Three of the top players in Europe are among the first batch of entries for this year’’s Celtic Manor Resort Wales Open on August 8-11.
Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood, who have between them won 34 tournaments worldwide and more than 17,000,000 euro (£11,000,000), have confirmed they will take part in the £1.1m tournament on the par 72 Wentwood Hills course for the first time.
Also confirming his appearance is defending champion Paul McGinley of Ireland, whose victory last year in a three-way play off against England’’s Daren Lee and Paul Lawrie of Scotland helped him secure a European Ryder Cup team debut place.
Clarke and Westwood were Ryder Cup team members in 1997 and 1999, and will also play again in this September’’s postponed matches at The De Vere Belfry. They will feature in what is expected to be a stronger than ever line-up attracted by the Celtic Manor Resort Wales Open’’s highest ever purse and Celtic Manor Resort’’s selection as the venue for The 2010 Ryder Cup Matches.
“We are obviously thrilled to get such high level entries at this stage and we know that entertaining and accomplished players like Clarke and Westwood are sure to bring in even more spectators and continue to raise the profile of the event on the world stage,” said Tournament Chairman Andy Stanton.
Westwood, 29, ended Colin Montgomerie’’s seven year run as Volvo Order of Merit Champion when five victories in Volvo Order of Merit tournaments helped secure him the title of European Number One in 2000. Close friend and stablemate Clarke had led the race going into the deciding tournament.
Among Westwood’’s other titles are the 1997 Volvo Masters, 1998 Deutsche Bank SAP Open - TPC of Europe, and National Car Rental English Open, 1999 Smurfit European Open and 2000 Deutsche Bank SAP Open – TPC of Europe, Compaq European Grand Prix and Smurfit European Open again.
Clarke, 33, became the first European to win one of the World Golf Championships when he took the WGC - Accenture Match Play Championship in 2000, beating David Duval in the semi-final and Tiger Woods in the final at La Costa Resort and Spa in California.
He won the Compass Group English Open for two consecutive years in 1999 and 2000. In 1998 he won the Benson and Hedges International Open and the Volvo Masters with a record-equalling 63, finishing second that year in the Volvo Order of Merit. In 2001, he won the Smurfit European Open at The K Club, becoming the first Irishman to win on home soil since John O’’Leary 19 years earlier.
Clarke admitted that the duo were pleased to be making their debut appearances in The Celtic Manor Resort Wales Open. He said: “We’’re really looking forward to playing at Celtic Manor and getting an early sighting of the Ryder Cup course.”
McGinley’’s Celtic Manor Resort Wales Open victory was his third European Tour title in a career during which he has been a model of consistency. The tournament ended a run of five second place finishes since his last win in the 1997 Oki Pro-Am, with the £125,000 first prize lifting him to eighth in the 2001 Volvo Order of Merit.
The 35 year old played in the 1991 Walker Cup and represented Ireland in the Alfred Dunhill Cup on six occasions. His first European Tour title was the 1996 Hohe Brucke Open and since then he has won the 1997 and 2002 Irish PGA Championships and 1997 World Cup with Padraig Harrington.
During 2000, he finished in the top ten on eight occasions, including tied second in the Dubai Desert Classic and tied third in both the Murphy's Irish Open and Algarve Portuguese Open.
The Celtic Manor Resort Wales Open is one of six exciting events in the Wales 2002 summer festival of golf, which also includes The Wales Seniors Open (the joint most lucrative event on the European Seniors Tour), The Wales WPGA Championship of Europe (part of the Evian Ladies European Tour), the Amateur Championship, the Ladies British Open and the Men’’s Home Internationals.
