Pride in Representing the Nation

In comments to Anadolu Agency, Sapmaz conveyed her immense pride and motivation at the opportunity to represent Türkiye. She described feeling "excited and happy" to be participating in such a significant sporting event, highlighting the honor of carrying the Turkish flag in a global competition. Her qualification is a notable achievement for Turkish golf, bringing national recognition to the sport.

A Test of Skill in Dual Categories

Demonstrating her versatility and skill, Sapmaz is scheduled to compete in two separate divisions: the women's under-16 and under-21 categories. This demanding schedule pits her against the best junior golfers from across Europe and beyond, offering a formidable challenge and a valuable experience for the rising star from Türkiye.

The Path to Qualification

Sapmaz secured her place in the European Grand Final through a standout performance, having clinched the championship title at the Junior Dubai Desert Classic golf tournament. This victory served as her direct ticket to the finals in Al Ain, marking a significant milestone in her budding athletic career and underscoring the competitive progress of Turkish golfers on the international circuit.

"The R&A has decided to cancel The Open in 2020 due to the current Covid-19 pandemic," it said in a statement.

The Ladies European Tour (LET) event will be staged in collaboration with Golf Saudi and the Saudi Golf Federation and will carry a winning purse of $1 million.

"I'm incredibly excited by this announcement and it is an honour for the Tour to be part of history in bringing the first-ever professional women's golf event to Saudi Arabia," LET CEO Alexandra Armas said in a statement.

"Confirmation of adding Saudi Arabia to our schedule for 2020 is an exciting prospect... and having seen the quality of the event staging for the Saudi International, I am sure this will be a fantastic experience for our players."

A number of golfers have been roped in as ambassadors to promote the sport in the country, including Britain's Carly Booth, Amy Boulden and Rachel Drummond, and Sweden's Camilla Lennarth and Isabella Deilert.

Women's rights are a contentious issue in Saudi Arabia, one of the world's most gender-segregated nations.

The country has some of the world's strictest social rules but has been gradually chipping away at a guardianship system which requires all women to have a male relative's approval for important decisions.

This week Saudi Arabia announced it was ending entrances to restaurants segregated by sex.

The inaugural Saudi International men's event was held earlier this year with four of the world's five top-ranked golfers taking part after they were lured by lavish appearance fees for the European Tour's first event in the country.

However, golfers including former world number ones Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods have turned down offers to compete at next year's tournament, with the Northern Irishman citing Saudi Arabia's human rights issues.

Amnesty International describes the Saudi regime's human rights records as "heinous".

The country has looked to host several sporting events in the past few years and last week played host to the heavyweight boxing title rematch where Britain's Anthony Joshua beat Mexican-American Andy Ruiz Jr.

The three countries, along with Egypt, severed political, trade and transport ties with fellow Gulf Arab state Qatar in mid-2017 over accusations it supports terrorism.

Doha denies the charge and says the embargo aims to impinge on its sovereignty.

In separate statements published overnight, the Saudi, UAE and Bahrain football associations announced they would join the biennial Gulf Nations Cup, which starts on Nov 24.

The three countries did not attend the draw for the previous tournament two years ago in the Qatari capital and only competed after that tournament was moved to Kuwait.

The Gulf Cup rotates hosts and usually involves Oman, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait as well as non-GCC Yemen and Iraq. Oman are the current champions.

It was not immediately clear if Saudi, Emirati, and Bahraini fans would travel to Qatar for the event as the three boycotting states have banned their citizens from visiting Doha.

When Qatar won the continental Asian Cup held in the UAE earlier this year, there were practically no Qatari fans in attendance. Qataris require a special permit to enter the UAE under the embargo.

The Qatari team was subjected to abuse from a crowd hurling bottles and shoes at the players when they faced the UAE in the semi-final.

The UAE's sports chief later apologised and its football association was sanctioned by the Asian Football Confederation.

Turkey’s national flag-carrier Turkish Airlines announced in a statement that Zhao reached 93 points to be this year's Turkish Airlines World Golf Cup champ in the tournament held in the Turkish Mediterranean province of Antalya.

The final series of the competition saw 101 players from 70 countries.

Sachin de Silva from Sri Lanka's Colombo bagged the leading gross award and clinched the trophy with a total score of -3 for his two rounds.

On day one of the 12th hole, Mariano Rodriguez won the Closest to the Pin in the men's category, while Christine Ochola gained the title on the third hole in the women's.

Roberto Fabris was the winner on day two for the men, and Ochola became winner once again in the women's category.

Turkish Airlines' chair congratulated the tournament's winner Zhao by message.

