Andy Ogletree oozed class on his way to securing his maiden professional title in the USD1.5 million International Series Egypt at Madinaty Golf Club in Cairo.

The former amateur star fired a stunning final round of eight-under-par 62 to finish with a total of 23-under-par 257, four shots ahead of 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 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. He was four ahead of Wiesberger at the turn. The Austrian pushed hard to mount a challenge and eagled the par-four 10th after holing his second but Ogletree responded with a birdie on that hole to sit comfortably three in front.

Wiesberger closed to within two after a birdie on 13 but the 16th proved to be pivotal as the American made a birdie while Wiesberger dropped a shot to put the gap back to four. The Austrian made birdie on 17 but it still left Ogletree with the comfort of a three-shot lead going down the last, which he fittingly birdied to put the icing on the cake.

“This is amazing, just incredible,” said Ogletree, who earned a cheque for USD270,000. “I have always been a huge fan of matchplay and that is kind of what it came to in the end, it was basically a two-man race. 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 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. 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,” he noted.

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."

Two more events remain on the Asian Tour this season: the Bangabandhu Cup Golf Bangladesh Open (November 24-27) and the BNI Indonesian Masters presented by TNE (December 1-4).

Results (Top 10 and ties):
257 - Andy Ogletree (USA) 66-64-65-62.
261 - Bernd Wiesberger (AUT) 66-67-65-63.
264 - Jeunghun Wang (KOR) 65-68-67-64, Sihwan Kim (USA) 65-66-68-65.
265 - James Piot (USA) 65-70-64-66.
266 - Jarin Todd (USA) 66-66-67-67, Prom Meesawat (THA) 67-66-66-67, Richard T. Lee (CAN) 64-65-69-68.
267 - Sadom Kaewkanjana (THA) 70-66-68-63, Kieran Vincent (ZIM) 66-69-67-65, Jinichiro Kozuma (JPN) 67-64-68-68.