The AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open marks the conclusion of the DP World Tour's Opening Swing as La Réserve Golf Links makes its international championship debut. Here are your five things to know.
Conclusion of the Opening Swing
The AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open is the final tournament on the Opening Swing, with La Réserve Golf Links set to be the stage where two champions are crowned.
Beyond the winner of the tournament, the Opening Swing also has its own Order of Merit which concludes in Mauritius and provides opportunity to climb the Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex.
The leading professional on this Order of Merit will win an extra $200 000 and, if already a member of the DP World Tour, receive an invitation into the next scheduled Rolex Series tournament as well as a spot in each of the DP World Tour’s Back Nine series of nine high-profile tournaments.
Rozner defends
This week marks the seventh edition of the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open, with Antoine Rozner returning to defend the title he won 12 months ago in resounding fashion.
His 2022 five-stroke triumph at the Mont Choisy Le Golf course was the largest margin of victory in the tournament’s history and saw him extend his excellent record in the event.
The Frenchman made his first ever start on the DP World Tour in this event in 2018 - finishing seventh - and in 2020 he lost out to Rasmus Højgaard in play-off.
Victory this week would see him become the first player to successfully defend the title.
A new venue
The magnificent La Réserve Golf Links is making its international championship debut this week as it opens its fairways to the leading professionals on the DP World Tour and the Sunshine Tour in the co-sanctioned event.
Inspired by the open spaces of the great seaside links, the spectacular course plays hand-in-hand with nature alongside a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and boasts panoramic ocean views from every hole.
The course, co-designed by Major champion Louis Oosthuizen and Peter Matkovich, is the first and only contemporary links in the Indian Ocean and the venue is the latest and most keenly anticipated offering in Heritage Resorts’ golf portfolio.
Inside the field
The final event of the calendar year on the DP World Tour in 2023 features another international field, including multiple-time DP World Tour winners, European Challenge Tour graduates and Qualifying School graduates.
Marcel Siem, who returned to the winner's circle earlier this year in India after an eight-year wait, is playing this week in a country which he now calls home having relocated there with his family around a year ago.
Another player making his first start of the new season is Matthieu Pavon as the Frenchman looks to cap a stellar year which saw him claim his maiden DP World Tour title at the Acciona Open de España presented by Madrid and earn dual membership status on the PGA TOUR for next year.
Tom Lewis is also teeing it up for the first time on the 2024 Race to Dubai after securing his return to the DP World Tour through the Final Stage of Qualifying School in Spain last month, while fellow Englishman Andrew ‘Beef’ Johnston continues his return from injury and South Africa's Jayden Schaper looks to continue his impressive run following three top tens in each of the opening events.
Past Champions
Every past champion of this event has gone on to, or become, a multiple winner on Tour.
Rasmus Højgaard made his DP World Tour breakthrough on just his fifth start on Tour when he won in 2019, becoming the third youngest winner in DP World Tour history after Matteo Manassero and Danny Lee.
Meanwhile, Rozner's victory marked a personal record of having won a tournament every year for three years in succession since earning his DP World Tour card in 2020.
Two years earlier, Kurt Kitayama claimed his maiden DP World Tour title in 2018 before he added a second a few months later in Oman. Earlier this year, the American won the 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational on the PGA TOUR and finished tied fourth in the PGA Championship.
South Africa's Dylan Frittelli, playing in the event this week after two top-20s in his first three starts of the season on home soil, claimed the second of his two DP World Tour titles in 2017 in Mauritius after his breakthrough came in Austria.
For early champions George Coetzee (2015), Wang Jeung-hun (2016), the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open also formed part of multiple DP World Tour wins in their careers.
