SCOTLAND’S top-ranked golfer Marc Warren has expressed concern about travelling to Turkey later this month after the weekend bomb attack in Ankara that killed nearly 100 people.
The first tournament in the European Tour’s Final Four series – the £4.6m Turkish Airlines Open – is set to be staged from October 29 to November 1 at Antalya on the Mediterranean coast.
The final day of the event on the Colin Montgomerie-designed course will be the day of the second Turkish general elections after the first vote, in June, resulted in a hung parliament.
Four-time Major winner Rory McIlroy will head an elite field of 85 players that will also include Scotland’s leading Race to Dubai trio, Warren, Richie Ramsay and Stephen Gallacher.
Last weekend the European Tour’s Keith Waters, and head of international policy, released a statement on the Turkey crisis.
He said: “The European Tour constantly monitor what is happening in all of our host countries, taking any advice from the Home Office where appropriate, and we will continue to do so for all of our tournaments around the world.
“We have also been in contact with the Turkish police and security services for several weeks.”
Warren has travelled to the event in the past and while there has never been a security issue he admits there is concern after the events in Ankara.
“There is definitely alarm with what is taking place out to Turkey. At the end of the day it is only a game you play, and you are not going to put your life on the line for a game of golf,” he said.
“I know the Turkish Airlines Open is the same week as the elections but that’s the political side of things and has nothing to do with us, as we are just golfers.
“However, as far as the safety side of things goes it is definitely alarming and what happened over the weekend is something you never want to see or happen in any part of the world. It’s a pity it is going on in that region.
“We have always been treated like royalty when we travel out to Turkey.
"It’s such a great event and from a personal viewpoint, I have really enjoyed the last couple of years competing in Turkey and on a great golf course. But then it is hard to avoid reading those headlines.”
Warren hosted a corporate outing in Devon yesterday ahead of making his way to Vilamoura for this week’s Portuguese Masters.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article