Thorbjorn Olesen to defend Turkish Airlines Open title

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Thorbjorn Olesen will defend his Turkish Airlines Open title at the Regnum Carya Golf and Spa Resort in November in the sixth tournament out of eight in the European Tour’s Rolex Series.

The Dane picked up the biggest victory of his career with his three-shot win at last year’s tournament. The 27-year-old will be joined by England’s Tommy Fleetwood and Europe’s Ryder Cup icon Ian Poulter in Antalya.

He will also be battling with Olympic medalists Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson and Matt Kuchar in a stellar field for tournament, which is the first of three consecutive Rolex Series events which conclude the season-long Race to Dubai on the European Tour.

Olesen said: “Last year was huge for me. I hadn’t been playing well in the previous few months and it was massive for me to win such a big tournament. The field is looking very strong again this time around but I’ve got good memories of Turkey, the course suits my eye and hopefully I can have another good week.”

Fleetwood has forced his way into the top 20 in the Official World Golf Rankings with a hugely successful season that has included wins at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and the HNA Open de France, as well as second at the WGC-Mexico Championship.

He has played at all four previous Turkish Airlines Opens and currently leads The European Tour’s Race to Dubai. The 26-year-old said: “I’ve always enjoyed playing in Turkey and it’s going to be another big tournament as we head into the final weeks of the season. I’m a fan of the course and I’m looking forward to the week.”

Five-time Ryder Cup player Poulter features in Turkey for a fourth time and has finished second and fifth among his previous visits. “I’ve been pretty happy with my form over the last few months and I’m looking forward to getting back to Turkey,” Poulter said. “It’s always a good week on and off the course and I’m sure we’ll have plenty of fun.”

Turkish Airlines’ Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications Ms. Seda Kalyoncu said: “Our tournament continues to grow year on year and we are delighted to have such prestigious players in Antalya. With this kind of talent on show, we can be sure of another exciting Turkish Airlines Open.”

President of the Turkish Golf Federation Ahmet Agaoglu said: “We are very happy with the strength of the field for November and having players of the calibre of Thorbjorn, Tommy and Ian coming to Turkey shows the significance of the Turkish Airlines Open in world golf.”

As well as bringing the fifth $7m Turkish Airlines Open to Belek, Turkish Airlines also sponsors a Challenge Tour event and the Turkish Airlines World Golf Cup amateur series and lets golf clubs travel for free.

Turkish Airlines, Inc. Media Relations

About Turkish Airlines:

Established in 1933 with a fleet of five aircraft, Star Alliance member Turkish Airlines is a 4-star airline today with a fleet of 329 (passenger and cargo) aircraft flying to 300 worldwide destinations in 120 countrieswith 251 international and 49 domestic. According to the 2017 Skytrax survey, Turkish Airlines, already having a six consecutive years of “Best Airline in Europe” award between 2011-2016, now chosen as the “Best Airline in Southern Europe” for the ninth consecutive times. Having won the “Best Economy Class Onboard Catering” award in 2010, Turkish Airlines also awarded as the World’s “Best Business Class Onboard Catering” in 2013, 2014 and 2016, and 2017. Winning the “World’s Best Business Class Lounge” award in 2015 and 2017, the global carrier also picked up the World’s “Best Business Class Lounge Dining” award for the third consecutive years according to this year’s survey results. More information about Turkish Airlines can be found on its official website www.turkishairlines.com or its social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Linkedin, and Instagram

About Star Alliance:

The Star Alliance network was established in 1997 as the first truly global airline alliance to offer worldwide reach, recognition and seamless service to the international traveller. Its acceptance by the market has been recognized by numerous awards, including the Air Transport World Market Leadership Award and Best Airline Alliance by both Business Traveller Magazine and Skytrax. The member airlines are: Adria Airways, Aegean Airlines, Air Canada, Air China, Air India, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, Avianca, Avianca Brasil, Brussels Airlines, Copa Airlines, Croatia Airlines, EGYPTAIR, Ethiopian Airlines, EVA Air, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, SWISS, TAP Portugal, Turkish Airlines, THAI and United. Overall, the Star Alliance network currently offers more than 18,450 daily flights to 1,300 airports in 190 countries. Further connecting flights are offered by Star Alliance Connecting Partner, Juneyao Airlines.