Turkey has withdrawn its bid to host the 2022 Ryder Cup citing sensitive environmental issues as it would require cutting down between some 6,000 and 15,000 trees.
Turkey was among seven European Continental nations vying to host the biennial event and nominating the Montgomerie Maxx Royal course and venue for this week’s Turkish Airlines Open.
However Turkey has elected not to bid and will look to focus on building a new golf course, and without any environmental concerns, in a move that could see the country bid for the staging of the 2026 Ryder Cup.
“Unfortunately the problem of hosting the Ryder Cup in 2022 is that the Montgomerie course is a resort course and not designed for a big scale golf tournaments like a Ryder Cup or even a Turkish Airlines Open,” said Ahmet Agaoglu, President of the Turkish Golf Federation.
President of the Turkish Golf Federatio, Ahmet Agaoglu. (Photo – Fran Caffrey/www.golffile.ie)
“If you notice there is not one grandstand on the golf course this week and there is just no place for them due to the enormous amount of trees.
“We have calculated we would have to cut down 6,000 to 7,000 trees and something like 15,000 trees on the Faldo Course just to make way for everything that goes with hosting a Ryder Cup.
“All the trees are number and licensed and environmentally it would be impossible to get permission to cut them down.
“Turkey also is a member of the G20 nations and the country is very sensitive about environmental issues, so we consider ourselves a developed country.”
Agaoglu will be looking to avoid a repeat of the protests two years ago when Istanbul witnessed huge demonstrations when some 2.7m trees were felled to make way for new Istanbul Airport and a third Bosphorus Bridge.
“We estimate the Ryder Cup will cost Turkey between Euro 100m to Euro 200m to host and we have shown our commitment to big tournament golf with the hosting again this week of the Turkish Airlines Open,” added Agaoglu.
“One way or another will be hosting the European Tour’s Final Four Series until 2023 that will be the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Turkey.
“That gives us another nine years and along with the Challenge Tour event, we are already going to spend something like Euro 70m to Euro 85m on these tournaments.
“So together with this continued investment and the new Ryder Cup course we will build, that will cost an extra Euro 30m to Euro 40m, it will show our commitment to European golf.”
Turkey’s withdrawal now leaves six 2022 contenders – Austria, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain.
