Martin Kaymer to be the biggest star of Czech Masters 2017
The fourth year of D + D REAL Czech Masters, which will be held from August 31 to September 3 2017, will be adorned with the participation of Martin Kaymer. The 32-year-old German golfer, who won US Open (2014) and PGA Championship (2010) will come to play in Czech Republic for the first time in history. His title collection comprehends 11 victories on the European Tour and 3 PGA Tour titles, including these two majors. He also won the Ryder Cup three times.
„As this will be my debut at the D+D Real Czech Masters, I am really looking forward to play at Albatross GC this summer. I have heard a lot of good things about the event and the golf course, so I am excited to have the chance to come to Prague and play in the Czech Republic for the first time in my career,“ says Martin Kaymer.
Between other players, who confirmed their participation earlier, is for example another former world number one Lee Westwood (winner of 42 world tournaments), American John Daly (double major winner) will arrive again and also Darren Clarke, winner of The Open 2011, the former World number two and last year’s Ryder Cup captain team Europe will attend for the first time the tournament at Albatross Golf Club.
Tournament Czech Masters has a secured future. Promoting company Relmost extended contract with the European Tour up to 2023.
“Although the current contract will expire at the end of next year, we decided to sign a new contract with European Tour in advance. With the contract until 2023, we wanted to confirm our interest in further development of this event and in promoting Czech golf. I believe that within this time Czech Republic will have at least one stable player on the European Tour. The tournament has a global marketing impact, it is ideal promotion of Prague and the Czech Republic as a golf destination. At the same time, this multiyear agreement enables us to conclude a long-term sponsorship contracts, which are getting more preferable since last year, “says Petr Dedek, owner of Relmost. The prize money will increase by a minimum of 100,000 Euro from 2019.
“The support of Relmost has been crucial in the growth and development of this tournament in recent years, and we are delighted that they have reaffirmed their support not just for the tournament, but for golf in the Czech Republic as a whole, by agreeing such a lengthy contract extension,” says Keith Pelley, CEO of the European Tour.
D+D REAL Czech Masters plays very important role in term of the Ryder Cup 2018. Qualifying ranking will begin on Albatross this year and next year will be the penultimate tournament of the cycle. It is the only tournament on the calendar European Tour, where the players will fight for Ryder cup points twice.
“The start of the Ryder Cup qualification process reminds us all of how close we are to the excitement and drama of the great event once again, and it’s fitting that the D+D Real Czech Masters field will include players such as Martin Kaymer, who is synonymous with some great European moments over the past few years,” adds Keith Pelley.
Satisfied sponsors
In addition to the titular partnership with D+D REAL, the cooperation with Raiffeisenbank, the general partner of the tournament, continues for this year.
“Raiffeisenbank chose golf as its primary and strategic direction in the area of sponsorship. We are very pleased that its popularity continues to grow, as evidenced by the re-inclusion in the Olympic Games. As well as in banking segment, precision, accuracy, and reliability decide. If we look at the segmentation of players and fans of golf, then almost 70% share is university-educated people, then men dominated over women in the ratio of 64% to 36%. These are also people with middle and higher income, and most of them are between 25-54 years of age. These are the target groups we want to focus on and thanks to sponsoring golf to be more significantly seen, not only on the greens,” says marketing director of Raiffeisenbank Hana Kovářová and adds: „We are honoured to be the general partner and official bank of next year’s tournament D + D Real Czech Masters. This event brings the world-class golf to the Czech Republic. However, our bank not only supports this excellent tournament, but through a partnership with Czech Golf Federation and investing in the development of a promising young golf talents, we help them on the very beginning of their careers. Hopefully we will have a chance to meet these players on the European Tour tournaments in the future.”
ŠKODA AUTO Czech Republic in 2017 will build on last year’s highly successful collaboration with Czech Masters.
“Even this year, we would like to present new attractive products and other interesting items from the world of ŠKODA to players and fans. We will once again offer to visitors of the tournament a very popular test drives of new cars, relax zone in the ŠKODA tournament village and other related activities. For players, we have prepared major prize for “Hole in One” at hole number 16, which will be our new SUV ŠKODA KODIAQ, “says Michal Pres, Head of Marketing at Škoda Auto Czech Republic.
As well as last year, the longest drive will be measured on the 9th hole of final round. Matthew Fitzpatrick won last year with the drive 301 meters long. He won free supplies of beer for a year from Pilsner Urquell.
“Pilsner Urquell, as the founder of Czech beer culture, is pleased that as the” Official Beer of Czech golf “can participate together with Relmost in building traditions of Czech Masters as world class and most prestigious golf event in the Czech Republic. Our cooperation at the fourth year is the best proof, “says Grant McKenzie, Marketing Director of Pilsner Urquell.
Photo: Getty Images
