Denizkent, Turkey - James Meyer de Beco has won the Golf Mad Championship 2024. The Belgian won the play-off against Mathieu Decottignies-Lafon (France) on the third extra hole and cele-brated his first victory on the Pro Golf Tour. Third place was shared by Antoine Pouguet (France) and Jacob Jorgensen (Denmark).

The final turned out differently than hoped. After numerous mild sunny days over the tournament days at the picturesque Lykia Links Golf Club, it was the third and final round that was adversely affected by the weather. Due to the risk of thunderstorms, tournament director Marcus Hamberger called the players off the course - and with the risk remaining unchanged, he had no choice but to cancel the results of the third round that had already been recorded in the morning. The score after 36 holes was therefore also the final result.

Meyer de Beco and his French playing partner had started the final round tied on five under par. The horn sounded just as the duo were on the third green. After a break of several hours and distraction with darts and billiards in the clubhouse, they were able to continue.

In the play-off on the rainy afternoon, the 24-year-old from Liège had luck on his side. After two pars on each of the first two extra holes, Decottignies-Lafon missed his ball into the high rough on his third attempt. The 31-year-old subsequently gave up on the hole. Meyer de Beco celebrated his first title as a pro.

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Order of Merit of the 2024 Season

"It feels great," commented the winner of the 5,000 euro prize money. "I knew I was in very good shape. A lot of things came together this week. At the beginning of the sea-son I had a few problems with my putting, but that was much better. There were no weak points in my game."

He was also impressed by the layout of the challenging links course right on the Medi-terranean. "I always play very well on links courses," revealed the new number two in the Order of Merit. "This course demands maximum precision with the tee shots and approaches and the greens are very excitingly undulating. I will definitely be back."

Bekir Kara, Managing Director of title sponsor Golf Mad Travel, also drew a positive conclusion from the two tournaments in Belek: "It was very exciting to see how the top talents of the Pro Golf Tour performed on one of the most beautiful courses in the re-gion." The travel and event agency specialises in golf trips to the popular holiday region near Antalya. "The quality of the field was extremely high. We hope that players, organ-isers and spectators got a good impression of the high standard that Lykia Links and the many other top courses in the area have to offer."

The aces of the Pro Golf Tour are now heading back to Egypt. From 12 March, the Al-legria Open and the New Giza Pyramids Open 2024 are scheduled to take place in succession near Cairo - hopefully over 54 holes each.