World Golf Cup: Turkish Airways brings world gamers collectively

Golf is a world sport performed in each nook of the planet.

Anybody can play, no matter race, gender, age, faith, or socioeconomic background, making it a unifying drive for good in a world marred by catastrophe and pressure.

Plus, the skilled sport on the boys’s aspect is in disarray, because of the continued negotiations between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Public Funding Fund (PIF). Nonetheless, it was refreshing to see the affect golf nonetheless has on the novice stage, which was on full show final week on the Gloria Golf Membership in Antalya, Türkiye.

The 2023 Turkish Airways World Golf Cup — Newbie Collection

Turkish Airways hosted its World Golf Cup Newbie Collection finals, that includes over 75 gamers from over 50 international locations. Since Turkish Airways flies to extra locations than another service, the worldwide attain of this occasion was fairly spectacular.

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Gamers from Australia, Pakistan, Japanese Europe, South Africa, Mexico, and even three golfers from Miami, Atlanta, and Los Angeles spent the week in Türkiye vying for the title.

However how they bought to Southern Türkiye is fascinating in and of itself. The airline staged 80 occasions across the globe between March and November this yr. From these 80 regional occasions, the winners earned a visit to Antalya, the place Gloria Golf Membership awaited them.

For these unfamiliar with the Southern coast of Türikye, this area alongside the Mediterranean Sea is called the “Turkish Riviera.”

“Antalya in Türkiye is a golfer’s paradise with over 300 days of sunshine [each year], 11 golf golf equipment, and 324 holes of golf, all inside a 15-kilometer radius,” mentioned Cemil Kerimoglu, a Communications Specialist for Turkish Airways, in an unique interview with Enjoying By means of.

“The world attracts over 120,000 golfers yearly, which makes it the third greatest {golfing} vacation spot in Europe.”

Turkish Airways flew every winner to Antalya in its Enterprise Class cabin, voted one of the best in Europe. Gamers flew from their dwelling international locations to Istanbul, which now has one of many largest airports on the planet. From there, gamers hopped on an hour-long flight to Antalya, the place an amazing week of golf awaited them.

The airline additionally invited Enjoying By means of to cowl this occasion, which was a tremendous expertise.

“Gamers that be a part of our regional occasions are invited by our regional directorates and encompass enterprise folks from all sectors that each love golf and journey,” Kerimoglu defined.

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“Gamers that be a part of our occasions have a most handicap index of 24.0, and we play a Stableford match. Awards are introduced at every occasion to males and girls for nearest the pin, one of the best gross award, and we additionally current trophies to our third and second [place] winners [in the low-net handicap].”

The match was held on The Outdated Course and The New Course at Gloria Golf Membership. Rivals bought to play two follow rounds—one on every course—on Monday and Tuesday. Then, Wednesday and Thursday introduced concerning the aggressive rounds.

The novice gamers who competed on this occasion felt like professionals in each sense of the phrase. They bought to fly in luxurious, eat scrumptious meals that included scrumptious Turkish delicacies, expertise unimaginable lodging, play follow rounds, and compete on two world-renowned golf programs, which have hosted dozens {of professional} competitions.

Humorous sufficient, John Daly has the course report on The Outdated Course with a 9-under 63. The 2-time main champion completed this feat in 2014 en path to his victory on the Beko Traditional. Daly sometimes spends a number of weeks in Antalya every year, as it’s considered one of his favourite trip spots anyplace on the planet.

Different company which have competed on these two programs embrace Tiger Woods, Greg Norman, and former Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance.

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The Competitors Itself

Though course information weren’t damaged on the 2023 Turkish Airways World Cup of Golf, many gamers carded strong scores.

After play was suspended on Wednesday attributable to thunder and lightning, the sector had one alternative to shoot their finest scores on The New Course on Thursday.

Peter McKeever of Dublin, Eire, made probably the most of it, carding a 3-over 75 to earn the low gross award. He birdied the par-3 seventeenth, an island inexperienced, after which made an eagle on the par-5 18th, which has water down the left aspect. Speak about ending sturdy.

A scratch golfer, McKeever made issues look simple, as he took dwelling a pleasant trophy and earned 100,000 miles with the airline because of his excellent play.

As for the handicapped Stableford competitors, Ghislain Sahali of Zagreb, Croatia, took dwelling the title with a formidable 47 factors. He earned 300,000 miles with the airline for his implausible play and introduced dwelling a good looking trophy.

The Stableford competitors works like this: for each gap a participant makes a web par, they earn two factors. A web birdie earns three factors. Ought to they make a web eagle, they’d obtain 4 factors. It’s all predicated on handicap, so if a participant occurs to be an 18-handicap, they obtain a stroke on each gap.

