Icelandic volcano sees golf tournaments suffer reduced turnout
This week's Ballantine's Championship in Jeju Island, South Korea, is the latest sporting event to be compromised by the Icelandic volcano that has caused chaos for travellers all across the world in recent days.
Already established as chief tormentor of the tourist (not to mention scourge of the sub-editor), now the ash-spewing Eyjafjallajokull volcano has also proven mildly inconvenient for some of the players intent on contesting the tournament at Pinx Golf Club.
Miguel Ángel Jiménez figures amongst that number, the Spaniard being forced to drop out of the event after severe flight restrictions made it near enough impossible for players in Europe to make it to South Korea in time. Though the restrictions were supposed to be lifted earlier today, the volcano has again begun releasing vast clouds of ash in the last few hours.
The show goes on however, and there are still plenty of big names in attendance, including South Africa's Ernie Els, the US' Anthony Kim and South Korea's YE Yang, winner of last week's Volvo China Open.
The Korean tournament is not the only event to suffer thanks to the haphazard dust-expulsions of Iceland's unlovely natural phenomenon. This week's European Challenge Tour event, the Moroccan Golf Classic, has been cancelled altogether, though Ladies European Tour event the Comunitat Valenciana European Nations Cup goes ahead as planned.
Many of the competitors have opted to drive to Alicante, Spain, to take part. England's Melissa Reid and Wales' Breanne Loucks took the car from Sheffield while Ursula Wikstrom drove all the way from Finland. One absentee is set to be Russia's Maria Verchenova, currently stranded in Moscow.
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