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'You want to be sober' - rooftop tee has players giddy

Belek - Lee Westwood and the rest of the Turkish Airlines Open field will be hoping not to raise the roof of the villa on the 16th tee.

The novel tee-off was certainly not part of the Regnum Carya Resort course design blueprints submitted by the company founded by five-time Open Champion Peter Thomson.

But since the golf course was officially opened in 2008 holiday villas have popped up with one constructed over the championship tee.

For 51 weeks a year the hole from the very back tee measures 391 meters but with the temporary construction of an artificially grassed tee on the roof of the villa it has added 32 meters to the hole.

Players will have to walk past a swimming pool in front of the villa and then climb temporary steps against the side of the house to get onto the roof.

Westwood has some helpful advice for his rivals this week on the Turkish coast in Belek.

"You want to be sober," laughed the Briton. "It's a new one, isn't it?

"I'm not great with heights. Having said that, I've hit off from a hotel in Dubai before and a few other places and been quite successful.

"We flew drones off it last night so it gave us a little bit of a feel of how it's going to play. It looks quite a tough tee shot."

He added: "I'm not sure I'd want to be staying in that villa this week with 78 golfers jumping around on the roof hitting golf balls."

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