Mauritius Open 2024 Tips: Six players to back each-way this week

The DP World Tour ends its 2024 schedule in quite glorious surroundings as the players have made their way to Grand Baie in Mauritius for the Mauritius Open.

As always, here is Jamie Worsley's comprehensive preview and those all-important Mauritius Open 2024 Tips. He's picked out six players who are worthy of betting consideration heading into the event...

We arrive at our final event of the year on the DP World Tour this week, as an eclectic field looks to finish 2024 with a bang in the Mauritius Open at Mont Choisy Le Golf. 

TOURNAMENT HISTORY 

The Mauritius Open debuted in 2015 as a co-sanctioned event between the DP World, Sunshine and Asian Tours. Since returning from a two-year absence due to COVID in 2022, it has been sanctioned by just the DP World and Sunshine Tours and has occupied this spot as the final event of the calendar year. 

We've had seven different winners across the seven renewals so far, starting off with George Coetzee in 2015. He is one of three South African champions, along with Dylan Frittelli (2017) and Louis Oosthuizen (2023). 

Last five winners: 

• 2023 – Winner: Louis Oosthuizen (-17); runner-up: Laurie Canter (-15) 

• 2022 – Winner: Antoine Rozner (-19); runner-up: Alfredo Garcia-Heredia (-14) 

• 2019 – Winner: Rasmus Hojgaard (-19, playoff); runners-up: Renato Paratore, Antoine Rozner (-19) 

• 2018 – Winner: Kurt Kitayama (-20); runners-up: S. Chikkarangappa, Matthieu Pavon (-18) 

• 2017 – Winner: Dylan Frittelli (-16, playoff); runner-up: Arjun Atwal (-16) 

Louis Oosthuizen won the event at La Reserve Golf Links last year – a golf course he helped design. He doesn't return to defend this week, as the Mauritius Open heads back to 2022 host, Mont Choisy Le Golf.  

THE COURSE 

The Mauritius Open alternates back and forth between various courses and it's the turn of Mont Choisy Le Golf again this week. The course has only hosted one previous edition in 2022, when Antoine Rozner ran out an impressive five-shot winner. 

Mont Choisy was designed by Peter Matkovich in 2017, who spoke of his expectation that players would score well at the course prior to that 2022 edition. A prolific architect in South Africa, he was also responsible for two of the other three host courses in this event: Heritage Le Chateau Golf Course (2015, 2017, 2019) and Heritage La Reserve Golf Links (2023). 

The course will play to the same yardage and par as it did in 2022, with this par 72 measuring 7051 yards. It's made up of 5x par 3s (138-219 yards), 8x par 4s (318-451 yards) and 5x par 5s (519-598 yards). 

Located close to Mauritius's northwest coast, Mont Choisy is a largely exposed and undulating course. It possesses frequent, often dramatic changes in elevation, which occasionally result in blind shots. 

The fairways are very wide, with many framed by black volcanic rocky outcrops that sometimes act as waste areas, whilst the strategic bunkers are also filled with that same striking sand. 

The undulating green complexes are one of the toughest aspects of play at the course. They start off reasonably small on the front nine but increase in size down the stretch. Steep run-off areas will punish wayward approaches and when combined with the bunkering, it made for one of the most demanding short game tests on tour in 2022. 

Water comes into play on six holes (7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 18) and provides players with plenty of risk/reward opportunities. This is no more prevalent than on the 573-yard closing par 5, on which it guards the green right and long. 

That is one of five par 5s at Mont Choisy, all of which are reachable in two for most in the field and along with several shorter par 4s, including the drivable 318-yard 13th, makes for lots of good birdie chances at the venue. That being said, that close proximity to the coast and generally exposed nature makes it susceptible to windy conditions, and players will be hoping to see little breeze in the forecast. 

THE WEATHER 

This week's forecast is predicting for some breezy conditions – with gusts of around 25-27mph on Thursday and Sunday – but it doesn't appear as consistently difficult as what we saw here in 2022. Which means we should see better scoring this time around. 

It looks set to be largely dry, warm and bright throughout the week, except for the small chance of a passing shower or two on Friday and Sunday. However it isn't predicted to be too heavy.  

KEY STATS 

• SG: Approach/Greens-in-Regulation 

• SG: Putting 

• Driving Distance 

• Par 5 Scoring 

In the calmer conditions compared to the 2022 edition, I expect this year's Mauritius Open to be lower scoring, requiring players to be strong in approach and/or putting. 

These areas were the key stats for Antoine Rozner when he won at Mont Choisy, ranking 1st in greens-in-regulation, 1st in putting and 3rd in approach. Runner-up, Alfredo Garcia-Heredia ranked 3rd on the greens and 3rd-place finisher, Julien Brun ranked 3rd in GIR, 8th in putting and 12th in approach. 

Although the course is short enough for the more accuracy-dependent players to contend, I do feel the wide fairways and open feel means it can be overpowered by the bigger hitters. Rozner is a player not short on length, nor is 4th-place finisher Jeong Weon Ko and Garcia-Heredia is certainly longer than he is accurate. 

