The inaugural European Tour Turkish Airlines Open, which began today, is Turkey's "entry into the global golf market" and is "aimed at driving golf tourism in the south and projecting the country as a nation going places," according to Kevin Garside of the London INDEPENDENT. The appearance of Tiger Woods at the event is "central to the piece, guaranteeing the requisite media gaze upon the region that your standard world-class golfer just does not command." Woods' appearance has "plugged the gap left by the absence of other big ticket-sellers but the tour cannot rely on [paying big name players] to bail them out every year," as "emergency callouts are just too expensive" (London INDEPENDENT, 11/7). In Ireland, Philip Reid reported Woods, who is a global ambassador for Turkish Airlines, played in a pro-am on Tuesday with Turkish Golf Federation President Ahmet Ali Aoaoolu and "one of the country’s leading politicians." If Woods was "in any doubt about his impact on them, the fact they were dressed from head-to-toe in Nike clothing would have affirmed his popularity" (IRISHTIMES.com, 11/6).
