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A PARTY of sporting event executives have returned to their European bases to report that Bahrain's biggest-ever golfing extravaganza is on course for success, writes Stan Szecowka.
As revealed exclusively in GulfWeekly, Volvo and The European Tour will stage a new season-opening tournament early next year at the Royal Golf Club.
The inaugural European Tour event will take place from January 27-30 and include a unique 'Tournament of Champions' style fixture and for the first time will see European Tour tournament winners compete together with amateurs on one day.
Tournament director Ross Hallett, in Bahrain with a group of executives representing Volvo and IMG Worldwide, the global sports, entertainment and media business, said: "We are delighted with how plans are developing and the co-operation and willingness of the club and Bahrain's Economic Development Board (EDB) to support the project."
Since joining IMG in 1997 Hallett, vice-president - golf event director, has managed numerous tournaments in every major territory worldwide and on each of the main golf tours.
He has considerable experience of developing and implementing events with the European Tour, LPGA, European Seniors Tour, Champions Tour and Ladies European Tour, as well as managing a number of special events and hospitality programmes.
Over the past couple of years he has been tournament director on a number of high-profile professional events including the HSBC Champions, Wales Open, Ricoh Women's British Open and the Volvo World Match Play Championship.
Prior to joining IMG, he worked for the European Football Championships delivering the sponsor village at Wembley Stadium and hospitality for almost 10,000 corporate guests, followed by a short period with the MCC at Lords Cricket Ground in London.
The Royal Golf Club is the crowning jewel of the Riffa Views residential community, which is under construction in the desert and is currently the island's only grass championship-standard golf course.
It opened in November 2008 when it became the venue for the Riffa Views Invitational, starring the course's designer, Colin Montgomerie and his contemporaries and fellow golfing legends Retief Goosen, Camilo Villegas and Michael Campbell.
The 7,243-yard par 72 Montgomerie course offers a unique blend of links and desert golf, taking advantage of Bahrain's natural rough terrain.
By way of celebrating the very first tournament, the 2011 event will be widened to a full field of up to 126 players slotting into the January schedule, bringing together both current and past European Tour winners.
Bahrain has been chosen as the host destination with the full backing and investment of the EDB who have identified golf as an international marketing platform from which to promote Bahrain.
Shaikh Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa, its chief executive, said: "We have made great strides to raise the profile of Bahrain on the international stage in recent years, starting with the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix, the first F1 event in the Middle East.
"Hosting the curtain raiser for The European Tour will only help us raise our profile further."
European Ryder Cup Captain and course designer, Colin Montgomerie, added: "It is very exciting for the Royal Golf Club to have been selected to host a full European Tour event and I will feel very proud when Europe's best players go head-to-head."
