By Kent Gray
After a two-stage Q-School and David Langley’s emotional victory in the opening event of the season at Ayla Golf Club in Aqaba, the MENA Tour’s Journey to Jordan has arrived at its newest venue.

With its majestic views over the Great Pyramids of Giza, we wish the 120-strong field for the $75,000 NEWGIZA Open the best of luck concentrating on their golf at Egypt’s latest course. Nearly 15 years in the making since its conception in 2005, the layout is the final project of Thomson Perrett & Lobb, the firm founded by the late, five-time Open champion Peter Thomson.

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Here the stunning 6th hole gives a hint of the dramatic changes in elevation that will confront the regional circuit’s best players from Feb. 11-13. They won’t have trouble with the rough – there isn’t any – but principal designer Tim Lobb has plenty of challenge up his sleeve in the form of water hazards, expansive sandy waste areas and huge, undulating greens.

Count then on a pure ball-striker being crowned champion in Cairo.

The post NEWGIZA is a new, aesthetically pleasing test for MENA Tour’s best appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

If you like your golf with dramatic views, check out the very last Thomson Perrett & Lobb design which has just opened on the outskirts of Cairo

By Kent Gray
Even the royal and ancient game sometimes have to bow to seniority. Or in the case of Egypt’s newest course, tip its cap to the splendour of the Great Pyramids of Giza. Just 6km from the ring road surrounding the Egyptian capital Cairo, the golf course at NEWGIZA is the centrepiece of a 680-hectare development that includes upscale housing, a sports arena, hotels, schools and majestic views across the Pyramids 8km away. Nearly 15 years in the making since its conception in 2005, it is the final project of Thomson Perrett & Lobb, the firm founded by the late, five-times Open champion Peter Thomson. The championship-length course is characterised by often dramatic changes in elevation, water hazards and huge undulating greens. There is no rough with landscaped sandy waste areas lining the fairways. The only way to lose a ball is in lakes although the huge greens provide a constant challenge with significant movement on every surface. You’ll struggle to concentrate on your green reading with all that history in the distance mind you, most notably from what is sure to become NEWGIZA’s signature hole, the par-3 4th, pictured above.

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