Union’s Andy Ogletree oozed class on his way to securing his maiden title in the professional game today after winning the $1.5 million International Series Egypt at Madinaty Golf Club in Cairo.
The former U.S. Amateur champion found his feet in the play for pay game after firing a final round eight-under-par 62 to finish with a tournament total of 23 under and win by four shots from Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger, who returned a 63.
Korean Jeunghun Wang (64) and Sihwan Kim (65) from the United States tied for third, seven behind the winner. The result saw Sihwan Kim return to the top of the Asian Tour Order of Merit list.
Ogletree started the day with a three-shot advantage from Wiesberger and took a firm grip of the tournament by touring the front nine in four-under-par 32 with birdies on one, three, five, seven and nine with a dropped shot on eight doing little damage to his lead.
“This is amazing, just incredible,” said the rising star from Union, who earned a check for $270,000.
“I have always been a huge fan of match play and that is kind of what it came to in the end, it was basically a two-man race,” Ogletree said. “I just tried to keep matching what he was doing, I kept making a lot of putts. Fortunately, I was able to play better than Bernd, he’s a great player and it was really awesome to come out on top.”
The 24-year-old, who played on the golf team at the prestigious Georgia Tech University, won the US Amateur in 2019 and was part of the victorious American team at the Walker Cup the same year. He turned professional the following year and is a rookie on the Asian Tour this season.
“It has been an awesome week,” Ogletree said. “It was my first time in Egypt. I got to experience everything the tourists do, I went to the Pyramids, we stayed at a great hotel and the golf course was spectacular. It has just been a really awesome. My first trip to Egypt is one that I will never forget.”
Wiesberger was attempting to win his third Asian Tour title and first in nine years but found Ogletree just too good today.
“Yeah, I mean I take that [shooting a 63] going into Sunday in the last group,” said the 37-year-old, an eight-time winner on the DP World Tour. You know, it wasn’t good enough to throw everything at him. A couple of loose bogeys but other than that I did as much as I could. He holed a lot of putts when I was in position to do so. He had it going on the greens today so fair play to him. I played a good round and can be proud of myself.
“It was nice, good to stay competitive, good feeling, good golf course and tried to hit a lot of good shots. Coming in with a nice result is always a bonus as well.”
Last year’s U.S. Amateur champion James Piot from the United States fired a 66 to finish in sole possession of fifth, eight back from Ogletree.
Two more events remain on the Asian Tour this season: the Bangabandhu Cup Golf Bangladesh Open (Nov. 24-27) and the BNI Indonesian Masters presented by TNE (Dec. 1-4).
