With almost a week to go before the start of the 33rd BMW International Open (June 22nd to 26th) work is still going on in the public area and setting up the grandstands, but the field of golf professionals has been determined.
Eichenried – “Once again, we have been able to attract many top international and German golfers to Eichenried, who will offer the spectators top-class sport,” said Tournament Director Marco Kaussler happily.
Although he regrets that last year's Norwegian winner Victor Hovland will not be able to defend his title this year "due to other tour plans", he has once again lured an absolute top player to the Erdinger Moos in the American Billy Horschel.
With a win in Eichenried, the eleventh in the world rankings would have been the first professional golfer to win all three international tournaments sponsored by BMW.
Every year, the two-time Major winner Martin Kaymer is one of the driving forces at the BMW International Open, although he has had to wait a long time to win a tournament.
The Rhinelander has slipped far down in the world rankings and is now also behind Stephan Jäger.
As already reported, the local hero from Eichenried is skipping the event on his home ground this year and is concentrating entirely on the PGA Tour in the USA in order to remain in the elite with good results, this year already with a top ten place - Secure League of Golf.
The second Eichenrieder native, Thomas Rosenmüller, has set himself the same goal in the second-rate Korn Ferry tour.
However, it is still not quite certain whether Kaymer, who has already won the BMW Open once and finished second last year after a furious race to catch up, will even be able to tee off in Eichenried on June 23, as he suffered a painful hand injury has canceled the current US Open.
Kaymer was only able to complete the tournament of the newly founded LIV Tour in London last week with painkillers, reports Kaussler.
This tour series, sponsored by Saudi Arabia with around two billion dollars in prize money, is currently causing a lot of fuss and trouble in the international professional golf scene.
The PGA has already responded by banning players, regardless of rank or name, from their tournaments who are teeing off on the LIV Tour.
Should the DP World Tour (formerly European Tour) follow this approach in the short term, Kaymer and the top players Sergio Garcia (Spain), Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa) and the Austrian Bernd Wiesberger would also have to miss out in Eichenried.
However, tournament director Kaussler exudes great optimism and is "almost 100% certain" that Kaymer will have recovered from his injury by the middle of next week so that he will tee off next Thursday - as will the LIV players.
There will certainly be many former tournament winners in Eichenried, such as Pablo Larrazabal (Spain), Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) – both have already won the BMW Open twice –, Andrea Pavan (Italy), the Englishmen David Horsey and David Howell and many more.
A strong German field of players also wants to have a say in winning the tournament.
Above all, in addition to Kaymer, the new professor Matti Schmid, who took an excellent 14th place last year as an amateur, Marcel Siem, who grew up in Eichenried, and also Max Kieffer.
A total of 15 pros and two amateurs will represent the German colors at this year's BMW International Open.
After only a few visitors were able to follow the BMW International Open live last year due to the corona pandemic, the organizers are hoping for around 60,000 visitors over the four days this time.
"Advance sales of day and season tickets as well as VIP tickets for the Fairway Club in the online ticket shop are going well," says a satisfied Kaussler.
Admission to the Pro-Am tournament on Wednesday is free.
