- July 2014
Personal Statement
Upcoming 2014 Tournaments:
September - Arab Championship,
Late September Early October, Eisenhower Trophy Japan ( World Amateur Team Championships)
I am a junior at Cairo American College (CAC) and I have lived in Cairo my entire life. Upon graduation, I plan to attend a college that will give me the best opportunity to continue improving my skill as a golfer. I enjoy doing other things however golf is where my passion lies.
I will be travelling to the US in the summer, while I look at Universities in California and Florida. I am hoping to be able to touch base and have the opportunity to visit your campus and learn more, about what your golf program entails and how I could be a part of it, if I were to become a part of your school.
Egypt has faced hard times and so has the golfing community, due to curfews and danger in some places at certain times, however, the golfing conditions here are ideal, meaning I play 12 months a year. Furthermore, the Egyptian Golf Federation hasn’t had strong support from the government, since we are a relatively small community of 500 people all over Egypt. Consequently, everyone had to practice by himself. I have a weekly routine of core training and fitness. I practice 6 – 7 times a week, which include two match days (weekends). I have a weekly schedule of 3 times minimum at the gym.
I started playing at the age of six, however I have been playing competitively since the age of 9 and with the national team since the age of 13. Here in Cairo I train with British PGA Professional Gerard Bent, as well as regular monthly practices with the Egyptian National Team. And in the summer, I go to practice for 2 weeks or more with PGA Professional Craig Griffin in The Villages, Florida.
My first international tournament was in Montreal, Canada in 2008. My second tournament internationally was when I had just turned 13, and I went to the African Junior Golf Challenge. Not only was it great experience, I learned that I had a long way to go. After the African Junior Golf Challenge, I participated in a Faldo Series event in Bahrain’s Royal Golf Club Riffa. My handicap then was 9. After travelling to Bahrain and South Africa I made it to the Junior Pan Arab of September 2011 in Morocco, and that is when I won my second international trophy, winning 3rd Net with scores of 78,80 and 76. I had a handicap of 7.
In March 2012, I was leading the qualification rounds for the Jr. British Open when I broke my hand, and had to stay in cast for 3 months. Being summer that year, I missed out on other international opportunities. However, after I recovered, and was able to hold a club once more (July), I started getting back in shape and was able to qualify to travel to Turkey and participate in the 2012 Eisenhower trophy in the name of Egypt. I had rounds of 93, 80 and 77 (there was a round was cancelled due to bad weather).
Following the Eisenhower trophy, I participated last year in the Jr. Pan Arab Championship once more, held in Tunisia, which included the top Jr. Amateur players all over the Middle East and North Africa. Having still been 16 years old, one of the youngest in my team, I managed to win the tournament with scores of 73, 76 and 70. (Par 72). My individual victory also aided the Egyptian National Jr. Team to win this tournament for the first time in over 15 years, by just 2 strokes. Following the Jr. Pan Arab, I travelled to Bahrain’s King Hamad Trophy, where I participated as an amateur. After a first day of eleven over par, I played two under par, to make the cut and play the third day. The last day I played 3 over par.
After coming back from Bahrain practice resumed, and I was able to win a major Egyptian title in Cairo, on the 10th of January 2014. Since January, I participated in several other Egyptian tournaments, however due to increased turmoil, creating golf events was hard.
In February I participated in an Alps Tour (http://alpstourgolf.com/) event as an amateur. I played 11 over par and seven over par, missing the cut. I was eligible to play another three events following this event however, due to school attendance restrictions I had to sacrifice them because I will be travelling to Austria where my high school golf team will be competing against eleven other private international schools from Europe, in the International School Sports Tournament. On the weekend of April 25th, I won the Alexandrian Open, being one of the few Egyptians from Cairo not Alex to win the tournament with scores of even par and +3
Now a little about my academics. I am a full IB Diploma student, with a cumulative GPA of 3.47. My IB Subjects are:
· Higher Level: Arabic, History and Economics
· Standard Level: English, Physics and Math
My extra curricular activities at school include:
· Model United Nations
· Golf
At this time I haven’t set my mind on what I want to study but I am interested in areas such as political science, international relations, as well as economics.
