Hugh Foley tied for third in the New Giza Open to move up to 10th in the Alps Tour rankings after his first three events.
The Royal Dublin man went into the final round one stroke behind Argentina’s Gato Bertinotti, France’s Quentin Debove and Spain’s Javier Barcos on 11-under.
He picked up two shots in his first six holes to keep the leaders in his sights but bogeyed the par-five ninth and eventually birdied two of the three par-fives on the back nine to close with a three-under 69.
That left him tied for third (€2,485) with Spain’s Juan Salama Monsalve (69) on 14-under, three shots outside a playoff that saw Barcos (67) birdie on the first playoff hole to beat new ranking leader Debove (67) and claim his first Alps Tour victory.
Foley was pleased with his first three starts on the Alps Tour in Egypt, where he tied for 10th in the Ein Bay Open and followed a missed cut in the Red Sea Little Venice Open with his T3 in Cairo.
“I was a very enjoyable start to the Alps Tour,” said Foley, who is coached by Geoff Loughrey at the Made In Holywood Academy at Roganstown. “They were really well run events, and it was great to get away during the cold spell at home to play golf in the Middle East.
“It was great. It’s pretty much the same day every day, 23 degrees and a little bit of breeze, to be fair, which was good.
“I thought it’d be flat calm every day, but there was at least a club wind every day, so it was a good challenge and different from the golf we play back home.
“I was happy with the birdie count, and getting a good few rounds in the 60s was nice. So I’m trying to keep up the good work off the course with Geoff and in the gym with the physio and hopefully I can keep everything ticking over and keep that run of form going.
“Obviously, golf can be up and down so I am just trying to gather as much experience as I can and improve as a golfer. It was definitely a fun start. I enjoyed it.”
As for his final round at New Giza Golf Club, he felt it was “solid”.
“I played really, really well in the first couple of rounds, and maybe the back nine last night, I hit a few looser shots, and today was pretty good.
“I probably hit a lot of greens, but and just not quite close enough, or not quite below the hole, so I had a few tricky putts that were swinging a few cups right to left or left to right and I basically I bogey the ninth, which was a birdieable par-five.
“I felt I got slightly unlucky there as one of my shots kicked off a hose into the waste area and I had to hack out. That was probably a two shot swing, and I felt that unless I had a brilliant nine holes, winning was out of reach.
“I tried to keep playing aggressively and smart at the same time, and had a lot of birdie looks on the back nine and just made one on 17.
“But overall, I was very pleased, and we’ll try and figure out how it can improve and hopefully get into that position again, but do a little bit better.”
Castle’s Robert Moran closed with a bogey-free 67 to tie for 10th (€924.50) on 10-under and share 24th in the rankings.
Ronan Mullarney’s 70 left him tied for 19th (€648.25) on seven-under to sit fifth in the race for five HotelPlanner Tour cards.
Kinsale’s John Murphy shot 73 to tie for 23rd on six-under, leaving him 36th in the standings.
The Alps Tour takes two weeks off before returning for back-to-back events in Tunisia.
Foley is not putting his clubs away, however, and plans to team up with Jake Hapgood in the Sunningdale Foursomes.
