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Antoine Rozner believes he sent a clear message to the rest of the field about defending his AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open title as he opened with an incredible course record 10-under-par 62 to lead the first round by one stroke at the new La Réserve Golf Links on Thursday.

“I think they’ve seen it won’t be easy to take this from me,” the Frenchman said of any challenge to his title.

It was a phenomenal round of golf that immediately became the first course record in the first championship round since this golf course opened shortly ahead of this week’s Sunshine Tour and DP World Tour co-sanctioned event. It was also the lowest round of golf in a tournament for the French professional.

“I couldn’t dream of a better start. I was really hot and shot seven under on the back nine. That was unbelievable. I didn’t miss a single shot and holed everything,” said Rozner, who even holed a bunker shot for eagle on 18 to set the clubhouse target in the morning.

After teeing off on the 10th and climbing to 11 under par with four holes to play, it was a round Rozner thought would end with a magical 59.

“Everything went my way. I birdied holes one, two and three and after the birdie at the fifth I really started thinking about shooting 59, but unfortunately the bad tee shot on the sixth cost me that magic number,” he said after a bogey there, which was followed by a birdie on eight and another bogey on the ninth.

His nearest challenger is England’s Paul Waring who birdied his final two holes for a 63 in the tougher afternoon conditions of wind and rain.

“It’s a little bit unexpected because I didn’t see the golf course until Wednesday because we were delayed getting here. I just walked the golf course on Wednesday and I liked the look of it, then I played great today. I saw Antoine go really deep in the morning so I knew there was a low one out there,” he said.

Young South African Jayden Schaper is currently third following a round of seven-under-par 65 which once again puts him in contention on this Opening Swing on the DP World Tour.

“I played with co-designer Peter Matkovich in the pro-am, and my home course of Ebotse Links is also designed by him. His courses really suit my game,” said Schaper.

But the man looking to become the first player to successfully defend his AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open title and who last year won the tournament by a record five strokes is looking determined to make his mark on this year’s event as well.

“It’s a good course and it will be a nice week. There is lot of golf to be played and I’m really pleased with my start,” he said.

Major winner Louis Oosthuizen arrives at this week’s AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open in winning form as he joins a stellar field of Sunshine Tour and DP World Tour golfers for this year’s showpiece at the La Réserve Golf Links.

Oosthuizen claimed his 15th professional title worldwide when he won last week’s Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek.

He brings that form with him to an AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open in which he’ll be making his second appearance since 2017. The 72-hole tournament tees off on Thursday and finishes on Sunday.

The 2010 Open champion will feel even more confident considering that he is playing a La Réserve Golf Links course which he co-designed with Peter Matkovich and which he knows intimately.

“I’m really looking forward to this week. My family travelled to Mauritius before me and when I arrived here we had a few cocktails to celebrate my recent victory,” said Oosthuizen.

An in-form Oosthuizen adds immensely to a field that includes defending champion Antoine Rozner, five-time DP World Tour champion and Heritage Golf Club ambassador Marcel Siem, French star and recent DP World Tour champion Matthieu Pavon, the charismatic Andrew ‘Beef’ Johnston who is making his return from injury, and former AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open champion Dylan Frittelli.

The field also includes rising Sunshine Tour stars such as Luca Filippi, Kyle Barker, Rupert Kaminski, Robin Williams, Jayden Schaper, Casey Jarvis and Ryan van Velzen who have all been challenging for their maiden victories in Sunshine Tour and DP World Tour co-sanctioned tournaments this summer.

La Réserve Golf Links adds significantly to the already world-class golf offering in the south of Mauritius and on the renowned Bel Ombre estate, with Heritage Golf Club having hosted the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open on three previous occasions on its critically acclaimed Le Château Golf Course.

To purchase tickets for the tournament please go to https://www.ticketbox.mu/

The 2023 AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open has once again drawn a glittering array of blue-chip sponsors, including AfrAsia Bank, Rogers Group, Rogers Hospitality, Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority, IBL, Beachcomber Resorts and Hotels, Heritage Villas Valriche, Phoenix Beverages, Jacobs Coffee, Pro Carts, Mautourco, KOHLER, Häagen Dazs and Oxenham.

