The Turkish Airlines Open, the penultimate event on the European Tour season, is a BIG deal but it wasn’t the only high-stakes golf tournament going down in Turkey last week…
The Your Golf Travel Turkish Open Knockout had reached its final stages and 8 qualifying pairs had earned their ticket to Turkey to enjoy 7 nights of all inclusive luxury at the Cornelia Diamond Hotel.
Dorset duo Jon Niman and Liam Swann eventually battled through 8 rounds in total to claim victory at the inaugural Turkish Open Matchplay Championship. Their final match, against Yorkshire pair Alan Cooper and Luke Eustace, was a tense affair and was decided on the 19th hole where Swann holed the decisive putt take the spoils.
Jon Niman and Liam Swann, Turkish Open Knockout winners 2014, by the 18th green at Montgomerie Maxx Royal.
The prize for winning the event? Just the small matter of playing in the Turkish Airlines Open Pro-Am with none other than Your Golf Travel Ambassador and former Open Champion, Darren Clarke.
Clarke congratulated the players on their playoff victory saying, “It’s always nice to hole a 15 footer in the dark to win, I haven’t managed to it myself for a while!” Niman said, “We’re obviously over the moon to win, playing with Darren was a surreal experience and getting to play the course in tournament conditions was something we’ll never forget”.
It’s not often you get the chance to learn a thing or two from an Open Champion!
Not content to just rest on their laurels, the dynamic duo, with Darren’s help of course, then went on to shoot an amazing score of -20 for the Pro-Am, and in doing so claimed a 2nd place finish in the event, only being bested by a single shot by the team of Swedish sensation, Jonas Blixt.
The guy’s 2nd place finish in the Pro-Am with Darren capped off what had already been an amazing experience for them.
[youtube width=”600″ height=”338″ video_id=”mYuYeMK7PVY”]
The Your Golf Travel Turkish Open Knockout event, the grand finals of which took place in the week prior to the Turkish Airlines Open, saw several hundred pairs of golfers do battle in regional knockouts in an attempt to get to finals at Stapleford Park and Hanbury Manor, from which 8 successful pairs earned their place in Turkey.
Hosted by Darren Clarke and Chubby Chandler, the 2015 event will return to Turkey with pairs from across the UK set to challenge for the title.
Looking forward to next year’s tournament, Darren Clarke welcomed entrants saying, “If you’d like to follow in these guy’s footsteps and play with me next year be sure to Tell Them Darren Sent You and not Lee!”