A windy final day of the Alps Tour’s Tunisian Golf Open would see Alex Maguire put in a terrific performance but come up agonisingly shy of a first professional victory.
Maguire had Italian company for his stroll around the scenic La Cigale Tabarka GC in the form of Filippo Grossi. Grossi one of the Italians to feel the wind today with five doubles seeing him close out on +12 for Saturday in a bruising round.
No such trouble for Maguire though as the 23-year-old would cruise around his front nine blemish-free and with three birdies in his pocket to hit the turn in good shape. An unfortunate wobble with back-to-back bogeys to begin his back nine will linger in the mind of Maguire having finished a single stroke off the top.
A great bounce-back followed though as he would put together a run of four straight birdies from the 12th onwards. He would go on to give one more shot back to the course on his penultimate hole of the week, but Maguire will take a lot of heart from this week having only turned professional this year.
Last year’s East of Ireland Champion finished his week on -9 after his four-under and seems to be settling into life in the professional ranks.
Three pars would see Robert Moran start his day steady, but damage was to come with the first of three disappointing double-bogeys coming at the par-4 4th hole. Another bogey straight after would follow but the Castle man would scrap two back with two birdies on the bounce before his second double of the day on the par-5 9th. This saw him turn in 39 and his third double of the day came at the 12th and inflicted more pain on a tough final day. One more birdie on his way homeward but this would not be much comfort to Moran as he slipped back to finish his week tied for 23rd.
The overnight leader Manfredi Manica had a complete capitulation as a +9 saw his first two day’s work all undone.
Nobody could catch Italian, Gianmaria Rean Trinchero however, who would follow his course record round of 63 with another fine round of three-under to clinch his second victory on the Alps Tour. Even a dropped shot on 18 could not stop Trinchero from claiming the title.
Frenchman Kedochim finishes the week in third on -8 while Ben Schmidt of England and Sebastian Gandon round off the top five.
“I’m very happy about this victory,” Trinchero said. “Today was tough out there, the wind was blowing strong from the 1st hole, the conditions were way tougher than yesterday which I played in the morning with no wind. I’m very happy about the entire week, my game was in great conditions. I hit my shots all very well, I found the fairways, found the greens, and hit my putts super well. I want to thank the Alps Tour, the hotel La Cigale, and especially my team and sponsors. I want to thank Camilla, my fiancée and putting coach. Giovanni and Leonardo who are also part of my team and Silvia, my main sponsor, without you this would be impossible so thank you very much. I also want to thank the Tunisian Federation for hosting us.”
The next event on the schedule is set for May 8th-10th in Italy. Players will compete for the 2024 Memorial Giorgio Bordoni presented by AON title at Golf Club La Pinetina near Como.
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