MOLLICA WINS $40,000 PRIZE AND A RETURN TRIP TO MOROCCO

FROM THE eGOLF TOUR WEBSITE
By Stewart Moore
El Jadida, Morocco – A stand-out amateur career led many to believe that Phillip Mollica of Anderson, South Carolina would easily make the natural transition to professional golf when he joined the eGolf Professional Tour for the 2010 season.
Early struggles with his mental game gave way to a disappointing rookie season, but the talented lefty more than made up for it at this week’s $250,000 El Jadida Classic.
With rounds of 69-71-71-67—278, Mollica collected his first tour title, the $40,000 first-place prize and a spot in the European Tour’s prestigious King Hassan II Trophy field at Agadir next month.
Entering the final round of the history-making event trailing overnight leader Brian Harman by three shots, Mollica – who entered the day at 5-under for the event – knew he would have to make an early move to have any shot.
Mollica birdied his first two holes at the Pullman Royal Club to move to 2-under on the day and 7-under for the event, before adding two additional birdies at Nos. 8 and 10 to quickly get to 9-under and in the lead.
“I didn’t look at the scoreboard until No. 13, but I wasn’t too concerned about it,” said the 23-year-old Mollica. “I knew I had to focus on my game, and up until that point I hadn’t put myself in trouble, so I felt I could just stick to what was working.”
What was working was stellar iron play that left him with little-to-no work in order to secure at worst par on about every hole. But, after the birdie at 10, Mollica hit a stretch of seven consecutive pars to remain at 9-under – still in the lead, but not doing much to increase it.
“I hit a lot of good shots on that stretch, leaving myself a lot of 15-footers,” he said. “They (the putts) just weren’t falling.”
Fortunately for Mollica, putts weren’t falling all too often for the leaders either.
Harman posted a front-nine 38 to fall from contention prior to imploding on the closing nine at Pullman Royal. Derek Fathauer, who entered the day in solo third, was 1-over through 11 and needed a late miracle to have any chance of catching Mollica.
Germany’s Christopher Trunzer, who began the final round alone in second, bogeyed five of his first 10 holes to fade from sight, thus leaving the stage for Mollica to take over.
Standing on the tee of the par-5 18th with a two-shot lead over Fathauer, Mollica felt that a birdie would lock the title up, but even a par might do the trick.
“I was thinking a par might do it, but I still wanted to make birdie,” Mollica said. “I hit a 3-wood off the tee and then hit my approach into a greenside bunker.”
From that greenside bunker, Mollica got up and down for a closing birdie to post a final-round 67 and the clubhouse lead at 10-under 278.
Needing a double-eagle (an albatross in European golf terms) to tie Mollica, Fathauer birdied the 72nd hole to post 8-under 280, in turn giving Mollica his first professional win.
With the win, Mollica collected a winner’s cheque for $40,000 and moved to the No. 1 spot on the tour’s 2011 money list with earnings of $42,567. More importantly, he earned an exemption into the European Tour’s King Hassan II Trophy, to be contested at Agadir Royal Golf Club in Agadir, Morocco on March 31 – April 3, 2011.
With his matching birdie at the 18th, Fathauer secured solo-second-place honors with his 8-under total. The finish marked the best of Fathauer’s two-year eGolf Tour career and came with a $21,000 runner-up cheque.
Finishing in solo third, with rounds of 70-69-70-72—281, was Billy Hurley of Annapolis, Maryland Hurley collected $14,400 for his play in El Jadida.
Taylor Hall of LaGrange, Georgia, Scott Parel of Augusta, Georgia and Seamus Power of Ireland tied for fourth at 6-under 282 for the week. Each player earned $10,333.

eGOLF TOUR OFFICIALS LOOK FORWARD TO RETURNING TO MOROCCO
The El Jadida Classic concluded a magnificent two weeks for the eGolf Professional Tour in Morocco. The Samanah Classic, won by Chris McCartin, was the first of the two events and provided a memorable experience for all players in the fascinating city of Marrakech. At the conclusion of the Samanah Classic, players moved to the dramatic Atlantic coastline and the city of El Jadida for this week’s event. eGolf Tour president David Siegel felt that the two events were the crowning achievement of the tour’s 10-year history.
“I would personally like to thank His Majesty The King, His Royal Highness President Of The ATH and the Atlas Pro Tour and their entire staff for their gracious support of both events,” said Siegel. “From the sponsors to the volunteers, to the host clubs and the Moroccan golf fans, we would like to say ‘thank you’ for making these two tournaments so special for our staff and players.”
With the two events, the eGolf Professional Tour became the first United States-based tour to conduct multiple stroke play events on the continent of Africa. This bit of history was not lost on Siegel.
“As a tour, we were honoured to be a part of these historical tournaments,” he said. “The globalisation of golf is very important to the game’s future, and I feel that Morocco is at the forefront of that future. We are excited about the future possibilities in such a wonderful country, and I personally look forward to returning in the coming year.”

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