Ameil-Planchin & Ko, Joint Leaders After Round One
Suez (Egypt), February 18, 2020 – The Swiss player Arthur-Ameil Planchin and Jeong Weon Ko from France both came in with a -7 (65) to head the leader board after the first round of the Ein Bay Open here at Sokhna Golf Club.
Planchin is an experienced Alps Tour player but saw his 2019 season cut short by a wrist injury. After a two-month break with plenty of physical preparation and rehab, he picked his clubs up again in January 2020. After a month of training to try and get the old sensations back, his score today must be gratifying:
“I’m happy to be here and see everyone again. I hit the ball well today. I tried to stay calm, be patient and enjoy playing golf again.”
With 7 birdies and not a single bogey on his card, Planchin had a great result with a 32 (-3) on the front nine and a 33 (-4) on the back nine.
Alongside him is the French rookie Jeong Weon Ko who is playing in his first tournament as a professional. Evidently, the mental side came into his game as he admitted to a sleepless night:
“I woke up around 3:20 am and couldn’t get back to sleep. When I got to the driving range, I was hitting the ball really poorly so once on the course I told myself to concentrate on the essentials.”
A game plan that paid off as Ko started with a birdie and added 4 more on the front nine for a 31 (-4) with just one blip on the horizon, a bogey 4 on the par 3 6th. He started the back nine in style with two birdies on the 10th and 11th and another on the 13th. A slight hiccup on the 15th with a bogey 5 but he finished with two pars and a birdie on the 18th to card a 34 (-3).
In third place is Lars Keunen from the Netherlands at -6 (66). A familiar face on the Alps Tour as this is his third season. He played a solid round with 6 birdies and par on the rest of the holes.
In joint fourth place at -5 (67) are the Irishman, Gary Hurley and Tomas Santos Silva from Portugal. Hurley, a former Challenge Tour player, had a tough 2019 season which culminated in him having foot surgery in October. It’s great to see him back on form shooting 6 birdies and just one bogey. Santos Silva is embarking on his second Alps Tour season. He had a steady front nine with one birdie and a bogey but really got fired up on the back nine carding five birdies.
With four players at -4 (68) , four players at -3 (69) and 8 players at -2 (70), the first tournament got off to a flying start and as we all know with the game of golf anything can happen in Round 2.
As a side note, the only Egyptian player, the rookie, Issa Abou El Ela, had a respectable round at +1 (73). Whilst the Cameroonian player, Issa Nlareb Amang, came in at +4 (76) in this, his first pro tournament since his partial amputation two years ago.
Tee off starts at 7:00 am local time with some showers forecast for this evening but the weather remaining partly sunny tomorrow.
Results: click here
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