On this state of affairs, if this participant made par on any gap, they’d obtain three factors as a result of their par turns into a web birdie with the granted stroke.

Handicapped Stableford has grown in reputation just lately, as its factors system maintains a excessive stage of aggressive fairness. It permits a middle-handicapped participant to compete with a scratch golfer and vice versa.

Regardless of this totally different format, a stark departure from the codecs employed on the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, and LIV Golf, this match featured loads of parts that made these amateurs really feel like professionals on the course.

Take the Trackman expertise that Gloria Golf Membership presents.

The membership has an unimaginable follow facility, which options dozens of hitting bays on its driving vary, all outfitted with Trackman know-how. So, for each shot gamers hit when warming up, Trackman gives information on every considered one of their ball flights. Complete distance, carry, spin charges, club-head velocity, and ball velocity are simply a number of the metrics Trackman makes out there.

However the match employed Trackman know-how, too.

On the tenth gap on the New Course, a brief par-4, gamers bought to tee it up and see how effectively their drives fared. This was additionally the place the Longest Drive Competitors passed off.

The long-drive winner occurred to be a competitor from Cape City, South Africa, with a tee shot of 279 meters, or 305 yards.

Turkish Airways’ Historic Relationship with Golf

The Turkish Airways World Cup of Golf Newbie Collection dates again to 2013, however this competitors has been on hiatus for the final three years because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Curiously, earlier than the pandemic, the Newbie Collection correlated with the Turkish Airways Open, a DP World Tour occasion staged within the fall. The Turkish Airways Open additionally started in 2013, that includes many prime gamers on the DP World Tour.

Victor Dubuisson gained the inaugural occasion, and Brooks Koepka took dwelling the Turkish Airways Open trophy in 2014. Different previous champions embrace Justin Rose and Tyrrell Hatton, who gained the final iteration of this match in 2019.

Earlier than this DP World Tour occasion, Turkish Airways sponsored the Turkish Airways Problem from 2009 to 2012, an occasion on the European Problem Tour, which is equal to the Korn Ferry Tour in the USA.

The primary few years of the Turkish Airways World Golf Cup noticed winners play alongside Tiger Woods, Henrik Stenson, Martin Kaymer and Rory McIlroy within the Professional-Am of the DPWT occasion that week.

Picture by Mustafa Ciftci/Getty Photographs

That each one modified with COVID-19, because the DP World Tour has not returned to Türkiye since. However that doesn’t imply Turkish Airways deserted the sport altogether.

As an alternative, they revamped the Newbie Collection, which was an amazing success.

“We need to convey folks collectively. Over time, we’ve got supported golf at novice {and professional} ranges, and we’re proud to have supported and proceed to assist nationwide novice groups {and professional} excursions,” Kerimoglu added.

Turkish Airways helps and sponsors the Match of Roses in Pasadena, CA, the Associates of Golf charity occasion hosted at Bel Air Nation Membership in Los Angeles CA, amongst others. But it surely’s their match hosted at dwelling that brings the globe collectively.

“The Turkish Airways World Golf Cup is an ideal platform for enterprise networking whereas having fun with a sport we love. It has now turn out to be the widest-reaching company novice match on the planet.”

Eight thousand gamers vied for a chance to make the finals in Antalya, a formidable quantity that dwarfs most company outings.

However what was most spectacular about this weeklong occasion was the way it introduced collectively so many various folks, all of whom liked the sport of golf.

I had the chance to play a follow spherical myself, and I performed with three gents from Pakistan, Pakistan, and Germany.

Frankly, it was one of the crucial fulfilling rounds I’ve ever had, not due to the rating I shot however due to the corporate I used to be with. We had so many laughs, over good pictures and unhealthy. We shared insights concerning the sport with one another. However better of all, we bonded and have become mates.

I additionally met folks from Vienna, Austria, Cape City, South Africa, Melbourne, Australia, and loads of different locations from around the globe.

And but, this explains the success of the 2023 Turkish Airways World Golf Cup in a nutshell: golf is a uniting drive for good, particularly for such a various inhabitants that’s the human race. All of us look totally different, speak in a different way, and suppose in a different way. However golf is aware of no boundaries, no faith, and holds no political views—and in a world as divided as we’re immediately, golf can be utilized as a shining mild for the higher good.

In a spot often known as the Turkish Riviera, the place the solar virtually all the time shines, golf shined the brightest.

Jack Milko is a golf workers author for SB Nation’s Enjoying By means of. You possibly can comply with him on Twitter @jack_milko for extra golf protection. Make sure you take a look at @_PlayingThrough too.