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The heady mix of laid-back island life and the need to go low is what will exercise Brandon Stone’s mind as he goes into the weekend at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open on 11-under par and very much in contention at Heritage Golf Club.

After a second-round five-under-par 67 to go with his opening 66, he had the afternoon off to contemplate how he was going to approach the final two rounds as he tries to close out his year with a victory which would be his first since July 2018 when he won the Scottish Open.

In the surrounding beauty, as well as the tropical heat, it’s tough to keep the focus on golf laser-like as it should be if you’re chasing a win as well as a place amongst the world’s elite in the sport.

“This week consists of doing a little bit of practice, playing 18 holes and then putting your feet up by the pool,” he said. “Yesterday for the first time this year I had a 45-minute nap poolside and then took a long romantic walk on the beach with my wife. It’s just spectacular. It’s a perfect way to end the year. You know, 2019 has been quite a tricky year with a lot of ups and downs, and to come here and de-stress is just fantastic.”

That approach clearly had its benefits, as his six birdies and just a single bogey in his second round showed. “I’m very happy with how things went today,” he said. “I got off to a nice start this morning; a couple of birdies early which kind of settled the nerves a little bit. And then from there I just played great all day. Very low stress, always in play, gave myself a lot of opportunities and managed to convert a fair number of them and sitting 11-under-par going into the weekend is exactly where you want to be.”

It was a dramatic change from the previous week at the Alfred Dunhill Championship where he played well enough but battled to make the cut. “Putting is an important component every week,” he said. “I think that was the missing factor I had last week because I felt like I hit the ball as good last week as I am this week, but I just didn’t convert. It felt like your back was against the wall, whereas this week, I’m giving myself a lot of opportunities and managed to convert the majority of those and that’s why I see myself at the top of the leaderboard and not at the cut line like I was last week.”

With things as relaxed for him as they are, he’s upbeat about the action ahead of him for the weekend. “The target for the weekend is to go as low as we can go, actually,” he said. “The game feels quite comfortable and I know the guys will maybe tuck a few flags over the weekend, a little bit of breeze is forecast. It’s going to be a challenge and at the same time, there’s a lot of really top-quality players in the field, so you’re going to go out and try to shoot as low as you can and, hopefully, by Sunday evening it’s going to be enough.”

Haydn Porteous has warned first-time participants in the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open not to be distracted by the beauty of the Heritage Golf Resorts layout, saying this track can have a mean bite when the conditions allow for it.

Porteous bought property at Heritage two years ago and while he admits that he doesn’t visit the Indian Ocean nation often, he has familiarised himself with the track when he has been down here.

“I must say, it’s quite difficult to work on the game when you are at a place like this, he confesses. “I think every player can say that and we’d rather be spending a bit of time on the beach rather than practising and doing what we’re supposed to do here.

“The wind is the first thing to look out for,” says Porteous, “if you get it on a good day, you want to shoot something worth talking about. But, when it’s windy, it can play very tough and I think then the course can show its teeth.”

How does one go around this layout in order to shoot a good score, then?

“The game plan will differ between what we get weather-wise,” he says, “if we get a windy week, it’s going to be a long and tough week. If we get a pretty flat, calm week, I think the scores are going to be really good.”

Coming to Mauritius at the back of what was not really a trophy-laden season in Europe, Porteous isn’t too worried about the state of his game, and cannot wait to tee it up at Heritage on Thursday.

“I wouldn’t say that I’ve had the worst couple of seasons in Europe,” he argues, “I think I’ve been really consistent but I just have not been able to find the low one in me just yet, but you know how golf goes, it just takes one good shot to change everything.”

Like many Sunshine Tour players plying their trade abroad, Porteous is delighted to return to warmer weather conditions ahead of his Christmas break.

“Europe is tough,” he says with a grin, “sometimes the weather throws a few curve balls at us and no top of that, it is quite intense, so to come here and chill out and just remember why you play golf and enjoy it, is quite nice and refreshing. It’s nice to come out here and not treat it as a major.”

