Maximilian Glauert secures himself first 2012 trophy

Belek/Turkey (mat) – Maximilian Glauert (Germany) is the winner of the 2012 Gloria New Course Classic. The professional from Duesseldorf secured victory of the first tournament of this season playing 10 under par in Belek. The event had to be shortened to two rounds due to severe ground frost on days 1 and 2. Glauert scored 64 and 68 strokes on the par 71 course of the Gloria Resort and finally was five shots clear of Marek Novy (Czech Republic) who came in 2nd with 5 under par (71+66). Third place went to Paul O'Hara from Scotland (73+65/-4). FINAL RESULTS

Frost forces officials to shortcut the event to 36 holes

Belek/Turkey (mat) – After delays of 4 hours on days 1 and 2 due to severe ground frost tournament officials have decided to shortcut the Gloria New Course Classic to a 36 hole event. The tournament is supposed to be finished on Saturday with all participants playing two rounds. On Friday evening when play was suspended for the day at 5:05 p.m. local time German Maximilian Glauert (picture above) was on top of the leaderboard with a brilliant 1st round 64 (-7).

As there is no frost predicted for this night play is supposed to begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday. At the moment there is players in the tournament having finished round 1, others finished round 1 and have started round 2 already, and a third group has not yet finished the first round of the first tournament of the 2012 EPD Tour season.

Obviously unaffected by these circumstances was Maximilian Glauert: The German shot a brilliant 1st round 64 by scoring seven birdies on the par 71 golf course.

Severe ground frost causes major delay in Belek

Belek (tki) - An uninvited guest made ​​it difficult to launch the EPD Tour 2012. Due to heavy ground frost the night before, tournament director Kariem Baraka had to start the Gloria New Course Classic in Belek with a four hour delay. Some greens defreezed so late, that not all participants could be sent out on the course. Finally almost half of the field had to remain in the clubhouse on day one.

That good scores are nevertheless possible, the 25-year-old Maximilian Glauert from Düsseldorf proved: After nine holes the German Professional, who was ranked 3rd in the EPD Order of Merit 2011, wrote down five birdies on his scorecard with only 32 shots. Glauert leads after the first half of round one with five under par before the Scot Paul O'Hara (-2) and a German-Dutch trio with Daniel Froreich, Malte Brenner and Ferdinand Osther (each -1). "We will try to continue tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock", Baraka said on Thursday evening.

EPD Tour: Perfect start into the 2012 season in Belek

The EPD Tour awakens from its winter slumber. With the Gloria New Course Classic in Belek, the series starts in its 16th season this Thursday. The three-day tournament is the opening in 2012, that is traditionally held in Turkey. Till the beginning of February three more competitions will take place in Belek: the Gloria Old Course Classic (January, 23rd to 25th), the Sueno Dunes Classic (January, 29th to 31st) and the Sueno Pines Classic (February, 2nd to 4th). Weather conditions are predicted to be nearly perfect in Belek this week, so it will be a promising opening and high-class golf can be enjoy anyway.

by Thomas Kirmaier

Belek (Turkey) - "The level is very high", says tournament director Kariem Baraka. Praise for the EPD Tour, which has developed an excellent reputation over the past few years, recently came from all sides. "Fellow countrymen have recommended this tour to me as the best Satellite tour of all", Yevgeny Kafelnikov said. The former world number one in tennis took part at the EPD Tour 2011 and wants to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio via the EPD Tour.

Of course Rainer Goldrian also noticed the recent development. The CEO of both the EPD Tour and the PGA of Germany stressed, that the EPD Tour "enjoys an outstanding reputation throughout Europe". Especially for the quality of courses and the organization he gets a very positive feedback from players, who have a direct comparison to other tours. Goldrian: "Our top players are certainly well prepared for the Challenge Tour."

And not only that: With the German Bernd Ritthammer and the Dutchman Reinier Saxton two overall EPD Tour winners in 2009 and 2011 directly jumped on the big stage European Tour last year. "It was definitely the right decision to play the EPD Tour", Saxton said at the tour finale in Fulda early October 2011. The fact, that an EPD Tour winner has the quality to compete with the best players in the world, Saxton proved a few days ago at the Joburg Open in South Africa, where he at the end was ranked 17th after four days, just one stroke behind the two-time U.S. Open Champion Retief Goosen. Saxton earned 15.500 Euros for this success.

A total of 30.000 Euros is awarded, when the EPD Tour is guest at the Gloria Golf Resort Belek for the first time on Thursday. Season 2012 starts at the local, nearly 6300 metres long New Course (Par 72), which was opened in 2005 and has its signature hole with the Par-3-17th, a copy of the island-green 17 at TPC Sawgrass in Florida, maybe one of the most spectacular challenges in golf. It will be interesting, who of the 90 participants from 20 nations is allowed to celebrate a perfect launch in this years series.