Turkey Final First Tee Scene Gets Ugly, Golf Federation Head Accused Of Headbutt!

Turkey is definitely ready to host the Olympics. Buying the press, a little bit of blood drawn and bingo, the 2020 campaign is off and running!

James Corrigan reports on the ugly first tee scene Tuesday that led to local news agency cameraman Cihat Unal pressing assault charges against Ahmet Agaoglu, president of the Turkish Golf Federation. Unal ended up with broken glasses and a severely bruised ego. And maybe more.

Agaoglu denied he headbutted Unal, saying: “He pushed me and I pushed him back and he fell over.”

Oops...that's a bogey. Make it double. Loss of hole.

Nevertheless, this is an embarrassing episode for the tournament’s organisers. With four of the world’s top five in the elite eight-man field, this matchplay event has been staged to showcase Turkey’s merits as a top golfing venue as well as advance the prospective bid for the 2022 Olympics. The crowds were bigger than expected with the majority drawn to Woods’s match against Charl Schwartzel.

Tiger Woods had never played here before and the anticipation was predictably frenzied. When he walked out to face the South African, the local media swarmed around him. Mark Steinberg, Woods’ manager, was heard to comment “the cameramen are out of control”, with the golfer’s heavy security detail struggling to contain the frenzy. It was at this stage that the tussle occured, although is not known if Woods witnessed the alleged assault.

Corrigan goes on to tell us who this man Agaoglu is and why European Tour head George O'Grady has a splitting headache tonight.