BMW Indoor Invitational powered by TrackMan resumes at Royal Portrush

28 player field including Martin Kaymer, Joost Luiten and Paul Waring and winner receives $10,000 to benefit a Coronavirus charity of his choice

The BMW Indoor Invitational powered by TrackMan returns this Saturday when a field of 28 European Tour players take on Royal Portrush in the second event in the virtual golf tournaments.

Dutchman Joost Luiten won the inaugural tournament last Saturday, finishing two shots clear of the field over the Old Course at St Andrews using the latest simulator technology.

Luiten is in the field once again and will comprise this week’s interactive feature group with Englishman Paul Waring, the 2018 Nordea Masters winner, who is among the new additions to the field along with fellow European Tour winners Alex Levy and Jordan Smith.

They join a line up which includes former World Number One and two-time Major Champion Martin Kaymer to take on Royal Portrush, the Northern Ireland links course which hosted The 148th Open Championship in 2019.

Tournament footage will once again be shown on the European Tour’s social media channels and https://bmw.trackmaninvitational.com, with fans able to follow using #BMWTrackManInvitational. The winner will receive $10,000 to benefit a Coronavirus charity or relief fund of his choice.

Luiten said: “I’ve been practising a bit indoors, probably once or twice a week during lockdown to keep the swing going, so it was fun to shoot six under on the Old Course last week and win the inaugural BMW Tackman Invitational. Let’s hope that form continues!

“Royal Portrush is a great track. I played last year’s Open there and it was a good test, so hopefully the weather is a little bit kinder than what we had on Sunday. To play these types of famous golf courses, it’s just a lot of fun. That is the great thing with these indoor facilities, you can play any course you want, and I think that is really cool for everybody to experience.”

Waring said: “It’s an innovation really. I have an indoor studio and use Trackman every week when I am away on Tour, so it’s a fantastic idea to introduce the tournament concept because a lot of the lads use the system as well already, so it is great to compete on it.

“I’ve had a little play with it. The short game element takes a little bit of getting used too but it is one of those things you adapt to quickly as a player. I’m looking forward to it, looking forward to the competitive element and a little bit of banter along the way that we all love in sports as well, so can’t wait to get going!

“I’ve got some great memories of Royal Portrush. It was one of the first places I played when I came back from injury back in 2012 at the Irish Open, finished top ten there, so it’s deeply burned into my memory and some real positives that have come from there.”

Footage of the BMW Indoor Invitational powered by TrackMan will be show from 11am BST on the European Tour’s social media channels (Twitter: @europeantour; Instagram: @europeantour; YouTube: EuropeanTour) and via https://bmw.trackmaninvitational.com.

Royal Portrush will be followed by Golfclub München Eichenried (Saturday May 23), Real Club Valderrama (Saturday May 30) and Wentworth Club (Saturday June 6)

Week two field:

1.     Thomas Aiken

2.     Adri Arnaus

3.     Wil Besseling

4.     Dean Burmester

5.     Laurie Canter

6.     Aaron Cockerill

7.     Sebastian Garcia

8.     Joachim B Hansen

9.     Benjamin Hebert

10.   Raphaël Jacquelin

11.   Martin Kaymer

12.   Maximilian Kieffer

13.   Alexander Levy

14.   Zander Lombard

15.   Mike Lorenzo-Vera

16.   Joost Luiten

17.   Adrian Meronk

18.   Wilco Nienaber

19.   Mathieu Pavon

20.   Damien Perrier

21.   Kristoffer Reitan

22.   Antoine Rozner

23.   Matthias Schwab

24.   Jason Scrivener

25.   Jordan Smith

26.   Connor Syme

27.   Paul Waring

28.   Jeff Winther