October 30: Morocco’s rookie pro El Mehdi Fakori made two eagles in his last six holes to snatch the lead and raise hopes of a first-ever winner from the Northern African region on the Asian Development Tour (ADT).

The 25-year-old Fakori shot an eight-under par 62, the low round of the tournament so far, following his opening round 66 to reach 12-under 128 at the halfway stage of the US$125,000 Egyptian Open.

That gave Faklori a two-shot lead over another 25-year-old, Yin Ho Yue of Hong Kong, who shot a 64 playing in the morning groups.

Three Thai players – Poom Pattaropong (66), Tawit Polthai (63) and Sangchai Kaewcharoen (67) – and Indonesia’s Kevin Akbar (67) were tied third at nine-under. England’s Finlay Mason (67) was solo seventh at 8-under.

Fakori turned professional last year after playing a crucial role by finishing second individually in the Pan Arab Championship, which helped Morocco win the overall title. He is now showing his immense potential at the professional level.

Tawit Polthai of Thailand. Picture by Paul Lakatos / Asian Development Tour.

On Thursday at the Madinaty Golf Club in Cairo, Fakori was two-under after the first eight holes, but caught fire with back-to-back birdies on the ninth and 10th.

He got his first eagle on the 596-yard par-five 13th hole in the conventional way – reaching the green with a driver and three-wood second shot from 264 yards, before making a 20-footer putt.

But it was the one on the 351-yard, par-four 18th that delighted him more. Fakori smashed a drive into the greenside bunker, and then nonchalantly holed his bunker shot.

“It was a very good round. I was focussed on my routine. I hit 11 out of 12 fairways, and 16 out of 18 greens in regulation. I was just thinking fairway-green, fairway-green on every hole and two putt. Just keep going with any birdie. But I also putted well (total 25 putts),” said Fakori.

“This is my first year as a professional and I have learned a lot playing on the ADT and in countries like Vietnam and the Philippines. Of course, these conditions here in Egypt are close to what we have back at home, but I think I am benefiting more from my experience.”

Poom Pattaropong of Thailand. Photo by Paul Lakatos/Asian Tour

Hue, who is lovingly called ‘Ho Ho’, made a single birdie on the par-five fifth hole on his front nine, but made his way up the leaderboard with five birdies on the back nine.

“I just stayed really patient out there, just kind of the cliche stuff. I let the ball do its thing and focused on the process. I did a really good job of staying level-headed,” said Hue, who was part of University of Oregon’s men’s team and has his father on his bag this week.

“I felt pretty confident coming into this week. I had a week off last week, so I did some good practice and found some confidence in the swing and also found a new putter. So, a lot of changes, but I feel confident overall.”

The Asian Development Tour is in Egypt for successive weeks. After the Egyptian Open, it moves to Sokhna Golf Club for the US$125,000 Egypt Golf Series – Red Sea Open.