Steven Tiley receives the Egyptian Open championship trophy from Ayman Hussein, chairman of the Egyptian Golf Federation.

Monty fifth, Murray sixth behind Egyptian Open winner Tiley

By ALAN EWENS, Egyptian Open Press Officer
England’s Steven Tiley held his nerve to lead from the front and win by four shots at the $200,000 Egyptian Open after a wind-swept final round at Mirage City Golf Club, Cairo.
It was a controlled performance from the 27 year-old who played on both the Asian Tour and European Challenge Tour this season before recording the biggest win of his career, thanks to a final round 68 that saw him take the title by four strokes with a 13-under-par total of 275.
For a while a play-off had looked possible as Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen birdied the 17th to go level with Tiley on 11 under par. Unfortunately for the Dane, a double bogey on the last saw him drop back to nine under, while Tiley grabbed birdies on two of the last three holes to clinch the title.
“When he went to eleven under with me, I thought it was going to be a very close finish,” said Tiley after receiving the 88 year-old trophy from Ayman Hussein, Chairman of the host Egyptian Golf Federation. “But once that double bogey was posted and he dropped to nine under, I knew a par-par finish would be enough so to birdie 17 was a bonus and I could relax coming up the last.”
One of the famed ISM Management stable that includes the likes of Lee Westwood, Ernie Els and Darren Clarke, Tiley revealed that a phone call from ISM chief Andrew Chandler had helped him focus on the job in hand.
“Chubby told me to just keep doing what I was doing – hitting fairway and greens,” he smiled. “It’s simple but it kept me focused on my game. I just did what I had to do and let the others make mistakes.”
Tiley’s names goes on to the venerable old trophy after an event that saw European Ryder Cup skipper Colin Montgomerie finish in fifth place after a disappointing final round at the JW Marriott Mirage City Golf Club. Monty, who had started the day just three behind the leader, got to within one shot of Tiley but had to settle for an even par 72 seven shots adrift of the new champion.
“I played well all week but just not consistently enough,” said Montgomerie. “Today was a poor day – driving well and putting OK but never at the same time. But overall I’m not too concerned. I’ll get it going again.”
Despite a fierce wind that blew over the trophy on the first tee and threatened to knock many of the players off their feet, Tiley settled quickly picking up a birdie on the second hole before surrendering it on the third.
Despite the setback, he picked up another five shots with a solitary bogey on the 14th the only blemish on a calm and collected back nine.
“It’s been a great week for me,” he added. “I’ll take a break next week then go to the second stage of Q School in Spain. This has certainly given me a boost in confidence so I’m looking forward to it.”
Although not part of the official European Challenge Tour, the Egyptian Open showed it has the capacity to put on a worthy event enjoyed by all the visiting pros and amateurs.
“We’ve seen some wonderful golf over the four days and our thanks must go to the player from the European Challenge Tour who agreed to join our local and regional golfers in what we believe to be a unique event in this part of the world,” said Tournament Director Gerard Bent of the Egyptian Golf Federation.
“Their presence – and obviously that of Colin Montgomerie – has given golf in Egypt an international profile and we hope to push on from here and stage full Challenge Tour and possibly European Tour events in the years to come.”
FINAL TOTALS
Par 288
275 Steven Tiley (Eng) 69 70 68 68.
279 Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 69 70 72 68.
280 Thomas Feyrsinger (Aut) 69 71 70 70.
281 Christoph Gunther (Ger) 70 72 67 72.
282 Colin Montgomerie (Sco) 69 72 69 72.
283 George Murray (Sco) 70 71 72 70.
284 Andrew Marshall (Eng) 67 77 70 70, Julien Grillon (Fra) 66 74 72 72, David Griffiths (Eng) 71 71 71 71, Ross Bain (Sco) 70 75 69 70.
285 Richard Kilpatrick (NIr) 70 73 69 73.
286 Peter Kaensche (Nor) 73 72 70 71, Joel Sjoholm (Swe) 68 74 72 72, Jan-Are Larsen (Nor) 70 70 74 72, Leif Westerberg (Swe) 70 72 71 73.
287 Sandeep Grewal (Eng) 73 74 68 72, Calle Carlsson (Swe) 66 73 72 76, Gareth Shaw (NIr) 74 72 69 72, Christophe Brazillier (Fra) 73 75 68 71, Andre Bossert (Swi) 69 73 67 78, Joakim Rask (Swe) 70 75 69 73.
288 Carl Suneson (Spa) 65 73 75 75.
289 Pablo Del Grosso (Arg) 70 73 74 72, Lloyd Kennedy (Eng) 72 70 72 75, Steve Surry (Eng) 69 72 73 75.
290 Bjorn Pettersson (Swe) 72 77 70 71, Ian Keenan (Eng) 71 71 76 72, Christian Aronsen (Nor) 73 78 66 73, Anthony Snobeck (Fra) 72 73 72 73, Kyron Sullivan (Wal) 66 73 77 74, Alexandre Kaleka (Fra) 72 73 70 75.
291 Daniel Sandberg (Swe) 72 78 71 70, Andrew Butterfield (Eng) 74 73 72 72, Dale Marmion (Eng) 71 73 74 73, Craig Smith (Wal) 70 74 71 76, Philip Golding (Eng) 69 79 70 73.
292 Paul Nilbrink (Nor) 76 75 69 72, Simon Dunn (Sco) 71 74 73 74, Rob Harris (Eng) 72 72 72 76.
293 Jaco Von Zyl (SAf) 70 73 69 81, Scott Jamieson (Sco) 70 79 71 73, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 69 74 76 74.
294 Daniel Denison(Eng) 72 74 73 75, Ally Mellor (Eng) 74 75 73 72, Lee Corfield (Eng) 78 75 69 73, Petter Bocian (Swe) 72 76 71 75.
295 Ben Evans (Eng) 73 77 73 72, Marcel Haremza (Ger) 72 79 71 73.
296 Johan Bjerhag (Swe) 74 70 77 75.
297 Matthew Mills (Eng) 70 79 783 75, Daniel Wardrop (Eng) 74 74 75 74.
298 Jean-Nicolas Billot (Fra) 73 76 72 77.
301 Andreas Hogberg (Swe) 76 76 75 74.
302 Johan Skold (Swe) 76 75 76 75.
304 Kristian Nielsen (Den) 75 73 75 81.
306 Per Barth (Swe) 73 80 75 78.
307 Fabian Becker (Ger) 75 77 75 80.
308 Matthew Dearden (Wal) 75 77 75 81.
309 Steven Wilson (Wal)79 74 74 82.