Ernie Els of South Africa and defending champion Henrik Stenson of Sweden, who are currently fifth and sixth on the Official World Golf Ranking, are the latest additions to a strong field signed up for the BMW International Open 2007.
With a prize fund of €2 million, the BMW International Open 2007 will take place at Golfclub München Nord-Eichenried from June 21-24, two months earlier than the tournament’s date in 2006.
Stenson won last September’s tournament in dramatic fashion by conjuring up a magnificent eagle three at the first play-off hole to defeat South African Retief Goosen and Ireland’s Padraig Harrington.
News that the Swede, winner of the Dubai Desert Classic and the Accenture World Match Play already this year, is to defend the title means he will line up against five other past champions in Colin Montgomerie of Scotland (1999), Thomas Björn of Denmark (2000 and 2002), John Daly of the United States (2001), Miguel Angel Jiménez of Spain (2004) and David Howell of England (2005).
Other leading contenders for the 2007 title include Els and Paul Casey of England, while the Munich public will be looking forward to watching Bernhard Langer and Marcel Siem playing for the first time on home soil since winning the World Cup for Germany in December 2006.
Ludwig Willisch, President of the BMW International Open and Head of the BMW Group Region Germany, explained: “We have chosen a new date in view of the new FedEx Cup play-off series in the USA and also because we have taken account of other tournaments on the European, Asian and US PGA Tours.
“Together with The European Tour, we were able to find the perfect solution for the BMW International Open 2007 by holding it in June.”
