2019 European Tour Tracker
OGIO is proud to announce its partnership as the official luggage supplier of the European Tour. Every tournament we will be bringing stories from around the world as OGIO carries the load across 5 continents, 31 countries and over 139,064 miles course to course. This unique partnership brings a great challenge but with the quality of the bags combined with the professionalism of the staff, we know we will continue to carry the tour from success to success year on year.
This week: Porsche European Open
500 miles
This week, I’m the European Tour’s Press Officer at the Porsche European Open. I’m on-site coordinating media requests from local journalists, hosting press conferences, arranging interviews for our broadcast partners and producing reports from the tournament.
I’m at the stunning Green Eagle Golf Courses in Hamburg this week – also my second trip to Germany with the European Tour this season after covering the BMW International Open in June. This is the third-longest course we will visit on the European Tour International Schedule in 2019 and the formidable 663-yard par five 16th hole is the longest of any course played on this season. Competitors have to contend with three par fives on the final four holes, so anything can happen as they reach the end of their rounds.
This is a big week for the title sponsors in more ways than one. In addition to this tournament, Porsche unveiled their first all-electric car on Wednesday – the Porsche Taycan. Less than 24 hours after its official unveiling, one of this week’s competitors could become one of the first owners of this stunning vehicle; it’s the hole-in-one prize on the 17th hole. We had a press conference with Paul Casey on Tuesday, and he said he’ll be aiming at the flag all week in a bid to take it home.
On Tuesday evening, Porsche hosted their Urban Golf Challenge on the famous Reeperbahn in Hamburg’s city centre. Eight competitors took part in the challenge, which saw them hitting golf balls into targets on a specially designed ‘racetrack’. It was a knock-out format with the winner receiving a Porsche Cayenne Coupé to use for the week – needless to say, Thomas Pieters went home very happy.
Near the 18th green is this fantastic Porsche 911 Carrera – which the leader at the end of each day gets to drive home in. You could fit a fair few Ogio Backpacks in here, but I’m not sure about a set of golf clubs!