Justin Harding says he will not be putting himself under any sort of pressure when he tees off in the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open at Heritage Golf Resort this week and that his aim is to fix a few glitches in his game ahead of what’s looking to be a busy year for him.

Harding’s adventures, at home and abroad, have seen him earn praises across the globe in the last two years and now coming to an end of what has been a breakthrough season for him in Europe where he won his first title on that tour, the Stellenbosch Golf Club member is just trying to kick back and relax.

He won his first European Tour title at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters in March. He birdied three of his last four holes to post a closing 66 and secure his first European Tour title in his 54th appearance. It was his fifth worldwide win in 12 months after securing two Asian Tour victories and two Sunshine Tour triumphs in July 2018 and May 2018, respectively.

“I’m not putting myself under a huge amount of pressure. I’m out to have a bit of fun and enjoy the Mauritian lifestyle,” said Harding ahead of Thursday’s tee-off time. “I’ve got a few things that I am trying to work on, game-wise, that I’m hoping to implement next year, so I was quite happy with last week’s results. I played solid but the golf course played tough. I gave myself a chance. I had a bit of a bad finish, I played my last six or seven holes over par, which was naughty, but at the end of the day, it was a decent enough week.

“There’s nothing, really, that I need to go in-depth in to in terms of what I am working on. I guess, I kind of felt like I lost my way a little bit, halfway through the year. So, I’m just trying to reimplement a couple of things that I may have forgotten. It’s an opportunity for me to start the new year on the European Tour season with a bit of a bang and if I have another top 10, then it’s good.

“It’s been a decent enough year. If you look at it as a whole; 12 months, it’s been very, very good. It’s opened up a bunch of doors for next year, so I’m just looking forward to a good week and putting my feet up and enjoying a good Christmas at home.”

Leading Sunshine Tour rookie, Garrick Higgo, says he knows that his game hasn’t been up to the standard he wants lately but is aiming for nothing less than a win at this week’s Afrasia Bank Mauritius Open at Heritage Golf and Wellness Resorts.

“I always fancy my chances when getting into tournaments but there are a lot of guys here that can win this week. I just have to play my game and play well. I don’t have any secrets or strategies except to play solid golf.”

Higgo won his maiden Sunshine Tour title at the Sun City Challenge at the Gary Player Country Club, beating a star-studded field to the title in only his fifth start as a professional. He boasts three top 10 finishes and a top 20 on top of that Sun City win and leads the race to the Freddie Tait Trophy, a piece of silverware awarded to the leading rookie at the end of the season.

“Hopefully, I can end it just as well as I started,” he said of the year he has had on Tour.

He is teeing it up among some of the best players from the European Tour and the Asian Tour this week but he is not fazed at all.  “It’s my first trip here for the golf and I’m looking forward to teeing it up,” he said. “I haven’t seen the course yet but I’ll play my first practice round today. I have been resting a bit. The course looks nice and my caddie says it’s good, so we will see. I’m just going to have fun this week and play my best and see what happens then.”

Of his plans for the next year, Higgo said, “I went to Qualifying School in Europe. It was good because I got through all three stages but I just didn’t get top 25 at the final stage. But the experience was awesome. I have my Challenge Tour card secured for next year and I’ll play there during our winter tour when we don’t have many tournaments.”

The Afrasia Bank Mauritius is sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour, the European Tour and the Asian Tour. It is now in its fifth edition and a new champion is guaranteed because reigning champion, Kurt Kitayama is not in the field to defend.

Will it be Higgo?

The Sunshine Tour returns to the magnificent Heritage Golf and Wellness resorts in the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius for yet another instalment of the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open which tees off from the 5^th to the 8^th of December.

In its fifth edition this year, the ABMO is guaranteed to have a new champion as the American Kurt Kitayama who won it last year for his maiden and only Sunshine Tour victory, is not in the field to defend.

