Venue: National GC, Belek, Antalya, Türkiye
2025 Champion: Martin Couvra
Prize Fund: USD $2,750,000
Race to Dubai: Tournament 17 of 42
Asian Swing: Tournament 4 of 4
Race to Dubai Points: 3,500
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Tournament preview
Martin Couvra is looking forward to defending his Turkish Airlines Open title this week as the event heads to National Golf Club for the first time.
The 2025 Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year winner posted a brilliant closing 64 to claim his maiden DP World Tour victory at Regnum Carya last year with a 17 under par total, finishing two shots ahead of China’s Haotong Li and Spain’s Jorge Campillo.
The Frenchman, who graduated from the HotelPlanner Tour in 2024, enjoyed an impressive first campaign on golf’s global tour with victory in Türkiye and six other top ten finishes to end the 2025 season in 19th position on the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai. The 23-year-old sits in 34th position on the Rankings this season and will be hoping to use happy memories as a catalyst for more success this week.
Couvra joins a star-studded field at National Golf Club which includes Major champion Francesco Molinari, Rolex Series winner Paul Waring and nine-time DP World Tour winner Bernd Wiesberger. Wiesberger arrives in Belek full of confidence having claimed his first DP World Tour title for five years at last week’s Volvo China Open.
Estonian amateur Richard Teder will make his first appearance in a regular DP World Tour event this week. The 21-year-old made history last year by becoming the first Estonian to play in The Open Championship after coming out on top in final qualifying at West Lancashire.
The Turkish Airlines Open is the fourth of four counting events on the Asian Swing, the third of five ‘Global Swings’ on the 2026 Race to Dubai.
DP World Tour Members who finish in positions one to three only in the final Asian Swing Rankings (at the conclusion of the Turkish Airlines Open) will be exempt into the 2026 U.S. PGA Championship at Aronimink GC. The winner of the Asian Swing also qualifies for all the Back 9 events and receives a US$ 200,000 prize money bonus.
Player Quotes
Martin Couvra: It was a great week last week in the USA but I’m really happy to be here, I have some good memories here. It’s a week I will remember for the rest of my life.
This is quite different to the one we played last year. I think it is a more technical course, with tricky shots. I think my game shapes up well with the course. We will see during with the week.
The expectations I feel are more intense. I want to do the same things as last year of course but I just want to do the same thing as every other week.
It is pretty cool to be defending my first title. I am going to enjoy it a lot. I did a lot of pretty good things, a lot of bad things. It was a great experience for me and I just want to reflect on the year and perform from it.
There is of course the win in Turkey, my second place in Italy, my first Rolex Series appearance at the Scottish Open, my first Open Championship and my first final on the DP World Tour at the DP World Tour Championship.
Of course, I think am a different player to last year. I think I have more experience, I know myself better, I know the Tour a little bit more and the courses a little better. So, I feel a bit different, but I try to enjoy life the same as last year.
Bernd Wiesberger: I’ve not had that [winning] feeling for a couple of years now, and you never know if you’ve got it to get over the line again, so it’s nice to prove to myself that I was able to.
Obviously, as I said, it sets us up completely different with the schedule and allows me to be a little bit freer and have a better rhythm maybe to the season. So, lots of benefits that come from winning and looking forward to push on from that week.
Everybody came up to me and congratulated me and also received a lot of messages from friends, family and other people from around the world. It is nice to have brought some joy to people on a Sunday afternoon and those who watched me play. Yeah, it’s great.
It’s a tricky golf course this week, not too much rough, because otherwise it would play really difficult. It’s quite tight, quite strategic, not super long, but the greens have some complexity to them and you need to be precise, which I think normally plays into my kind of game.
Richard Teder: Playing The Open has made this event much easier because I’m not as nervous. I feel pretty comfortable here around all these professional. So, it’s going to be a good week.
The game’s in the right spot, I think. Putting feels good. Course is wonderful. I mean, everything is in good shape for this week. This is a normal tournament for me, just trying to do my best, not give up, just give it my all and I’m sure I can compete with all these guys here.
I’ve actually become a member here in December, so I’ll play this course a couple of times. I don’t know it inside out, but I know it fairly well.
