The DP World Tour is preparing to wrap up the year 2023 with the competition on the spectacular Mauritius islands of the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open, a tournament that distributes 1.2 million dollars in prizes and features the presence of the Spaniards Ángel Ayora, Santiago Tarrio, Ángel Hidalgo, Iván Cantero and Alfredo García-Heredia. The main peculiarity of the event lies in the course where it is held, the Heritage La Réserve Golf Club, a completely new course, opened ten days ago in Heritage Bel Ombre, which as is clear on its official website, which rates it with the phrase ‘Pure Golfing Drama‘, is going to be a significant headache for the participants.
The first inconvenience arrives even before starting to play. From the Clubhouse to the tee of hole 1 there is about three kilometres uphill, which requires taking the players in a buggy. An ascent that, on the one hand, offers spectacular views from above, with the sea in the background, and on the other forces to play ‘downhill’ and against the wind practically all the round. A design that also affects the tee of the 10th, which also requires a transfer to reach.
The early start for the players of the first matches of the day, such as Ángel Ayora who will play tomorrow in the third group from 6.30 local time, will be significant. To the usual transfers, the time needed to take the transfer to reach the tee must be added, so more than one will be woken up no later than 4.00 in the morning. And once in action, it will be time to show great finesse with the driver in hand…
The sensation of walking as if you were stepping on rubber, typical of courses like the one in Mauritius that have just opened their doors, is joined by the difficulty offered by its narrow fairways and the hedges and bush areas nearby. So much so that to avoid a round that already takes quite a long time to complete becoming a torment, with endless rounds (expected to last no less than five hours or five and a half hours), ‘stakes’ have been ‘planted’ with penalty areas similar to those usually appearing in water hazards to avoid having to go back uphill when a ball is not found to play another provisional, with the consequent loss of time and delay in play that this produces.
The wind, constant and between 20 and 30 kilometres per hour, and temperatures between 30 and 32 degrees with high humidity will also be an added challenge for a tournament in which no major differences are expected in terms of difficulty due to playing in the morning and afternoon shifts and where it will be necessary to combine difficult holes (it is planned to advance several tees) with others, like several ‘easy’ par fives and two par fours where the green can be caught in one shot, ideal for making birdies.
The greens, undulating, are quite slow, which makes the task much easier. Although it will be necessary to pay close attention to holes like the par five of the 5th, quite strange according to some of the players present in Mauritius, and some difficult par threes. A half original, half strange course, which somewhat resembles British links, where the ‘hitters’ seem to start with a certain advantage towards the goal of closing the year 2023 with a victory to which the five Spaniards present in this AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open aspire.
