Building golfing bridges in Turkey

Becoming the first man to hit golf balls from one continent to another on Tuesday, Tiger Woods is hoping his huge presence can help Turkey build golfing bridges and develop the game in the host nation of the US$7 million Turkish Airlines Open presented by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Tiger Woods is making his second appearance in Turkey, having competed in the eight-man Turkish Airlines World Golf Final last year. Now he faces one of Europe’s best in the third event of The European Tour’s Final Series Turkish Airlines Open presented by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism which is the the penultimate event of the 2013 Race to Dubai.Golfer Tiger Woods and Minister Celik held a joint press conference at The Montgomerie Maxx Royal Hotel in the Belek town of southern Antalya province ahead of the "Turkish Airlines Open 2013" golf tournament, on Wednesday morning.

The toughest drive of Tiger Woods

Regarding the historical shots from Asia to Europe from the iconic Bosphoros Bridge in Istanbul, “I've never done that one before” smiled Woods. The World Number One joked that he was delighted to avoid “an international incident” in Istanbul as he faced one of the toughest drives of his life.
“The wind was coming off the left a little bit, all these cars were driving on the right, so if I lose any balls to the right, there's an international incident right there. But it was pretty cool – somebody was telling me I hit one 550 metres or something like that, which was not bad.”“It's exciting for me as a player to have seen certain countries develop and get involved in the game of golf; Turkey being one of them” said Woods.
Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism Omer Celik speaking at the meeting, said a key activity was being held in Turkey as the leading golf players of the world were meeting in Belek. Çelik continued and said, ”Turkey considered every international development in sports as a cultural and humanitarian diplomatic movement.”