Major Champions Justin Rose, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel will compete in the inaugural $7million Turkish Airlines Open presented by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture at the Montgomerie Maxx Royal in Belek, Antalya next week.
The trio will be joined by two-time World Golf Championship winner Ian Poulter in a star-studded field for the penultimate tournament of The European Tour’s new lucrative Final Series, which takes place from November 7-10.
The four players form an integral part of the 78-man line-up alongside the already-announced 14-time Major Champion Tiger Woods, FedEx Cup winner Henrik Stenson and former World and European Number One Lee Westwood.
Rose, the reigning US Open Champion, is targeting victory in Turkey for the second time in just over a year, having triumphed at the eight-man Turkish Airlines World Golf Final - a pre-cursor to this event - in October 2012.
The Englishman, who is third in The Race to Dubai, said: “I’m very much looking forward to returning to Antalya as I have fond memories after winning last year’s match play event. I am feeling very confident about my game and am ready to make the final push for The Race to Dubai.”
Schwartzel has won once on The European Tour this campaign, at the Alfred Dunhill Championship in December. However, the 2011 Masters Champion returned to winner’s circle at the OneAsia Nanshan China Masters earlier this month and is looking to boost his position in the overall standings.
Schwartzel, who also played in the Turkish Airlines World Golf Final last year and is 20th in The Race to Dubai, said: “I very much enjoyed the experience of playing in Turkey last year and am looking forward to going back. I have been pleased with my form this year and definitely feel I should have won more times than I have done. It would be great to put that right.”
Oosthuizen, third on the money list in 2012, is looking for a strong finish after enduring an injury-hit campaign since winning the Volvo Golf Champions in January.
The 2010 Open Champion said: “It has been a frustrating season but there is nothing I can do about that now. The main thing is to focus on the future and try and make up for lost time. I am determined to finish the season strongly and would love to do so with victory in Turkey.”
