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Padraig Harrington and Shane Lowry tee off this week at the Turkish Open and join Justin Rose, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel to compete in the inaugural $7million tournament presented by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture at the Montgomerie Maxx Royal in Belek, Antalya next week.
The two Irish entries for this week return to action two weeks after the BMW Masters at Lake Malaren where Lowry finished 24th and Harrington 27th. Both returned to Ireland as they were not eligible for the WGC-HSBC Champions at Sheshan International this past weekend. Harrington having slipped out of the world stop 100.
Harrington needs a quick start to the season in order to have a chance to make the Ryder Cup next year in Gleneagles. So this is an important week for the three time major winner.
The runner up on Sunday at the HSBC Champions, Ian Poulter, joins them for the penultimate tournament of The European Tour’s new lucrative Final Series, which takes place from November 7-10.
The four players form an integral part of the 78-man line-up alongside the already-announced 14-time Major Champion Tiger Woods, FedEx Cup winner Henrik Stenson and former World and European Number One Lee Westwood.
Rose, the reigning US Open Champion, is targeting victory in Turkey for the second time in just over a year, having triumphed at the eight-man Turkish Airlines World Golf Final - a pre-cursor to this event - in October 2012.
The Englishman, who is third in The Race to Dubai, said: “I’m very much looking forward to returning to Antalya as I have fond memories after winning last year’s match play event. I am feeling very confident about my game and am ready to make the final push for The Race to Dubai.”
Schwartzel has won once on The European Tour this campaign, at the Alfred Dunhill Championship in December. However, the 2011 Masters Champion returned to winner’s circle at the OneAsia Nanshan China Masters earlier this month and is looking to boost his position in the overall standings.
Schwartzel, who also played in the Turkish Airlines World Golf Final last year and is 20th in The Race to Dubai, said: “I very much enjoyed the experience of playing in Turkey last year and am looking forward to going back. I have been pleased with my form this year and definitely feel I should have won more times than I have done. It would be great to put that right.”
Oosthuizen, third on the money list in 2012, is looking for a strong finish after enduring an injury-hit campaign since winning the Volvo Golf Champions in January.
The 2010 Open Champion said: “It has been a frustrating season but there is nothing I can do about that now. The main thing is to focus on the future and try and make up for lost time. I am determined to finish the season strongly and would love to do so with victory in Turkey.”
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