At the start of the season, Marco Iten and Fiorino Clerici finished in joint 39th place. In the second tournament of the Pro Golf Tour in Egypt, the experienced Iten improved to 3rd place, only one stroke behind the neo-professional Clerici in 5th place.

The Newgiza Pyramids Challenge near Cairo was marked by brutally violent gusts, especially on the first day. "It was almost a matter of bare survival on the course. Depending on the gusts, I had to take about 3 or four clubs more than usual," says 25-year-old Fiorino Clerici after his second tournament on the Pro Golf Tour. The Zurich native "survived" the first day with a round of 75 or three over par. With daily scores of 70 and 67 strokes, Clerici then played his way closer and closer to the top of the leaderboard. In the end, with a total of four under par, two strokes were missing for a play-off. "I am very satisfied with my fifth place in the second tournament," said Clerici. In the final round, he hit 15 of 18 greens in regulation. "And I putted really well." In round two, he had to record a single double bogey on hole 12, but with four birdies in a row at the end of the day, he managed the ideal reaction.

Marco Iten also started with a 75. After that, the 31-year-old from Zurich managed two rounds of 68. In the second round from hole 10, he recorded the second double bogey of the tournament, but was soon able to make up the deficit. Thanks in part to an eagle on hole 1 (par 4), Iten started the final round only four strokes behind the leader. There, he managed an important eagle from a good 5 metres on hole 3 (par 5). "After that, I had a few more chances, used three of them and am very satisfied with the tournament overall," said the player from Golfclub Rheinblick.

The victory went to the German Maximilian Herrmann, he was the only one in the field to stay under par on all three days, but still had to go into overtime against the Frenchman Alexandre Petit at six under par.

Three other Swiss players qualified for the final. Luca Galliano finished the tournament in 34th place. Amateur Cédric Gugler and neo-professional Loris Schüpbach finished one stroke behind. For Gugler from Basel, the start in Egypt was the first appearance on the Pro Golf Tour after the Recruiting School for elite athletes. Funnily enough, both Swiss players returned to the clubhouse with the exact same score of 74, 75 and 73 strokes on all three days. "I am reasonably satisfied with the start," Gugler comments on the first appearance. "I still see a lot of potential. But my game is very solid and if a few more putts fall, I'll play for the victory. The season just begun, so I'm optimistic," he adds.

For Schüpbach, the first final means the first small prize money. "I'm happy to have made the first cut as a pro. My game this week was solid. I missed a few shots on the greens, which prevented me from a top ranking." So he takes a lot of positives from the first two tournaments: "I know exactly what I can still work on."

Stefan Waldvogel

Article retrieved from www.swissgolf.ch