Diedorf/Germany – The Pro Golf Tour players start the 2022 season with a series of five tournaments in two blocks in Egypt. The opening of the Order of Merit tournaments will take place in Cairo this time, where the Dreamland Pyramids Classic will kick off the season from 15 to 17 March. As in all the following tournaments, the prize money will amount to 30,000 euros with just as many Order of Merit points up for grabs just outside the Egyptian capital. The premiere of the tournament last year was won by Portuguese Tomas Gouveia, laying the foundation for his promotion to the Challenge Tour.

Mathieu Decottignies Lafon, the overall winner of the 2021 Pro Golf Tour, also has fond memories of Egypt. The Frenchman celebrated his first victory of the season at the NewGiza Pyramids Challenge, which was also held for the first time last year, followed by another win at the Wolf Open in Germany, and as we all know, the man from Biarritz was the one to hold up the big 2021 Pro Golf Tour Champion cup in the end. This time, the Pro Golf Tour will be guesting on the outstanding course at the NewGiza Golf Club, within sight of the Pyramids of Giza, from 20 to 22 March.

Tournament number 3 of the season opener in Egypt is, after all, a premiere: the spectacular “The Allegria” course will be the venue for the Allegria Open, where the professionals will compete for the first time on the championship course designed by Australian golf legend Greg Norman from 25 to 27 March. The course is 6,600 metres long, was named Egypt’s best golf course in 2020, and guarantees a worthy finale to the 2022 season opener in Cairo. And even after that, the tour is staying in the land of the Pharaohs: after a two-week break, the Red Sea Ain Sokhna Classic (12-14 April) and the Red Sea Egyptian Classic (17-19 April) are two true Egyptian classics on the tournament calendar in April.

Tradition in Austria

Traditionally, the Pro Golf Tour returns to Central Europe at the end of April, and as in previous years, it will first make a guest appearance at the Haugschlag golf resort in Austria’s Waldviertel region. From 27 to 29 April, the players will show their skills on the challenging “Haugschlag” championship course at the Haugschlag NÖ Open by perfect eagle, which Swiss Marco Iten did particularly successfully last year when he won the title there. The next tournaments are the EXTEC Trophy at the Ypsilon Golf Resort Liberec in the Czech Republic (13-15 May), the Leipziger Golf Open is expected to return to the Satellite Tour calendar at the end of May/beginning of June, which then includes the Gradi Polish Open (22-24 June) in Prusice, Poland, and the Raiffeisen Pro Golf Tour St. Pölten in Austria (28-30 June) in the second half of June.

When the Pro Golf Tour finally returns to Germany in July, a new tournament but at the same time a well-known venue will be on the programme: the “Weihenstephan Open” is scheduled for 10-12 July, to be played on the course at the Holledau Golf Club in Rudelzhausen, where the Wolf Open was held in the 2021 season. With last year’s winner Mathieu Decottignies Lafon being expected to be busy on the Challenge Tour this time and therefore not competing in the Hallertau, it will be interesting to see who can secure the winner’s trophy on the picturesque golf course under the new title sponsor “Weihenstephaner”.

Finally, there is a tournament premiere in every respect in August: from 8 to 10 August, the Pro Golf Tour professionals will be guests for the first time on the golf course at 1. GC Fürth in Franconia, which is located in the middle of the small Bavarian town near Nuremberg. This course offers small, fast greens as well as narrow landing zones for the drive, which above all calls for precision from the tee.

Tour feeling in the Netherlands

The players will then go birdie hunting at the ALTEPRO Trophy in the Czech Republic from 26 to 28 August before the 2022 season heads into its final spurt in September: first up, Pro Golf Tour members face the outstanding course at DGC De Gelpenberg in the Netherlands from 1-3 September for the second edition of the FaberExposize Gelpenberg Open. The greens especially, but also the entire tournament, were given top marks by the players after last year’s premiere, where the outstanding set-up created a real tour feeling. The win was clinched by German Frederik Schott.

Finally, it’s back to the far north for the season finale: the Castanea Resort Championship will take place from 26 to 28 September at the resort of the same name in Adendorf and will once again be the final Pro Golf Tour Order of Merit tournament. The prize money of 50,000 euros guarantees suspense until the last putt, after which the 2022 overall winner and climbers to the Challenge Tour will be determined.