Ain Sokhna/Egypt − Frenchman Antoine Schwartz is the first winner of the Pro Golf Tour season 2016. At the Red Sea Egyptian Classic in Ain Sokhna the man from Paris was able to prevail against his opponnents with a total 6 under par (73, 68, 69). The 26-year-old secured his victory with a margin of only one stroke ahead of Scotsman David Law (70, 71, 70/-5). Filip Mruzek finished as third (74, 70, 68/-4).
Antoine Schwartz had finished the 2015 season as 11^th after a victory at the CEEVEE Leather Open in June. In Ain Sokhna the Frenchman impressively proved that his aims in 2016 are higher: A very solid and concentrated game granted him the trophy, 5000 ranking points in the Pro Golf Tour Order of Merit and also as much Euros prize money. On the excellent course of the Sokhna Golf Club Schwartz managed to play a reliable 73 on the first day while heavy squalls made it much more difficult to play. The day after was even more successful for Schwartz, as he only needed 68 strokes in round two. He stayed bugless, scored two birdies and an eagle. After 36 holes the 26-year-old shared the first place on the leaderboard with Scotsman David Law, who had already been in the lead since Tuesday.
It was a thrilling final round on the excellent prepared par-72 course: Just a single birdie more than Law was enough for Schwartz to secure the win and become the first Pro Golf Tour tournament-winner in 2016. “I’ve worked a bit on my technical skills but mainly on my physical conditions during the mid-season break”, said Schwartz. “The season is very long and last year I got a little tired. This shouldn’t happen again to me.”

Wildcard for the European Challenge Tour

His main goal at the end of the year is to reach the Top 5 of the Order of Merit and Schwartz is definitely aware of the importance of this early success: “If you take a closer look at who improved to the Challenge Tour the past years, you’ll notice that nearly all of them celebrated victories at the start of the season. So it just makes me even happier, that I was able to win on the first try.”

Tournament No. 2, the Red Sea Ain Sokhna Classic 2016, will start on Monday on a different course combination but still in the Sokhna Golf Club. Antoine Schwartz will participate again but with his win he had also earned a third start at a tournament in Egypt. Both winners of the Red Sea tournaments will receive an invitation to the Red Sea Egyptian Challenge, the first event of the European Challenge Tour in 2016, which will take place from April 20 to 23 in Ain Sokhna.