"As one of the world's best corporate golf tournaments, Turkish Airlines World Golf Cup is becoming more exciting every year. We are already looking forward to see the next finals' excitement, and congratulating this year’s new champion Luke Zhao," Turkish Airlines Chairman of the Board and the Executive Committee Ilker Ayci said.

Turkish Airlines has supported several sports events such as Europe's international club basketball tournament, Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, European Professional Club Rugby and the 2016 UEFA European Championships commonly known as the UEFA EURO 2016.

In August, the company signed a three-year sponsorship deal with a world-famous Argentine football club, River Plate.

As part of this deal, the official River Plate jersey featured the airline’s logo.

"Spoke to @TigerWoods to congratulate him on the great victory he had in yesterday’s @TheMasters, & to inform him that because of his incredible Success & Comeback in Sports (Golf) and, more importantly, LIFE, I will be presenting him with the PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM," Trump tweeted.

Arie, who turned professional in 2013 and won two events on the Asian Development Tour in 2015, had missed the halfway cut at the Sanya Championship, the second event on the PGA Tour China Series.

"The PGA Tour and the China Golf Association grieve at this loss of one of our members and share sincere condolences with Arie’s wife, Marina, and his parents, Ahmad and Jeny," the PGA tour statement added.

"When something of this magnitude occurs in the golf world, we all grieve at the same time.

"Out of respect for the family, officials cancelled the final round of the Sanya Championship, the tournament becoming a 54-hole event."

The coroner's report had not been completed, the statement said.

Arie's golf career was interrupted in 2016 when he was involved in an accident on a moped and sidelined for several months. He was ranked 1,366th in the world this week.

He married Marina Malek last May and she sometimes worked as his caddie, even if Arie admitted that she did not know much about golf.

"If I make a bad score she will say 'it is okay, it is okay'," he told Malaysia's The Star newspaper last year.

"She keeps me calm, relaxed and happy so I just go out there and play golf. That helps me a lot. She has always been there for me through the bad and good times."

The American signed for six birdies, including four in a row from the ninth hole, to reachn 16-under for the tournament.

Li, who started the day in joint second place with South Africa's Zander Lombard, got off to a wonderful start, chipping in an eagle from the rough on the very first hole.

The 23-year-old, who said he had a lot of luck, birdied the par-five fourth but got in trouble soon after with a double bogey on the sixth hole before steadying the ship by sinking an 18-footer for another birdie on the seventh to turn in 33.

Li made another eagle immediately after the turn followed by a series of pars before closing his round with back-to-back eagles on the par-four 17th and par-five 18th to draw level with Johnson in King Abdullah Economic City.

"Very lucky today," Li said. "Those eagles, especially the last couple of shots, were really solid but except (for) that, honestly, my play, wasn't that good.

"If (the approach into the first) didn't go in the hole, it could have been off the green. It's a very lucky eagle over there. At the 10th, that's what I wanted to play, but I felt like I pushed it a little bit.

"I got a lucky bounce, kicked it left and it went in the hole, which is very lucky, too."

Johnson made birdies on the second and fourth holes, before dropping his only shot of the day on the fifth.

He closed out his front nine with a birdie to turn in 33 and gained three more strokes with three birdies in a row from the 10th before ending his round with a series of pars.

"I thought I played well. I probably played just as well as I did yesterday," he said. "I gave myself a lot of opportunities and made a lot of good putts. Just holed a few more yesterday than I did today, is the only difference.

"Haotong is a good player. He's obviously playing well right now. I think it's going to be kind of a tough match against him tomorrow for the most part, but I'm looking forward to it."

Former U.S. Masters champion Sergio Garcia was disqualified earlier in the day for intentionally damaging the greens at the Royal Greens Golf and Country Club.

At his consecutive victory at the Turkish Airlines Open, the 38-year-old was followed by Chinese Haotong Li and Spanish Adrian Otaegui.

With his victory, the Englishman has returned to the top of the world rankings.

The tournament -- hosting 78 players for the competition -- was held on Nov. 1-4 at the Regnum Carya Resort.

The Turkish Airlines Open is part of the Rolex Series, the premium category of events on the European Tour's Race to Dubai.

Along with Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood, Ross Fisher, Thomas Bjorn, Jordan Smith, Andrea Pavan were among the participants of the tournament.

Turkish golfers Ali Altuntas, Hakan Yamac and Leon Acikalin also vie against their rivals in the event.

The 20-year-old daughter of former Australian Open tennis champion Petr Korda shared the overnight lead with local hope Wei-Ling Hsu but two birdies and an eagle were enough to win her the title on 13-under 275 for the tournament.

Australia's world number five Minjee Lee birdied her last two holes for a sizzling six-under 66 and second place on 11-under at the Ta Shee Golf and Country Club.