Tri-sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour, the European Tour and the Asian Tour, the ABMO is the biggest golf tournament on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius and boasts a purse of 1 million euros.

Format

72 holes of stroke play

The field

156 professionals from the Sunshine Tour, European Tour and Asian Tour

Defending champion

Kurt Kitayama (USA) – he is not in the field to defend his title

The course

Located in the southern part of Mauritius, the course is set on an idyllic piece of land between rolling mountains and the turquoise lagoon of the Indian Ocean. Accompanied by beautiful vistas from every green and tee, it is one of the most spectacular golf courses in Mauritius. The Heritage Golf Club offers a truly exceptional and enjoyable experience of golf in Mauritius for golfers of all skill levels.

Established in 2004, this tropical golf complex was designed by the legendary Peter Matkovich and represents a gem amongst Mauritius golf courses. It boasts an 18-hole championship course, a 9-hole Par 3 course, exceptional practice facilities, golf academy, clubhouse, restaurant, and a golf shop. The complex offers five teeing options on each hole, making it the ideal golf resort for golfers of all levels.

Form player

The Sunshine Tour order of merit leader, Daniel van Tonder, has missed just two cuts in his last 13 events and boasts three top 10s in his last three starts. Van Tonder came third at the Sibaya Challenge, eighth at the Vodacom origins Final and last week at the Alfred Dunhill Championship, he came sixth to rubberstamp a successful season in which he claimed victory at the first tournament of the season, the Mopan Redpath Zambia Open in April.

A three-time winner on Tour, Van Tonder has proven himself a solid competitor with a knack to produce the goods and this week, and in a tri-sanctioned event, he will want to prove himself on the biggest stage. And, having won two of his three titles on Tour outside of the South African borders, Van Tonder will fancy his chances against this strong field here this week.

Sentimental pick

Justin Harding will want to bookend what has been a really good year for him in Europe where he won his first-ever title on that tour earlier this year at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters. He birdied three of his last four holes to post a closing 66 and secure his first European Tour title in his 54th appearance. It was his fifth worldwide win in 12 months after securing two Asian Tour victories and two Sunshine Tour triumphs in July 2018 and May 2018, respectively.

Last week at Leopard Creek, Harding earned a hard-fought share of seventh place, five shots behind eventual winner, Pablo Larrazabal of Spain after posting a total of three-under-par for that tournament.

While a win here will solidify what was a breakthrough season for Harding abroad, it will mark another great start to the new European Tour season by the Stellenbosch Golf Club member.

Bolter

While his skill and abilities can not be questioned, given that Martin Rohwer has proven himself a competitor to be looked out for, it would be something of a big deal if the Kloof Country Club player were to win here this week.

Like Harding in Europe, this season on the Sunshine Tour has been a breakthrough season for the 26-year old. He claimed the Investec Royal Swazi Challenge for his maiden win and boasts three top 20s and a third-place finish which he earned at the Vodacom Origins of Golf final at Simola.

He gave a good account of himself at the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek, opening with a round of 69 in testing conditions in Malelane. That round was followed by a 75, a decent score considering the test that Leopard Creek offered but third and fourth rounds of 76 and 78, respectively, meant that he finished 10-over-par for that tournament.

Regardless of that, however, Rohwer has grown to be a competitor to be respected since joining the Tour via Qualifying School in 2017. A win here isn’t too far-fetched an idea for Rohwer and will only serve to affirm that indeed, greatness does begin here.

It nearly unravelled for Pablo Larazabal on Sunday in the Alfred Dunhill Championship, but he regained his composure to card three birdies in his final four holes at Leopard Creek to pull off a thrilling single-stroke victory.

The Spaniard had to shut out the pain of blisters on his feet, which may or may not have been the cause of his poor opening nine of six-over-par 41, to mount a comeback charge and haul in Swede Joel Sjoholm and Wil Besseling of the Netherlands with his closing nine of three-under 34 and take his fifth European Tour title.

