Joel Girrbach in Kenia in the Prize Money
24.03.2019

Joel Girrbach did well in his first event of the year on the European Tour. He made the cut at the Kenya Open in Nairobi and classified in the prize money. Three solid rounds of 72, 71 and 71 strokes followed by a 75 (4 over par) on the final day, which threw the 25-year-old back to the 72nd final rank. The other two Swiss PGA pros in the field, Marco Iten and Raphael de Sousa, had started badly with 75 (Iten) and 77 (de Sousa). De Sousa recovered on the second day with a 68 (3 under par), but he missed the cut like Marco Iten.

On the Pro Golf Tour, Benjamin Rusch narrowly missed his first win of the season at the Open Royal Golf Anfa Mohammedia in Morocco. With two strong rounds (69/67) he started in the tournament, but was intercepted on the final day by the outstanding Frenchman Edouard Dubois, who played in the final round four under par. Rusch finished second with a +1 on the final day. With Perry Cohen on rank 37, another Swiss PGA player made the cut.

Already in the first week of March, the PGT Professionals had been deployed in Morocco. Perry Cohen was ranked sixth in the Open Madaef for best Swiss. Yann Pfeiffer finished 14th, Benjamin Rusch 25th and Luca Galliano finished 30th.

At the second tournament of the "Winter Series" on the Alps Tour at the end of February in Suez (Egypt), two Swiss PGA representatives made the cut and placed in the prize money. Strong wind dominated rounds 2 and 3 of the Red Sea Little Venice Open. Mathias Eggenberger played for a long time for the win - 17 pars and 1 birdie in the final round, but ultimately ranked 6 (score: 212 / -4). He missed a playoff by 2 strokes. Arthur Ameil-Planchin dropped to 48th place on the final day with a score of 76 (score: 224 / + 8).

The Ladies European Tour started the season in Oceania. At the Women's NSW Open in Australia, two Swiss PGA pros were in the field - Kim Métraux and Melanie Mätzler. Both Swiss missed the cut by 2 strokes with a score of 147 (+5). Melanie Mätzler, started at the Canberra Classic earlier this month. There she completed the first two rounds with a total of 148 strokes (+6) and missed the cut (143).

Caroline Rominger was the only Swiss woman to make the cut at the Cape Town Open on the Ladies Sunshine Tour and was ranked 4th. With a 2-over-par round on the final day she missed the top3 closely.

Last week, two Swiss women were in action at the Jabra Ladies Classic, which is also part of the Ladies Sunshine Tour. Both made the cut in Edenvale at Johannesburg and classified themselves in the prize money: Rachel Rossel ranked 15th, and Clara Pietri 27th.