George O'Grady and Graeme McDowell in 2010
The European Tour welcomed the news that Saab, the global premium car maker with a distinguished history of innovation, has been announced by The Celtic Manor Resort as title sponsor of the Wales Open.
Graeme McDowell will return as the defending champion.
The Saab Wales Open will be played June 2nd - 5th and the sponsorship deal with Saab launches an exciting new chapter in the history of the tournament which, since inception in 2000, has established itself as a stellar event of The European Tour International Schedule. This will be the twelfth edition of the tournament and the fourth time it has been played on The Twenty Ten Course on which Europe regained The Ryder Cup last October.
Ryder Cup stars Miguel Angel Jiménez (Spain), Robert Karlsson (Sweden), Paul McGinley (Ireland), Ian Poulter (England) and McDowell head an international roll call of past champions which also takes in Denmark’s Jeppe Huldahl and Steen Tinning, England’s Simon Khan, Scotland’s Paul Lawrie South Africa’s Richard Sterne and Australia’s Scott Strange.
McDowell, of course, famously secured Europe’s success in The 2010 Ryder Cup during an outstanding season when he followed his Wales Open victory ahead of Welshman Rhys Davies and England’s Luke Donald by, 14 days later, becoming the first European winner of the United States Open for 40 years.
American John Daly, winner of the Open Championship and the US PGA Championship, has also confirmed that he will challenge for the title and the first prize of £300,000 for the first time. In total, a prize fund of £1,800,000 will be on offer to the international field of 156 golfers.
Sir Terry Matthews, The Celtic Manor Resort Chairman, said: “We are delighted to welcome Saab on board as the title sponsor of the Saab Wales Open. The Celtic Manor Resort has enjoyed a decade’s fantastic exposure as the title sponsor of this European Tour event and, in partnership with Saab, we will now be able to raise the profile of the tournament to an even higher level.