It took longer than expected but it was well worth the wait as Louis Oosthuizen won the Alfred Dunhill Championship by two strokes at Leopard Creek on Monday to finally claim a title he has sought for most of his career.

A storm on Sunday and the subsequent suspension of the final round forced the tournament into a Monday finish. But after twice finishing runner-up in this event, Oosthuizen was happy to wait as long as needed to claim a title he has desperately wanted.

“It feels good. I’ve waited a long time for this one and it’s very special. This and the SA Open are the two events in South Africa that I always wanted to win. I’m very happy,” said Oosthuizen after a final round of 69 and a winning total of 18 under par.

Charl Schwartzel finished second on 16 under par with a closing 71, while Christiaan Bezuidenhout took third place on 14 under par with a final round of 68.

Oosthuizen and Schwartzel were tied for the lead on 16 under par through seven holes of the final round when Sunday’s storm suspended play. They resumed on Monday morning and the two Major winners matched each other on the magnificent Leopard Creek layout before a run of three straight birdies from the 13^th gave Oosthuizen the edge.

“I knew Charl was going to be around all day because he likes this golf course and he knows how to play it. I think it was those three putts (for birdie) that got me ahead. It’s tough to be very aggressive over the last few holes so I could sort of just hang on to making pars,” said Oosthuizen.

He had a three-shot lead with two holes to play and admits that Leopard Creek’s tough finishing stretch took it out of him.

“I didn’t have a great lie on 17 and ended up making bogey there and then on 18 I made par the hard way. But that’s what this golf course does. It’s such a good finishing golf course that you need to just hold on.”

The Alfred Dunhill Championship is set for a Monday finish following a storm that forced the suspension of Sunday’s final round at Leopard Creek.

The golfers were called off at 11:21 because of a large storm in the area. Play officially resumed at 16:00 and was then suspended for the day at 16:46.

The final round will resume at 09:00 on Monday.

Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen are currently tied for the lead on 16 under par through seven holes. Christiaan Bezuidenhout is their nearest challenger three shots back having also played seven holes.

It’s a story that goes back to their junior golf days together and it’s one that will continue on Sunday as co-leaders Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel will battle it out for the Alfred Dunhill Championship title at Leopard Creek.

The two South Africans and fellow Major champions came through Saturday’s third round tied for the lead on 15 under par, five strokes clear of their nearest challengers Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Andy Sullivan.

Oosthuizen secured his place at the top of the leaderboard with a magnificent joint course record 63, while an injury-free Schwartzel showed exactly why he so loves this course with his round of 65.

And now Schwartzel, the winner of four Alfred Dunhill Championship titles and with a further four runners-up finishes here, and Oosthuizen, who has twice finished runner-up in this championship, will do what they’ve done since their early amateur days and battle each other for a title they both desperately want.

“We’ve been friends for a long time and we’ve played this game for a long time. I don’t think we’ll treat it any other way than just trying our best and let the outcome be what it will,” said Schwartzel.

Oosthuizen certainly wants to add his name to a trophy that is close to any South African golfer’s heart.

“It would mean a lot. It’s the one event I’ve really wanted on my CV and I’ve come close a few times. I think I’ve got a good shot at it now,” he said.

Both Oosthuizen and Schwartzel were certainly in incredible form on Saturday.

Oosthuizen surged through the field with a round of seven birdies and an eagle, while Schwartzel produced a strong back nine in which he made four birdies and an eagle over his final seven holes.

“You know, this golf course can bite you and I’ve been on the bad side of this course a few times. There are certain holes where you can’t back down and you just need to make a good swing – I stuck with that today and didn’t back off on tough shots. It was pretty cool to tie the course record. The golf course is in such good shape that you feel like you have to play well because it’s such a beautiful setting,” said Oosthuizen.

Schwartzel had a similar approach to not fear certain shots on this course.

“Everything felt good and my golf swing was back to how I remember it. I had total control of the golf ball and that was fun.”

Behind them, Bezuidenhout remains a very real threat as well having won this title in 2020 and now lining up a shot at a second triumph here following his third round of 68.

