Ryan Gerard (-16) and Casey Jarvis (-16) lead the Afrasia Bank Mauritius Open after the third round. The American has stormed to the top of the leaderboard after signing the best card of the week at the Heritage La Reserve Golf Links (Bel Ombre, Mauritius), a stunning 63 achieved while excelling in the area of the game where he usually doesn’t…
– The young American has never been an immense, lethal putter, at least as a professional. His statistics demonstrate this, both in the two seasons he has completed on the PGA Tour and in the handful of tournaments he has already played on the DP World Tour. His numbers on the greens are rather average, far from the norm. However, today he finished with six birdies in the last seven holes, largely thanks to a formidable display with the putter in hand, with special mention for the putt he holed on the 16th hole, long, tricky, and winding. Gerard is, above all, a very reliable player from tee to green, and he has based his gradual climb to the top 60 in the world on this strength. If he also putts well, things like what happened today on the beautiful and windy course in Mauritius can occur…
– It should be noted that the American came to this event with the healthy intention of finishing at least in fourth place, with the aim of breaking into the world’s top 50 and earning an invitation to play for the first time at the Masters Tournament in 2026. We will see how he handles the famous greens of the Georgia colossus, but this week, for now, he has already putted brilliantly in the first round and has done so again in the fourth. If it is true that the North Carolinian has found a way to be more efficient on the greens, it is very likely that he will be considered for more ambitious goals, beyond his victory last summer at the Barracuda Championship.
– It is true that players have been getting the hang of this course, especially in terms of avoiding those high numbers that can be seen on almost every hole (today Rocco Reppeto visited the dark side of golf with a ’10’ on the 18th hole), but the threat of the wild rough is always there, so almost anything can happen in the decisive round. Certainly, the most consistent players with the long game have an advantage, and Gerard is one of them, but both Jarvis and his compatriot Jayden Schaper (-14), last week’s winner, and the Frenchman Alex Levy (-15), are also showing tremendous confidence. We will see what happens at the moment of truth, although it doesn’t seem foolish to bet on Schaper, who is in a dynamic of absolute confidence.
– Manu Elvira (-12) has fallen slightly behind, although not enough to deny him the possibility of his first victory on the DP World Tour. The Spaniard has actually completed a more than acceptable third round, with a final score of 69 strokes, although going slightly from more to less, especially in terms of game consistency. It’s a matter of nuances, without too much importance, because the truth is that Elvira had the round under control, but they are relevant when it comes to defining the champion each week.
– Tomorrow, Sunday, the wind is apparently going to blow a little less. It will still be noticeable, but with less intensity, so it shouldn’t be ruled out that someone might come along and make things difficult for the leaders, a bit like Shaun Norris did last week. In this sense (or in any other), Adri Arnaus (-6), who has signed his third consecutive 70 today, or Eugenio Chacarra (-6), still seem to have a very interesting margin for improvement, not to get among the final contenders for victory, of course, but to reach that part of the table that distributes more points.
