28th May 2010 | Alps Tour Golf

Hodkinson until the end

alps-tour

English Adam Hodkinson wins the Montecchia Open with a total of -14, 3 strokes clear of fellow Ben Mannix, Scottish Steven Hume and Slovenian Gregor Slabe.

Hodkinson managed to play perfect week without any bogey during his 3 rounds. He had taken the lead on the first day and never let it go. Some players did try this afternoon to disturb the english plan : Spanish Bragulat shot 65 to lead for a while at the club house at -10. Then Scottish Steven Hume climbed on top with a nice 66 for -11 total.

But the hope ended quickly. Hodkinson holed for birdy on the 9th and 10th hole, took the lead and increased his advantage on the 15th hole. He confirmed his good form on the last hole to win With a nice margin. After Lawrence Dodd, Matteo Delpodio and Juan Bragulat, Alps Tour offered his first win to new player.

Hodkinson jumped to 7th position at the Alps Tour Order of merit. Same names in the top 5. Matteo Delpodio still leading but his advantage decreased, English Jason Palmer earned 2 places to be second followed by Spanish Carlos Balmaseda, English Lawrence Dodd and French Alan Bihan.

Agathe Séron


27th May 2010 | Alps Tour Golf

Hodkinson one clear at Montecchia Open

alps-tour

Adam Hodkinson kept the lead of Montecchia Golf Open, one stroke clear at -10. As yesterday, he did not drop any shot during today round and signed for 68, -4. He has one stroke advantage ahead of young Slovenian Gregor Slabe, 21 year old but already playing his third season on the Alps Tour.

At third position, with a total of -7, English man Neil Chaudhuri thanks to 67 second round.

Next to these brand new names on top of the leaderboard, “tough players” did better today to take part of the final battle. Obviously, Alps Tour leader, Italian Matteo Delpodio, did much better today with 66 best score of the day. Next to him, talented Scottish Gavin Dear played minus 4 today and share 4th position with a group of 4 players. Then, at -5, Englishman Jason Palmer 9th place tie with 3 other players.

Lots of players in the last groups tomorrow are in the top 10 of the Alps Tour order of merit. Some changes are to be expected once the tournament completed.

The cut is fixed at level par.

Agathe Séron


26th May 2010 | Alps Tour Golf

Poncelet and Hodinson share lead in Italy

alps-tour

English Adam Hodkinson and French Xavier Poncelet both lead the first Alps Tour event in Italy this season. They signed for 66, – 6 and neither the French nor the English dropped any shot on the course of Montecchia near Padova during their first round.

Hodkinson, 21 year, turned pro 2 years ago and had won the Alps Tour qualifying stage end 2008 but he had struggled a bit with his game last year. But he had two good weeks in Austria last month where he had two top 10.

Xavier Poncelet, 24 year old, made a great 7th place at the beginning of the season in Morocco but since, had some difficulties to confirm. Today score could be the launch of his season.

At third position, another Frenchman, rookie David Antonelli, one stroke behind. The first Italian player, Alessandro Grammatica, is 2 strokes behind the lead at fourth position tie with Slovenian Gregor Slabe.

The projected cut is +1.

Agathe Séron


16th May 2010 | Alps Tour Golf

Balmaseda wins in Slovenia

alps-tour

Spanish Carlos Balmaseda won the Putj Slovenian Open 3 shots clear of French rookie Matthieu Bey and four clear of English Matthew Cryer.

The 38 year old player from Madrid did honour his living town the week end it joined the race to 2018 Ryder Cup. Balmaseda, who had already many wins on his national soil, grabbed his first trophy on the Alps Tour. He had his best season on Peugeot Tour in 2007 when he got 5 titles and won the final order of merit.

This morning he shared the lead with Bey and fellow Garcia Fernandez. Meanwhile Bey took the lead after 3 birdies in a raw on last 3 of front nine, Garcia let his playing partners take advantage. On the 10th hole, Matthieu Bey erased all work by a triple bogey and experimented Spanish took charge.

It is the second Spanish win in 3 weeks after Bragulat ‘s one at Gôsser and knowing the way red-and-gold team used to celebrate, it is going to be a long night…

Balmaseda enters the top 5 directly at second position. Scottish Gavin Dear gets out for the first time of the year.

Agathe Séron


15th May 2010 | Alps Tour Golf

Trio leads in Slovenia

alps-tour

Mother nature won the match today. Rain and wind invited themselves at Ptuj Open and these diabolic partners made the field give in. The score of the lead increased to 5 under and now a group of 3 players are sharing the lead. Frenchman Matthieu Bey and Spanish Jorge Garcia Fernandez managed to keep there. Another Iberian player joined them, Carlos Balmaseda, very well known for gaudy clothes and very noticeable shoes.

He shot 69, -3 today and succeed in not dropping more than 2 shots. Compare to yesterday where many eagles holed on the 18th, the last hole was today a scene of lost of double bogeys. Despite this awful weather, 3 players signed for the best score of the day 68. No surprise to find an Irish player in this group : Richard Kilpatrick.  Nest to Swiss Jann Schmid and Austrian amateur Manuel Trappel.

In these conditions, the cut is quite high : +6. The best Slovenian player is professional Matjaz Gojcic. Amateur Aljaz Brumen made the cut as well.

Agathe Séron


14th May 2010 | Alps Tour Golf

Dual lead in Slovenia

alps-tour

Alps Tour established its camp for the week at Ptuj, Slovenia. Ptuj is one of the oldest town of the country, it was already populated during stone age and was very prosperous during Roman Empire. It recovered independence in Xth century.

