21st February 2017 | Alps Tour Golf
Rookies Van Meijel and Vacarisas on top in Sokhna
Rookies are leading in Red Sea Little Venice Open. Dutch Lars Van Meijel and Spain’s Lucas Vacarisas (picture) are both -9 total after shooting respectively 66 and 69.
Van Meijel, member of the last victorious Palmer Cup, was in contention last week during the first event of the season. This experience can help him to improve his 4th recorded last week.
« It was really cold this morning but I started really well, I was 4 under through 6 holes. So I thought it would be a pretty low round. Afterward I did not hit that many good shots but that was good enough and the par 5 I birdied.
Tomorrow I am just gonna go play the same I have the last 5 rounds and we will see. It is fun here because there are a lot of players I played with as an amateur and there 3 Dutch guys so it doesn’t really change now that I am professional »
Vacarisas, 18, holed 6 birdies during his round but had some trouble on a couple of holes. He admitted he could feel the pressure of being on top of the leaderboard.
« My day was good but I was a bit nervous at the beginning of the round. But I tried to stay calm and be patient and after 4 holes I started to play my game. I hope I will be able to play the same tomorrow and to hole the putts same as today. There is one round left and if I manage to play my game I have a chance to win. »
Last week winner, France’s Julien Brun is tie for 18th place with -2 total.
19th April 2016 | Alps Tour Golf
Alumni and Members back to Sokhna
The leaders of the Alps Tour order of merit are back to Egypt this week thanks to their results in 2016. Franck Daux won back to back event in Sokhna last February, Matt Wallace wont the event in Cairo and David Carey, third at the ODM took the final invit. Antoine Schwartz, Alps Tour member, earns his invit thanks to a win in January.
They are more than 30 Alumni from Alps Tour to be in the field this week to honour the Egypt to come back in Challenge Tour schedule. Among them, current European Tour member Clément Berardo who played the Open de Espana in Valderrama last week.
Famous names are on the banks of Red Sea such as 2010 Alps Tour winner, Matteo Delpodio, and past years graduates, Jérôme Lando-Casanova, Matthieu Pavon, Darius Van Driel, Damien Perrier, Gareth Shaw, Steven Brown, Jason Barnes and Victor Riu.
Challenge Tour trusted Ali Mohamed, the golf manager, to organise a great event and Simon Higginbottom, Challenge Tournament Director, confirmed Alps Tour’s knowledge of the venue, thanks to its Director, Estelle Richard, was a great support.
11th February 2016 | Alps Tour Golf
Daux sealed maiden win in Sokhna
France’s Franck Daux sealed maiden win in Ein Bay Open. He signed for impressive 65, -7 to win with a 3 shot advantage over overnight leader, Julien Forêt. A group of 3 players tied for third place : England’s Matt Wallace, Spain’s Daniel Osorio and Enrico Di Nitto of Italy.
It was only slightly breezing today on Sokhna golf course and those fair playing conditions were perfect to expect low scores. Franck Daux took advantage not to be in the last group. He admitted it was a nice position to go for hunting the leaders. His target was very ambitious.
« I knew I was 3 shots back and I figured that Julien (Forêt) could shot -5 so my goal was -9. I started pretty well, I hit really solid iron shots and I managed to hole putts very soon. I made birdie on the 1st, third, 6th and 7th so I turned -4. I saw that I was tie with Di Nitto I think but they were 3 holes behind me.
I kept on saying to myself that it was not enough and I holed a hat trick of birdie from the 10th. Finally I holed two good putts, more then a meter at the end of the round and it could have been different if I had missed them.
I was 3 of 4 times in contention last year but it was too early. You know I almost quit golf 2 years ago but I gave myself one last chance and when I was leading last Spring in Spain it was to soon. Now I feel way more confident and that makes the difference. I am very happy with the work of my coach, Laurent Cabanne. We just came back from 2 weeks in the USA to practice and I am sure it was a big part of my success today. »
With this win, Daux earned an invitation to play the Egyptian Challenge Tour next April.
10th February 2016 | Alps Tour Golf
Foret soars in Ein Bay Open
France’s Julien Forêt fired an amazing 67 in windy day during second round in Sokhna Golf Club. He leads the Ein Bay Open with -8 total one stroke better than Italy’s Enrico Di Nitto and two ahead Spain’s Daniel Osorio.
Experimented Forêt, 33, took the lead after 36 holes in Egypt. The windy was quite strong today on Sokhna golf course and the atmosphere was fresh. Former European Tour player from Neo Caledonia tamed the greens to signed for best score of the day.
« I played really solid, especially with this wind today. I made one or two mistakes but I managed to erase them with a strong putting. I am pretty satisfied with my game today. It was better than during first round. I had scored low though but the game was not that good.
I like very much the course. It is way more difficult with the wind, you have to strike the ball well and there is no room for luck. »
The course is in perfect conditions, greens pace is 10.4 and only the best players could deal with them. Forêt holed 7 birdies and only dropped 2 shots. There are only 2 others players who broke 70 today, Di Nitto, to secure a second position going into last round and fellow countryman Federico Maccario to climb to 6th position.
Tough playing conditions made the cut higher than expected, 42 players at +3.
