AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open
I owe an apology to all for not including Alfie Plant in my preview of The European Tour recently. Alfie courtesy of an invite heads for the tropical paradise of Mauritius this week and the tri-sanctioned AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open. The best players from the European, Asian and Sunshine Tours will do battle for the title. I'm sure we all wish Alfie the best of luck!
The AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open is sanctioned by the European, Asian and Sunshine Tours. The tournament will be contested this week at Heritage GC in Domaine de Bel Ombre on the beautiful island of Mauritius. This will be the third hosting of this event, won in 2015 by George Coetzee at the Heritage GC and by Jeunghun Wang last season at Anahita. An excellent field has gathered this time out including a number of top South African players.
2017 European Tour winners Dylan Frittelli and Dean Burmester will make an appearance, as will 2015 AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open winner George Coetzee and 2010 Open champion Louis Oosthuizen. From the European Tour, Darren Clarke, Jamie Donaldson and Nicolas Colsaerts tee it up, and former European Tour winners SSP Chawrasia and Scott Hend will start. Designed by Peter Matkovich, a Zimbabwean professional golfer turned renowned course architect, the championship course at The Heritage offers a great variety of holes from driveable par-4s to long and sweeping par-5s. There are tremendous vistas of the surrounding mountains and down towards the coast and interesting wildlife to keep an eye out for, from mongoose to fruit bats! Player Watch: Dylan Frittelli – The 27-year-old South African has been on great form on the European Tour in recent weeks. He was tied second in the Turkish Airlines Open and then tied fourth in the DP World Tour Championship. He won the Lyoness Open earlier this year. Alexander Bjork – The Swede has been on a good run, making four straight cuts. He was tied 17th in the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai and he was tied second last week in Hong Kong. Nicolas Colsaerts – The big-hitting Belgian has earned almost €700,000 in his last five starts on the European Tour. He has the power to take this course apart. If he can keep his driving under control, he should have a chance.
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