• The Hassan II Golf Trophy will be making its debut on The European Tour and is the second European Tour event to be staged in Morocco. The Moroccan Open was first held in 1987 at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam and won by Howard Clark. It was then played each year between 1992 and 2001, the last champion, being Ian Poulter, also at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam.
• The Hassan II Trophy was first played in 1971 and is Morocco’s longest running sporting event, first won by 1969 US Open Champion, Orville Moody. The tournament is rich in history with no fewer than nine Major Champions prevailing. They are: Moody (1971), Billy Casper (1973, 75), Lee Trevino (1977), Vijay Singh (1991), Payne Stewart (1992, 93), Nick Price (1995), David Toms (1999), Padraig Harrington (2007) and Ernie Els (2008).
• Morocco was the second African nation to play host to The European Tour. Tunisia was the first back in 1982, which was the first European Tour event staged outside of Europe.
