Ryder Cup and 8 times European No 1 Colin Montgomerie, officially opened his first golf course design in the Mediterranean on October 21st, The Montgomerie at Papillon Golf Club, Antalya, Turkey.

Montgomerie worked on the course with European Golf Design, the joint venture design company of The European Tour and IMG with whom he is also working in Bahrain, Scotland, Holland and Denmark. The Montgomerie Course completes a trio of European Golf Design courses in the Belek region of Turkey, the other two being the Sultan and Pasha at Antlaya Golf Club.

At the launch on Tuesday Montgomerie explained how delighted he was to be asked to work with Papillon Hotels and European Golf Design, "Back in May 2006 when we began work on the design of The Montgomerie at Papillon Golf Club, I was thrilled to be asked to be associated with such an exciting project . During my many visits over the last two and half years I have been most impressed with the hard work the people at Papillon Hotels have put in to enhance what is a relatively young resort, and help turn the Belek region into a must visit golfing destination. Working alongside Gary Johnston from European Golf Design has been a great experience. I am absolutely delighted with how the course has turned out. I have enjoyed working with the people at Papillon who have been so enthusiastic. The whole set-up at Papillon looks fantastic, I am very proud of what we have achieved".

Speaking at the official opening, Cahit Şahin - General Manager The Montgomerie Papillon, “The choice to have a course by Montgomerie was based on promotional and marketing advantages. Monty is an active player, and he is one of the best players on the professional tour, and he has also become famous due to his courses. It is a great advantage in marketing if you have a Montgomerie course, there is no doubt about that”

The inaugural Presidents Trophy was held to open the course, participating in the event were 85 invited guests including Ahmet Ağaoğlu, chairman of the Turkish Golf Federation, ”Montgomerie is a great player, and his contribution to Turkey will help us a lot. We are doing great on the tourism side of golf.  By the end of this year, around 65,000 golf tourists will have visited Turkey, having played just over 200,000 rounds of games. I predict a brighter 2009, despite the global economic crisis. I believe 100,000 to 125,000 golf tourists will visit Turkey next year, which means 400,000 to 450,000 rounds”

The course forms part of a new 200 million-euro golf and hotel complex. To complement the 18-hole championship golf course, there is a flood-lit nine-hole short course and a golf academy, as well as a 600-room five-star hotel and 31 holiday villas, which will join the four existing Papillon hotels in Belek.