World number nine Shanshan Feng and compatriot rookie Yu Liu withdrew before the tournament after being told they should not play by someone "high up" in China, sources familiar with the situation told Reuters.

Kim scored a two-up win over England's Bronte Law to seal the victory after Chun had beaten Sweden's Anna Nordqvist on a sunny day at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea in Incheon.

Park Sung-hyun lost to Thai Ariya Jutanugarn while Ryu So-yeon halved with American Lexi Thompson in the last match but those results did not dampen the spirits of the home crowd.

"I wanted all of us to have fun today because there were so many fans out here that came from practice round to support us, and I just had to keep telling myself, focus, focus every shot because I couldn't focus," Kim said.

"But I really had a blast, and thanks for everyone to give us such a great match."

Ryu said the victory was special considering South Korea's lack of experience in team competitions despite having a number of strong players.

"We don't get a lot of exposure to this type of event, so there was a lot of pressure. Given that, today as a Korean, I'm proud to have earned the crown and to earn that official title when the game was hosted in Korea."

The U.S. began poorly as Michelle Wie lost 2&1 to Thai Moriya Jutanugarn. Jessica Korda then beat Sweden's Madelene Sagstrom but Cristie Kerr fell to England's Georgia Hall as their hopes of retaining their title faded.

Earlier on Sunday, Thailand won a playoff against Japan and Australia to earn the chance to compete in the singles event.

South Korea had topped Pool A ahead of England after the third-round of four-ball matches -- which were completed on Sunday after Tropical Storm Kong-Rey prevented any play on Saturday. The U.S. finished in front of Sweden in Pool B.

Stadium Course

The beauty was you did not need a grandstand ticket though.

Le Golf National, designed by Hubert Chesneau and constructed 30 years ago on a former landfill site, was created as a 'stadium course' with each hole flanked by steep banks and raised walkways offering sweeping views of the action.

At various points, thousands of fans massed on ridges where they were able to watch multiple tees and greens without moving, while 18 huge video screens meant spectators could watch every ball.

Le Golf National director general Paul Armitage promised beforehand it would be the best course to host the Ryder Cup.

Few would disagree.

"The amphitheatre here, the venue, the golf course, the fans, I really can't imagine if you could ever have a better venue or better place to play or better crowd to play in front of," beaten American captain Jim Furyk said on Sunday."

Despite the lack of a single home player, French fans, who snapped up 45 percent of the tickets, joined the party and the hope is the success of the Ryder Cup will spark a wave of interest across a nation where soccer and cycling rule.

That remains to be seen, but what is certain is that Rome, the next European host of the Ryder Cup in 2022, will have a lot to live up to.

The tournament ended on Sunday with the victory of Justin Rose from Team England.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Youth and Sports Minister Osman Askin Bak had handed over the prize to Rose.

Agaoglu said he was happy with the event attendance this year.

“This year, everything was like the previous years. Many important sportsmen competed in the event.

“Olympic champion Justin Rose, silver medalist Henrik Stenson, Tyrell Hatton, Matt Fitzpatrick were among those sportsmen. Three-four championship-winner Padraig Harrington and others hiked the tournament’s score.”

Agaoglu also said the tournament had become the seventh or eighth most important tournament of the world.

The tournament’s appearance on the social media feed of international media and well-known players also made a contribution to Turkey’s prestige, he said.

$1.5B golf tourism goal

“These people are role models of the world. While we are going through troubles, New York Times gives 1.5-2 pages to this event; Justin Rose attends the event and clicks a selfie in front of the Turkish flag.”

These things add to the positive perception of Turkey abroad, he added.

Ahmet Agaoglu said the construction of 50 more golf courses in Antalya would enable Turkey to earn between $1 billion and $1.5 billion, adding that last year Turkey hosted 110,000 golf players.

“Golf is the locomotive of the sports industry. This is very clear. Numbers are already proving it,” he said.

He reminded that Spain earns around €5 billion a year from golf tourism.

“110,000-120,000 people come to Turkey a year to play golf, and they spend $130 million to $160 million.”

He also said golf is not just sports for the rich, but it is a sport played by those who run the world. He added the highest-earning sportsman is a golfer and golf tourism generates the most income.

The fifth Turkish Airlines Open started on Thursday and ended Sunday in Turkey's Mediterranean resort of Antalya; 78 golfers had competed in the four-day event.

The tournament, in which 78 players are competing, started on Nov. 2 in Regnum Carya Golf Resort.

On the last day of the four-day tournament, Justin Rose from Team England claimed victory at 18 under over South African Dylan Frittelli and Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts, both of whom finished at 17 under.

