating loss of form in recent seasons Russell lost his playing privileges on both The European and Challenge Tours, but the 37 year old is now attempting to rebuild a career which started so brightly with that victory in Cannes in his maiden campaign. Russell said: “I won a couple of weeks ago on the Alps Tour and had a top five finish on the ALLIANZ Tour in France a fortnight before that. So my game’s in pretty good shape. I’ve been playing over there for the past 18 months, mainly because I didn’t have a card to play anywhere else. I’ll get into the four Challenge Tour events in France this season, because of where I finished on the ALLIANZ Tour Order of Merit last year, and then after that I’ll be relying on sponsor’s invitations. Obviously the better I play the more chance I’ll have of getting invites, so there’s a great incentive for me to do well. “Today I hit 16 out of 18 greens – it was only at the end of the round that I started hitting a few loose shots, but even then I still managed to get up and down for par. I got off to a solid start, and even though I missed a couple of birdie chances early on, I knew there’d be more. You can’t really afford to force the issue round this course, because there are a few holes where it wouldn’t be wise to attack the flag, so you have to use the contours of the green. And the rough’s quite penal in places – you can really tie yourself in knots out there. But it’s a beautiful course, and it’s in fantastic condition – especially as it’s only been open less than two years.” http://www.europeantour.com/challen...ewsid=120848.html#russell returns form turkey