Spanish Jorge Garcia Fernandez and French rookie Matthieu Bey both signed for 6 under par to lead at Ptuj golf club. The short course did suit well to Andrea Signor as well. He scored -4. A group of 5 players is 3 strokes behind the leaders. Among them, English Jason Palmer, who finished at second position last week to enter the top 5 of the order of merit. If Palmer does better this week, he would jump on the first place….

The projected cut is +2.

Agathe Séron


10th May 2010 | Alps Tour Golf

Alps Tour players made show on Challenge Tour

alps-tour

Many Alps Tour players did more than well last week in Brittany during the Challenge Tour event: Allianz Open.

Raymond Russell, winner at Emporda last month, was very closed to grab a second victory this year. He finished at second position tie with French Victor Riu, graduated to Challenge Tour through Alps Tour thanks to his 2008 season.

Another player, English Steve Lewton, 2nd of 2009 Alps Tour Order of Merit made us dream for a while. Unfortunatly, he dropped 5 shots on last 5 holes and took 5th place.

Damien Perrier, who was missed the cut in Austrian 2 weeks ago, did much more better on his own garden. Damien has been playing the Pléneuf Val André tournament for 7 years. His first invitation was when he was 13! He cought a very nice 9th place.

Then, Edouard Dubois, who finished 6th at Alps Tour 2009 order of Merit, did his best result of the year and got tie for 14th place.

Congratulations!

Agathe Séron


9th May 2010 | Alps Tour Golf

Bihan wins Lyoness Open

alps-tour

French Alan Bihan won by one shot  the Lyoness Open 2010 with a total of -18 after scoring 67. The suspense was high as many players shot really low scores.

In that kind of day, everything could happened and it did to Spanish Inigo Urquizu who holed in hole the 9th hole to grab a beautiful Harley Davidson. Obviously this shot did not disturb him and he signed for a great 65.

The main opponent to French Bihan was English Jason Palmer. He was playing in the penultimate group and Bihan could see his assault on leader board. Palmer made no mistake but missed one birdy to get into a play off. Bihan played perfectly as well.

“ I am so happy with this win. I knew during the round that many guys were making some birdies. But I managed to stay focus thanks to my father who was caddying me. He made me calm down and honestly I had the situation under control from the 1st to the last hole. Then, as I holed on the 15th for birdy I though about winning. I am so happy of the victory in Austria ! And what a check, that will help me a lot.”

The Lyoness Open is the biggest tournament of the season with a total breakdown of 66 000 €. Such a amount on Alps Tour often makes big move on the order of merit. The leader, Italian Matteo Delpodio keeps his advantage with more than 3000 points but won’t play next week in Slovenia. Coming closer, English Lawrence Dodd and taking third place French Alan Bihan. English Jason Palmer is fourth and Scot Gavin Dear lost 2 places but still in top 5.

Agathe Séron


8th May 2010 | Alps Tour Golf

Austrian Lepitschnik surprised to lead

alps-tour

Austrian Peter Lepitschnik, 32 year old, is the most surprised leader ever interviewed. He signed for a 67 today to lead by one stroke over French Alan Bihan and by 2 strokes ahead of Englishman Benjamin Mannix.

Lepitschnik who ended his playing pro career at the end of last year is living a amazing week and his feelings he said are a kind of confused :

“ It is so strange… I am now assistant teaching pro to make my degree and I just wanted to play tournaments in Austria… I have been working so long on my swing and it is working now ! I don’t understand. My friends are supporting me. I know that everything can happen on this course. Someone can shoot 62 and grab the win. I will play shot by shot and try to enjoy. Enjoy will be the keyword because it is more or less my last tournament for a while…”

Lepitschnik is right, many many low scores today : half of the field shot 69 or under. The race to victory is to be thrilling.

Agathe Séron


7th May 2010 | Alps Tour Golf

French Bihan on top at Lyoness Open

alps-tour

French Alan Bihan, 27 year old, fired 65 today after 67 during first round. He leads the Lyoness Open in Freiberg, Austria, by 2 strokes with a total of -12. He has again a good option of winning.

“I like the course very much, last year I finished third and it suits me better than the one last week because it is longer. But the main point is that today, I holed a lot of putts. I needed it because each year the level of players is getting better and better and you have to shot really low to be on top of the leaderboard.”

Bihan last win was in Memorial Olivier Barras in Crans sur Sierre in 2008 and he knows how to deal to be in the last group. His father, Marc Bihan, is carrying the bag as usual.

Being in the last group is quite new as professional for French rookie David Antonelli. The young man who just turned 24 last Tuesday, played very poor in March and April and his main sponsor told him that he will be faithful until end of May… He signed for two 67 in a raw and be 2 strokes behind the leader.

“Look, I knew I had to wake up and I did ! I have made my first cut last week and here at Lyoness Open, I think I had the best putting in my all life. Once you holed putts, even tough ones, you trust your swing more and more and then you are playing better !”

Last but not least, third man on the provisional podium is Austrian Peter Lepitschnik, with a total of -9. Lepitschnik used to be member of Alps Tour and after few seasons on circuit, he decided to make his degree as teacher in 2010. It seems that playing with no stress is the right way for Peter. He did well too last week at Gösser Open and is on the way to success whatever happened tomorrow and Sunday. Fans are there and smile came back on his face. Welcome back !

The cut is fixed at -1.

Agathe Séron

Latest Alps Tour Golf News