Casablanca/Morocco – The German Jonas Kölbing and the Frenchman Antoine Schwartz marched in step at the head of the field for two and a half days during the Open Prestigia 2018. But when it came to the crunch, they both showed nerves in unison and played two bogeys each on the tournament’s last three holes. Unlike the Scotsman Liam Johnston, who had already completed holes 16, 17 and 18 on The Tony Jacklin course with three birdies during the final round the day before, thus securing the first tournament win of his still young professional career. “I concentrated totally on my game and tried to keep up with my competitors and hit as many birdies as possible,” says Johnston. While he didn’t manage to do this on the front nine of the par 72 course, where he played 1 over par and the frontrunners widened their lead, this plan worked all the better on the way back to the clubhouse: he putted birdies at the 10th, 13th, 16th, 17th and 18th hole, thus upholding his strong performance from round 2: he had mastered fairways 10 to 18 with 27 strokes and putted a birdie eight times. Johnston: “Obviously this section of the course suits me.”

The Pro Golf Tour celebrated a successful start to the 2018 Moroccan tournaments with the Open Prestigia. To give as many players as possible the chance to play despite the limited daylight due to the time of year, rounds 1 and 2 were organised alternately at The Tony Jacklin and Palmeraie Country Club courses. There are a total of seven events in the western state of Maghreb on the programme this year; the players are already competing in the first round of the Open Casa Green Golf on Thursday, which is also being held on two courses in Casablanca: on the Palmeraie Country Club course again, plus the Casa Green Golf Club course. There’s a special reward for the best player in all the Pro Golf Tour 2018 Moroccan tournaments again: he receives a wild card for the Trophée Hassan II, a European Tour tournament endowed with EUR 2.5 million, which is being held from 19 to 22 April on the Royal Golf Dar Es Salam golf course in Rabat