Casey Jarvis believes he knows the secrets of Leopard Creek, and it showed as the young South African signed for a 67 and a one-stroke lead heading into the weekend of the Alfred Dunhill Championship.

“Somebody here once said to me that at Leopard Creek the flag is a destination but you have to pick your targets. I’ve played a lot of golf here and I do know some secrets out there, and I’m using it to my advantage this week,” said Jarvis after reaching the halfway stage of this tournament on 10 under par.

His nearest challenger is England’s Marco Penge on nine under following a second round of 66 on Friday. South African amateur Christo Lamprecht kept himself in the hunt on eight under par with a second round of 69, while four-time Alfred Dunhill Championship winner Charl Schwartzel also finished the day on eight under par with a 68 including five birdies in six holes over the turn.

Jarvis has been in good form over the past few weeks as he’s challenged on numerous occasions but has yet to fully capitalise and claim a win. He was in contention for last week’s Investec South African Open before a disappointing weekend.

“I had to get over it quickly. It’s a new week this week at a golf course I really like. I left that in the past and worked hard at the beginning of the week and it seems to be paying off,” said Jarvis, who looked incredibly comfortable on this course on Friday, especially on his chip-in for birdie on the 10^th hole.

“I played really well and managed my game nicely. I’m hitting the ball great so I’ll keep doing what I’m doing and hopefully it pays off. The wind was swirling the whole day but I kept the ball in play off the tee and hit a lot of good approach shots.”

South African Robin Williams made a dream debut in the Alfred Dunhill Championship as he opened with a seven-under-par 65 to lead the first round of this Sunshine Tour and DP World Tour co-sanctioned tournament by a single stroke at Leopard Creek on Thursday.

Williams, who claimed his first Sunshine Tour victory in October’s Fortress Invitational, showed himself to be more than ready to take the step up to competing against a DP World Tour field on South Africa’s number one ranked golf course.

“I can always say I shot 65 at Leopard Creek. I’ll always have that,” said Williams, who leads the duo of South African Jayden Schaper and Spaniard Manuel Elvira who both carded rounds of 66. The two GolfRSA amateurs Christo Lamprecht and Christiaan Maas started extremely well with their rounds of five under par.

On a day that started in the rain and remained cool throughout, Williams did his scoring in the morning and set a clubhouse target that nobody else could catch.

“The greens were a lot firmer than I think we all thought they would be after the rain the night before. It was a bit of a surprise, but you just adapt to it. It was pretty fun out there. I took advantage of the par fives and the short holes and I putted well,” he said.

Williams has certainly been building to this kind of performance following his breakthrough victory on the Sunshine Tour.

“The last six or seven tournaments on the Sunshine Tour with that win in there gave me a lot of confidence coming into this tournament to know that I’ve got the game to win out here and compete. It’s now just a case of adapting and learning to play courses set up a bit tougher. This is all a learning curve for me in terms of trying to see what my game needs in order to compete at this level. It’s about learning to handle my emotions and not just my game in these big events.”

It’s also vindicated his decision to come and learn his trade on the Sunshine Tour after being raised in the United Kingdom. Born in Stellenbosch to South African parents from Springbok and Pniel, Williams’ father found work in the UK as a dentist and the family moved there when he was eight. He played for the England Boys and Men’s teams, competed in the Junior Ryder Cup on the same team as the twins Nicolai and Rasmus Højgaard, and then turned professional in 2021. After a brief stint on the Euro Pro Tour he decided that the Sunshine Tour offered the kind of competitive opportunities his career needed.

But he has plenty of experience lining up behind him, with former champions Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Charl Schwartzel as well as Erik van Rooyen all on four under par.

“The golf course is in the best condition I’ve ever seen it in. It was a good round for me. The golf course has changed a lot from the one I did so well on. It’s definitely tougher so I was happy to shoot 68,” said Schwartzel, a four-time winner of this championship.

The South African Golf Development Board’s (SAGDB) Riverside Farm golfers showcased their incredible potential during this week’s Alfred Dunhill Championship as they took part in the annual golf clinic on the magnificent grounds of the National Junior Development Centre at Leopard Creek.

