– This week the Afrasia Bank Mauritius Open takes place, the final event of the Opening Swing of the DP World Tour and, therefore, of the year 2024. It will be played at Mont Choisy Le Golf, located in the north of Mauritius and hosting the tournament for the second time. The debut of this course on the European circuit was in 2023 and brings back good memories for Spanish golf, with that second place by Alfredo García Heredia, only surpassed by Antoine Rozner.
– As is usually the case in those parts, the wind will be a key factor. It will blow every day, from Thursday to Sunday, consistently coming from the East with a speed that will hardly drop below 20 kilometres per hour and with gusts that could even reach 40 kilometres per hour, especially tomorrow, Thursday, and in the morning session of play, to be more precise.
– The tournament will be Albert Boneta’s debut as a professional in a European circuit tournament, as in 2022 he played the Barracuda Championship as an amateur thanks to his victory in the Wolf Pack Classic, a university tournament that awarded the winner a place in the Barracuda.
– Boneta, who completed his studies last spring at the University of New Mexico, has been one of the most surprising and pleasant breakthroughs in recent times in high-level professional golf. It should be noted that the professional experience of the young Catalan, aged 23, is very limited, as he has only played four Challenge Tour tournaments with an invitation in recent months and, indeed, the three stages of the European circuit’s Qualifying School, where he demonstrated bomb-proof consistency (he was 6th in the First Stage, 7th in the Second, and again 6th in the Final, a position with which he comfortably secured playing rights on the DP World Tour with category 18).
– Let’s remember that precisely in the Final of the School he showed the skill and patience necessary in windy conditions, exactly what he will encounter this week in Mauritius…
– There’s no way Antoine Rozner would miss this last tournament of the year. The Frenchman is a specialist in this event. As mentioned, he won in 2022 on this very course, but in 2019 he played a playoff for the win at another venue (Heritage La Reserve Golf Club), which he lost to Rasmus Hojgaard, and in 2018 he was seventh at the third course that completes the tournament rotation (Four Seasons Golf Club). It is therefore mandatory to consider him the top favourite, especially in the absence of the one who should defend the title, Louis Oosthuizen, last year’s winner.
– We have six more Spaniards in Mauritius this week. Special mention goes to Ángel Ayora, following his outstanding performance in the Alfred Dunhill Championship, because he could still win the Opening Swing, although for that he needs to claim victory. Additionally, there are Iván Cantero, Joel Moscatel, Sebas García, Adri Arnaus, and Santi Tarrio. The latter three, Sebas, Adri, and Santi, will have few opportunities to play DP World Tour tournaments this year, given their category, so they have much more at stake than the rest, although always, unless proven otherwise, with the possibility of the ‘big breakthrough’ on the horizon…
