MENA TOUR EGYPTIAN SWING TEES OFF IN CAIRO Madinaty Golf Club, New Cairo -February 2 2023
The MENA Tour returned to Egypt this week to host the first of 2 events scheduled on its Egyptian Swing Series in the 2022/23 season.
Madinaty Golf Club in New Cairo is the host venue for the Egyptian Swing events, and the golf course has been professionally presented in immaculate condition for tournament play.
The Cairo weather, however, had other ideas for this week’s tournament & presented players with significant challenges over the 3-day events. High winds on during the first 2 rounds resulted in the suspension of play for almost 3 hours. Players braved the adverse conditions all weeks to complete 2 rounds on the morning or day 3.
53 professionals & 4 amateurs went back out on the course to compete in the 3rd & final round later Thursday afternoon. Thankfully the weather provided a window to complete before daylight faded.
English player Ben Jones topped the leaderboard after day 1 with an opening round of 66 (- 5). He was being chased by his compatriot Curtis Knipes, who carded a 3 under par round of 68.
Scoring on day 2 was extremely difficult due to the high winds, but Jack Floydd returned a very impressive score of 64 (-8) to jump to a share at the of the leaderboard with Jones. Sweden’s Jesper Alm delayed round 2 scores and saw him jump into contention with a score of 64.
Play during the final round was played throughout the afternoon, offering players a better scoring opportunity.
Knipes went out strongly, carding 5 birdies in his opening 9 holes, pushing. Alm, Jones & Floydd are ahead of him. He returned a great score of 65 to finish for a total of 4 under par for the tournament.
Jack Floydd posted a level par front 9 with 2 birdies & 2 bogeys & returned with 2 more birdies on the back 9 to finish with a final tournament score of 7 under par.
It was Jones who triumphed in the end with a flurry of birdies on his back 9. He shot a final round of 68 (-4) to come out on top after the 3 days with a final score of 8 under par
The top 3 placed amateur players in the event were playing together in the final round & it was French player Jules Lauer who came out on top over Swede Andreas Weiderman and Egyptian player Mohamed Abou El Ela.
MENA Tour is driving the development of professional golf throughout the MENA region by giving the region's professional & elite amateur players the opportunity to play professionally managed tournaments amongst international players at world-class events. MENA Tour is proud to be one of the only professional tours to offer guaranteed playing spots for amateurs, both regional & international and one of the first tours in the world to offer a limited prize fund for amateur players.
Full details of the MENA Tour can be viewed at www.menatour.golf