US Open Champion Angel Cabrera heads an elite 78 man field, including 27 winners from The 2007 European Tour International Schedule, for this week’s Mercedes-Benz Championship at Golf Club Gut Lärchenhof on the outskirts of Cologne.
Cabrera will be making his first appearance in continental Europe since becoming the first Argentine winner of the US Open in June and only the second Major Champion from his country, following Roberto de Vicenzo’s Open Championship victory 40 years earlier. Cabrera carded a final round 69, one of only two rounds on the final day under par at Oakmont Country Club, to hold off the challenges of Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk for his first Major success.
The field of tournament winners, leading players in the Official World Golf Ranking and The European Tour Order of Merit will face no cut in the €2 million tournament that sees Mercedes-Benz return as a title sponsor on The European Tour International Schedule
Joining Cabrera is another of Argentina’s most exciting talents, Andres Romero, who came so close to winning The Open Championship at Carnoustie before making his winning breakthrough the following week by capturing the Deutsche Bank Players’ Championship of Europe in Hamburg in July.
That victory sealed Romero’s return ticket to Germany where he will be aiming for a unique “Deutsches double”. Another chasing that double will be Swede Niclas Fasth, who claimed his sixth European Tour title with victory in the BMW International Open in June.
A truly international field at GC Gut Lärchenhof boasts six Major Champions in Cabrera, Michael Campbell, John Daly, Retief Goosen and Paul Lawrie and, of course, the tournament host, Bernhard Langer.
Langer will be attempting to win his own tournament for a fifth time and become the oldest winner in European Tour history after turning 50 a fortnight ago. Having come close to victory in his last two European Tour outings – where he finished joint second in the BMW International Open in Munich and joint third in The KLM Open in The Netherlands – and with his affinity to this particular tournament, it would be no surprise to see one of Europe’s greatest golfers challenging once again.
The Mercedes-Benz Championship will also reunite Langer, the 2004 European Ryder Cup Captain, with seven of his charges from the winning Team at Oakland Hills with Darren Clarke, David Howell, Miguel Angel Jiménez, Paul McGinley, Colin Montgomerie, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood on show.
Another Ryder Cup player, Robert Karlsson, from the 2006 Team, is also in action seeking a German hat-trick by adding the Mercedes-Benz Championship title to his previous wins in the 1997 BMW International Open and the 2006 Deutsche Bank Players’ Championship.
Adding further interest to the €2million tournament is the fact that the Mercedes-Benz Championship is the final qualifying event for The Seve Trophy, with the last places from the European Tour Order of Merit Points list up for grabs, as well as being the second event in Ryder Cup qualification.