“This morning, I couldn’t put my shoe on, I couldn’t walk to the buggy and I thought I wouldn’t be able to play because I had blisters,” he said. “On the front nine, I was playing the worst golf of my career, and I just decided to put my heart into it on the back nine.”

Although he was visibly still battling the pain, he pulled himself together after tossing his driver aside after a poor tee-shot on the ninth, and pulling off his shoes and tossing them away in a frustrated gesture.

“I couldn’t go through with my shots because I couldn’t put weight on my right big toe, so I figured out if I lifted it, I could make something happen – just put the ball on the fairway, or near the fairway, and I might be able to do something,” he said.

It paid dividends almost immediately with a birdie on the short par-four 11^th. But the comeback seemed as if it might be short-lived when he bogeyed the 13^th, the signature Leopard Creek par-five which was playing very easy on the final day.

But a hard-fought par on 14, a birdie on the par-five 15^th, a rare birdie on the par-3 17^th over the water, a good par on 17 and then an exquisite pitch to inside two feet on the iconic par-five 18^th with his third shot saw him able to get his nose in front after he had quickly blown his overnight three-stroke edge with five bogeys and a double in the opening nine.

Sjoholm, who was second-reserve for the tournament, and decided to travel to South Africa in any case – “I could watch lions for a week if I didn’t get in,” he said – was given a last-minute invitation into the field and he fully justified the decision. His final round of 69 had just a single bogey, unusual on a day when only 19 of the 71 players who made the cut were able to break par.

Besseling fought to the bitter end with his closing 74, and finished up sharing third with four-time Alfred Dunhill Championship winner Charl Schwartzel and 2014 champions Branden Grace.

Larrazabal has loved Leopard Creek since he first came here, and the bravery with which he fought for the victory and the emotion that spilled over after he won showed how much he loves it. “To be king of the bushveld for a year is very special,” he said. “I played my first tournament here, and I will come back here until I can’t play anymore.

“I’ve been struggling with my game for the last four years, and to finally get the win in paradise is very special.”

He goes into the final round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek this morning in the company of a Masters champion, and MJ Viljoen will tackle the task with a relish born of confidence.

The 24-year-old from Bloemfontein has one win on the Sunshine Tour to his name, but with two top-10s to his name this season – including a runner-up finish in his last tournament – he’s clearly on an upward curve, and his three-under 69 in the third round at Leopard Creek in difficult conditions showed that very clearly.

“I’ve had a couple of good performances before, but they weren’t in big tournaments,” he noted. “But learning from those experiences and coming to the big tournaments knowing that I have been in a similar position before really does help.”

Learning as well as he has means he will be playing with Charl Schwartzel in the final round, a man who has won the Alfred Dunhill Championship four times and been runner-up four more. No doubt, Viljoen will be watching closely – and learning even more.

His win came back in September 2017, and he became a little frustrated at not pushing on to become a more dominating player. “I’ve been working with Hendrik Buhrmann from last year this time,” he said.

“I never had the knowledge of being a world-class golfer, you know, putting the club in the right position, hitting the ball in the right place and things like that. Just having that knowledge, and those little techniques – it really does help, especially the techniques around the golf course on any occasion.

“Talent can only take you so far, and having knowledge really does help a lot if you want to be a world-class player. The knowledge is becoming a natural thing now. I’m not over-thinking any more. I’m just playing and getting around the course with that knowledge.”

He’s showed he’s a quick study with his improving rounds of 72, 71 and 69 in increasingly difficult conditions seeing him climbing steadily up the leaderboard. At four-under for the tournament, he might be a long way off the lead which is at 11-under, but he knows that more improvement gives him every chance of getting into the mix.

“I did set myself a goal for about 12-under to give me a chance to maybe lift the trophy,” he said. “But the course is playing so tough, and the wind being up makes it tougher. So 12-under is not out of reach but you’ve got to hit the ball brilliantly to reach that score. I think I’ll revise my goals tonight and I only found my golf swing today, so I hope the fourth round is going to be the best round of the week.”