El Jadida/Morocco – Morocco is still a great place for Robbie van West: the professional from Eindhoven won here last year when he claimed Open The Tony Jacklin in Casablanca thus laying the foundation for his promotion to the Challenge Tour 2018 later on. Now he’s at the start again in Morocco and takes his place right at the top on the winner’s podium again. “The Pro Golf Tour tournaments in Morocco are really superb and I’m naturally using this first-class opportunity to prepare myself for the season,” says van West. This week, with the Open Madaef, the players probably passed the toughest sporty test of all the seven Morocco tournaments this year. The 6,225 metre long par 72 course is a real touchstone even with excellent weather conditions. When the tournament is accompanied by heavy rain and stormy winds, as in the last few days, the round becomes “a really tough test,” says van West. “This course is very varied and extremely challenging. The course calls for every club in the bag and you also have to play every single stroke here in a very considered way due to the comparatively small greens.”

The winner managed this above all in the final round: having had to record a bogey on the 4th fairway, he holed at holes 10, 11 and 12 scoring each a birdie thus adding his name to the leader board. Another bogey on the 14th fairway was countered on the 15th by return with a birdie from six metres and a bit later he marched to the 18th tee with par for 53 holes up to this point. German Moritz Lampert was already sitting in the clubhouse as the leader but van West was once again able to actually score another birdie at this 494 metre long par 5, thus winning the tournament. His summary: “I didn’t actually play that well today but I really did make use of my chances very consistently.”

Thanks to his first win of the season, Robbie van West is catapulted from 21st place to 2nd in the Pro Golf Tour Order of Merit, the Scotsman Liam Johnston remains in the lead. The next Pro Golf Tour 2018 tournament is already on the programme on Thursday with round 1 of the Open Palmeraie Country Club in Casablanca when the battle is on for EUR 30,000 prize money again. And as you know Robbie van West doesn’t just have the best memories of Casablanca since the 2018 season.