The young golfers also took the opportunity to learn from Sunshine Tour and DP World Tour professionals Jacques Blaauw, Yurav Premlall, Nikhil Rama, Jovan Rebula, Keagan Thomas and Alex Levy, and the professionals were equally impressed with the talent on display

“These young kids have so much talent and it’s amazing to see it and be a part of something like this. We can see South Africa has so many good players. It’s nice to pass down experience to these young kids,” said Levy.

For Edwin Compton, the SAGDB’s Development Manager for Mpumalanga, the clinic was a perfect opportunity to showcase the decades long sustainability of the SAGDB programme and its ongoing impact on the lives of these young golfers.

“We started with 12 children on the Riverside Farm next door. Now, over a decade later, between the Riverside programme and the Komatipoort programme we have over one hundred children.”

The SAGDB is the official golf development body for South Africa, and this year it celebrates 24 years of using the game of golf to change the lives of underprivileged South Africans. The SAGDB is operational in all 14 golf unions across South Africa and enjoys the support and endorsement of the South African Department of Sports and Recreation, The R&A, GolfRSA, the Sunshine Tour, the Professional Golfers Association of South Africa, Remgro, and other official South African golf bodies and several long-term sponsors.

It is also a proud beneficiary of The Alfred Dunhill Links Foundation.

“The success of the programme is that our children and our coaches are fully committed. The children start in the programme when they are young and they are committed to staying with it and are dedicated to improving themselves and their talent. We are also incredibly privileged to have full access to the National Junior Development Centre which is arguably the best practice facility in the world,” said Compton.

The focus of the SAGDB is not just on creating great golfers. It is a holistic programme that places equal emphasis on academics and uses the discipline and values of golf to empower the youth and help them to develop into positive role models in their communities.

But there are obvious golf successes to come out of it.

“The SA Junior IPT is coming up in the next few weeks and in the eight-player team for the boys we have two players ranked in that team at number two and four on merit. Lucia Mhlabane is also the number two ranked junior woman’s golfer in the province,” said Compton.

The young golfers are equally passionate about the opportunities the game has given them.

“If it’s a dream, then I don’t want to wake up,” said Sakhile Makhatshwa. “I am enjoying life and who I am becoming. It has impacted me in my community and my school and I am very thankful to the programme for dedicating itself to us.”

“My dream is to become a pro and to change my circumstances for me and my family,” added Paulette Sibiya.

“Golf teaches us how to be patient, and that helps me in my life as well. The programme has made a big difference in my life.”

Dean Burmester tees off in this week’s Alfred Dunhill Championship seeking a rare hat-trick of titles on the Sunshine Tour and DP World Tour as he joins an impressive field of stars on the fairways of Leopard Creek.

Burmester has dominated the last two co-sanctioned tournaments with his victories in the Joburg Open and the Investec South African Open and is a clear favourite for the Alfred Dunhill Championship, which tees off at South Africa’s top-ranked golf course on Thursday.

The fact that he has the opportunity to make it three wins in a row at possibly his favourite golf course and tournament venue this week makes the challenge even more special.

“I’m very happy and blessed to be able to come to a place like this and enjoy it and do what I love,” said Burmester.

“The only way you’ll ever understand what Leopard Creek is, is by getting the opportunity to come here personally. We get to play golf on a perfectly manicured golf course and then every time I get to the 13th green here I almost always shed a tear,” he said of the iconic green that overlooks the Kruger National Park.

Burmester’s quest to claim one of the most sought after titles on the Sunshine Tour and DP World Tour will face a stern test against a field including defending champion Ockie Strydom, double PGA Tour champion Erik van Rooyen, Major winners Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel, former Alfred Dunhill Championship winners Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Branden Grace and Brandon Stone, and four-time DP World Tour champion Thriston Lawrence.

Schwartzel’s record in this championship is unsurpassed and he returns as the winner of a record four Alfred Dunhill Championship titles as well as having finishing second on four occasions. He also holds the tournament total record of 24-under-par 264 and the biggest margin of victory in the history of this tournament of 12 strokes achieved in the same year of 2012.