Rose now has a Rolex Series victory to add to the 2013 US Open and two World Golf Championships, the latest of which came at last week's WGC-HSBC Champions.

Attending the award ceremony, Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Youth and Sports Minister Osman Askin Bak granted Rose his prize.

The winner of the Turkish Airlines Open 2016 Danish Thorbjorn Olesen scored 10 under and came in the seventh place.

Turkish golfers Ali Altuntas ranked the 42nd, Leon Acikalin 75th and Taner Yamac 78th.

The team made up of Tyrrell Hatton, Matt Fitzpatrick and Ian Poulter ve Matthew Southgate broke the record -- previously held by France -- by scoring the goal in 32.7 seconds.

They beat Team Africa at it.

France had set the fastest time of 34.87 seconds last year, for the Guinness World Records, ahead of the Real Club Valderrama Open de España.

“We are proud of breaking a world record at the Turkish Airlines Open and we hope we can hold it for a long time,” Fitzpatrick said.

Seda Kalyoncu, head of Turkish Airlines’ department of corporate communication, said she was proud of the fact that Turkey had become the place where the record was broken.

The tournament, in which 78 players are competing, will end on Nov. 5.

In the third day of the tournament, Irish Shane Lowry and Thai Kiradech Aphibarnrat shared the first place by scoring -14 while Irish Padraig Harrington, British Justin Rose and Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts came third scoring -12.

The winner of the Turkish Airlines Open 2016 Danish Thorbjorn Olesen scored -10 and came in the seventh place.

Turkish golfers Ali Altuntas ranked the 42nd, Leon Acikalin 75th and Taner Yamac 78th.

The tournament in Regnum Carya Golf Resort saw three players, Nicolas Colsaerts from Belgium, Haydn Porteous from South Africa and Joost Luiten from Netherlands share first place with their scores at seven-under-par.

Fans have shown show interest in the tournament as famous golfers like Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson, Martin Kaymer, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Thorbjorn Olesen have participated in the event.

Olesen, who is the 2016 Turkish Airlines Open champion, eneded the day in the 19th place with a two-under-par score.

Turkish golfers Ali Altuntas ended the day 42nd; Leon Açıkalın came in at 59th and Taner Yamac finished the first day 77th.

The tournament, in which 78 players are competing, is to end on Nov. 5.

Turkish Airlines World Golf Cup 2017 ends in Antalya

Turkish Airlines World Golf Cup 2017 starts in Antalya

Britain’s Luke Eunace clinched the championship with Warren Espey from South Africa finishing second and China’s Zhen Ge placing third.

A total of 104 golfers from 62 countries competed in the two-day event in order to be one of six contestants who will attend the 2017 Turkish Airlines Open between Nov. 2 and 5 in Belek.

The best gross award went to Malta’s John Micallef. John Hunt won for the closest shot in the men’s category and Mai Tokuda from Japan in the women’s category.

Around 80 golfers, including last year’s Olympic medalists Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson, competed in the Turkish Airlines Open, which is the sixth of eight tournaments in the European tour’s Rolex Series.

Players who made the top 70 in the Race to Dubai on the European Tour were eligible to putt.

Apart from Rose and Stenson, the tournament also hosted last year's champion Thorbjorn Olesen, three-time major winner Padraig Harrington, Ryder Cup icon Ian Poulter, Race to Dubai number one Tommy Fleetwood and English golfer Tyrell Hatton.

A combined prize fund of $7 million was given at the event, which three Turkish players also attended.

Ali Altuntas competed in the event for the fifth time but for the first time as a professional. Amateur players Leon Kerem Acikalin and Taner Yamac also competed under the Turkish Golf Federation's quota.

A total of 78 professional golfers including Danny Willet, Lee Westwood, and Andy Sullivan will compete in the Turkish Airlines Open 2016, which is the first of three European Tour Final Series tournaments, according to the official website of the sports event.

Speaking at a press meeting Wednesday, Willet, 29, who is currently number 2 in The Race to Dubai standings, said the Final Series was starting with a great event in Turkey, the press release said.

"I have had a couple of nice results down here at the Turkish Airlines Open before and it is lovely to be here.

"Turkish Airlines is a brilliant sponsor and this is a beautiful place to play golf. We are set for a really good week," he added.

Another key golfer, Lee Westwood said this was his fifth time playing in Turkey.

"It is great to be back in Turkey and we are all looking forward to the week ahead. The course looks in fantastic condition and I have heard so many good things about it," he added.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also attended the launch of the tournament, which ends on Sunday, and has a $7 million prize fund.

This week's tournament in Antalya will be followed by the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa ahead of the season finale DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, the statement said.