The event has a rich history, having previously been won by Open champion Bobby Locke, while golfing legends like Rory McIlroy and Gary Player are among those to have played the tournament
Africa’s oldest golf tournament is to make its return after more than a decade away as the Egyptian Open is revived on the Asian Development Tour.
The event has a rich history, having previously been won by Open champion Bobby Locke, while golfing legends like Rory McIlroy, Gary Player and Colin Montgomerie are among those to have played the tournament.
McIlroy was in the field the last time it was held back in 2010, the same year he was part of his first successful Ryder Cup team with Europe at Celtic Manor.
The Northern Irishman has since gone onto complete the Grand Slam of majors, and helped Europe triumph in the Ryder Cup on US soil for the first time in 13 years the weekend just gone.
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That success coincided with the announcement of the revival of the Egyptian Open, whose history dates all the way back to 1921, with the tournament set to be hosted at the prestigious Madinaty Golf Club from October 29 to November 1 this year.
For Asian Development Tour general manager Ken Kudo, it was the perfect opportunity to expand the tour into North Africa.
He said: “From our side, it’s really just an honour to be the platform chosen to partner with. This is the oldest golf tournament in the region so to be part of that revival is as big for them as it is for us.
“We are expanding into the Middle East and North Africa so to have two events on the schedule for at least the next four years in Egypt is perfect for us and our players.”
The Egyptian Open will be one of the closing events of the Asian Development Tour season and will feature a field of 132 players. Eighty-five players from the Tour will be eligible along with more than 30 from the Arab region.
The tournament also represents a significant milestone for the Arab Golf Federation, which is working to create more international tournaments in the Arab world and to build solid pathways for emerging talent.
And Josh North, the general manager of Talaat Moustafa Group, who works closely with the Egyptian Golf Federation, believes this move could see an even greater interest in golf in Egypt.
He said: “Golf is becoming trendy in Egypt. Bringing international tours to Egypt is something new. It’s been a long time in the making.
“A phrase we have been using is that Egypt is a sleeping giant. We never thought the day would come but now it has and now it’s time.”
