Last week’s champion Jack Davidson heads a competitive international field as the MENA Golf Tour concludes its four-event Egypt swing at the Egypt Golf Series Madinaty this week.
The Welshman arrives at Madinaty Golf Club in Cairo riding a wave of confidence following his dramatic play-off victory at Address Marassi Golf Resort, where he holed an eagle putt on the first extra hole to defeat Spain’s Juan Salama and claim his maiden MENA Golf Tour title.
“Obviously winning gives you a lot of confidence,” Davidson said. “I feel like my game has been in a good place for a little while now, and that win is something I can really take forward into this week. I’ll be seeing the course for the first time today, but I’ve heard really good things about it and I’m really looking forward to getting started.”
The victory capped a remarkable turnaround for Davidson, who fired a course record-equalling 63 in round two after opening with a one-over 71. He now sits fourth in the MENA Golf Tour Rankings and has emerged as one of the form players on the circuit.
“The return of the MENA Golf Tour has come at the perfect time for me,” Davidson said. “I was starting to see improvements in my game but didn’t have anywhere to play, and this tour has given me the chance to compete against strong international fields on fantastic golf courses.”
With rankings leader Chris Wood absent this week – the former DP World Tour winner is competing at the Qatar Masters, an event he has won previously – those chasing him have an opportunity to close the gap. Wood leads on 39,820 points, with Italy’s Ludovico Addabbo (22,910), England’s Charlie Crockett (22,450) and Davidson (21,355) all within striking distance should they perform well at Madinaty.
“The Egypt Golf Series has exceeded all expectations,” said Keith Waters, Chairman and Tour Commissioner of the MENA Golf Tour. “We’ve seen fantastic golf across four world-class venues, and the partnership with the Egyptian Golf Federation has delivered exactly what we hoped – competitive fields, strong international participation, and valuable ranking points for our members.”
The field features considerable experience at the highest level, with Spain’s Alejandro Cañizares — a two-time DP World Tour winner with over 400 starts on the circuit — joined by England’s Ashley Chesters and fellow HotelPlanner Tour campaigners.
Among the other category one tournament winners in the field are Italy’s Ludovico Addabbo, who leads the chasing pack in the rankings following his victory at the PGA Aroeira Challenge, Austria’s Aron Zemmer, England’s David Hague and Ben Jones, and France’s Robin Roussel.
Nine Egyptian players will fly the flag for the host nation, with amateur Adam Elshamy looking to complete a hat-trick of leading Egyptian performances after impressive showings across the swing.
Madinaty Golf Club presents a stern test according to those familiar with the layout.
“It’s very long and quite wide off the tee, but the greens are extremely slick with a lot of tricky slopes and heavy breaks, so you really have to be sharp around the greens,” said local player Aly Fahmy, for whom Madinaty is his home course.
The week marks the final opportunity for players to accumulate ranking points in Egypt, with $100,000 in prize money and Official World Golf Ranking points on offer. The Tour then heads to Morocco later this month before continuing to Jordan and the GCC.
The first round of the Egypt Golf Series Madinaty begins on Tuesday 3 February.
