On his first trip to Mauritius and treating it as a belated honeymoon with his wife, Jennifer, Eddie Pepperell produced a strong finish of four birdies in his final five holes to lead by one over Denmark’s Jacob Skov Olesen at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open, who signed for a bogey-free 67.
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“It’s the first time me and Jennifer have been here. We really love it. We’re staying in a lovely hotel. I said to her before we came out here to treat it as a bit of a honeymoon because we haven’t had one since our wedding in August,” said Pepperell.
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The English professional overcame a bogey at the second and produced a string of birdies thereafter, including that strong finish in some windy and testing conditions.
“I’m pleased with that. I wasn’t expecting it. After bogeying the second hole I was worried it was going to be one of those Thursdays again. But I turned it around nicely and played very well. I had a good finish. I just told myself, ‘Keep your head down and let it happen’. It’s been a while since I’ve been in a position where I’m at the top of the leaderboard on a Thursday.”
It was a positive start by the double DP World Tour champion, who admits he had to stay in the present when his game was flowing – particularly on that closing stretch.
“Sometimes it can get in your head, but I just tried to keep my head down and focus and keep doing what I’ve been working on in the range. This year there have been so many rounds I’ve played where things have deteriorated and I’ve become increasingly frustrated, and the difference today was my game held up. Clearly what I’ve been working on has been good, so if I can just keep doing it in tough conditions then I’m optimistic. This golf course is really tricky, especially in the wind. This course needs the wind and you can easily make some high numbers around here. It’s deceptive.”
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Olesen was equally pleased with his start as he seeks to emulate fellow Dane Rasmus Højgaard, who won this tournament in 2019.
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“It went pretty well. I’m happy about the game. I feel like everything was solid. There wasn’t one particular thing that was really good, but there was also nothing that was bad. I hit some good iron shots and rolled in a couple of decent putts. It was a good start. The wind is definitely a factor here. You’ve got to switch your mindset a little bit and just take your medicine sometimes and play what you get from the wind.”
Italian Renato Paratore, Denmark’s Hamish Brown, Norway’s Andreas Halvorsen and South Africans Jacques Blaauw, Wilco Nienaber and Jayden Schaper are all well placed just two shots off the lead.