Lastly, the collection of par 5s are largely there to be got at and players will need to score well on them to challenge. 

CORRELATING EVENTS 

The most obvious place to start is previous renewals of this event, especially those at the Matkovich-designed Heritage Golf Club's La Reserve Golf Links (2023) and Le Chateau Golf Course (2015, 2017, 2019). 

Matkovich is also the designer of the current home of the Kenya Open, Muthaiga Golf Club, a course at which four of the top 10 at Mont Choisy in 2022 have finished in the top 10. 

This week's venue has a linksy feel and with that, the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship should act as a good comp. Each event is home to wide and undulating fairways, heavily contoured greens and rely on the wind to limit low scoring. 

The SDC Championship is another event co-sanctioned between the DP World Tour and Sunshine Tour, and its host course, St Francis Links bares many similarities to Mont Choisy. It's an exposed links-like course with wide, sloping fairways and features regular elevation changes. Antoine Rozner finished 3rd there last there. 

THE FIELD 

Our previous Mont Choisy winner, Antoine Rozner is the top-ranked player in the field at #145 and one of six players from inside the world's top 200. The Frenchman is the only former winner in attendance this week. 

Each of last week's trio of runners-up at Leopard Creek, John Parry, Ryan Van Velzen and Marcus Kinhult will be hoping to go one better in Mauritius, whilst the leading player on the Chinese Tour this year, Zihao Jin makes his first DPWT start outside of China after winning an impressive five titles in 2024. 

Among the tournament invites for our final event of the year are former #1 amateur, Christo Lamprecht of South Africa. He is joined by highly rated German youngster, Tiger Christensen, who reached a high of #27 in the amateur rankings and makes his professional debut at Mont Choisy Le Golf. 

SELECTIONS 

Market leaders (1/4 5 places): Antoine Rozner 17/2, Angel Ayora 14/1, John Parry 20/1, Richard Mansell 25/1, Gavin Green 25/1, Jayden Schaper 28/1 

As the previous winner at Mont Choisy Le Golf and coming into this in excellent form, Antoine Rozner is a rightfully strong favourite this week and is highly respected. That being said, it's been five weeks since we last saw him and as a player who can be immensely frustrating on the greens, he's not one I'd want to be taking at single digits. 

Away from the Frenchman and the event looks wide open, with plenty of value to be found elsewhere. I'm going to begin my selections with a couple of young South Africans looking for a breakthrough DP World Tour win, starting with Robin Williams. 

Robin Williams 

Williams has had an excellent year in 2024, playing across the DP World, Challenge and Sunshine Tours. We saw his ability at this level earlier in the season, as he finished 2nd in the SDC Championship and just six starts ago he was 4th among a strong field in the Dunhill Links. He earned enough points on the Challenge Tour to earn a full DPWT card for this season and four starts ago he won for the second time on the Sunshine Tour in the Fortress Invitational. 

He hasn't quite fired across his three starts in the new season, missing the cut in the Australian PGA Championship and last week's Alfred Dunhill Championship, though he was more solid when a middle-of-the-pack 36th in the Nedbank Challenge. He's looked very comfortable on links-like courses and I'm expecting the challenge at Mont Choisy to bring about an improved result. 

Williams hasn't played here before but the two aforementioned top 5s on the DPWT this year both bode well. His liking for these open and exposed courses was also evident in his amateur career, as he finished 2nd in the 2021 St Andrews Links Trophy and possessing the power to take it to these par 5s and shorter par 4s, he looks a perfect fit for the test. 

Yurav Premlall 

I backed Yurav Premlall last week in the Dunhill Championship, where he continued his strong form with a 19th-place finish. That was enough to tempt me into giving the talented young South African another shot this week, in a country where he enjoyed some success as an amateur. 

Last week's display took Premlall to 20 made cuts in a row and was his 14th top-20 finish over that period, during which time he recorded his first pro win in the Vodacom Origins – Sishen.  

He's previously struggled at DPWT level but that was his second solid performance in a row after he finished 54th in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship a couple of months back. A result that also indicates his ability to perform on this week's links-like setup. 

Premlall is of above average length but is more impressive in other areas that look key this week, ranking 3rd in par 5 scoring, 4th in greens-in-regulation and 5th on the greens on the Sunshine Tour this season. Having won the MCB Indian Ocean Open in 2022 when still an amateur, he has some positive experience of winning in Mauritius and I'm hoping those good vibes can drive this in-form player to a life-changing win this week. 

Daniel Brown 

Daniel Brown hasn't really fired since finishing 3rd in the Andalucia Masters at the end of October. Although, he typically excels on this type of course and with a 3rd-place finish to his name in this event last year, I'm expecting him to be among the main challengers amongst this relatively weak field. 

Brown's year has blown hot and cold, with several high-class performances often surrounded by a sea of mediocracy. He's recorded three top 5s, with that result in Andalucia accompanied by 4th-place finishes in the SDC Championship and Irish Open, whilst he impressed everybody when contending for a long time in The Open, before eventually finishing 10th. 

Though his long game is inconsistent, there's been enough quality there this year that he's gained strokes overall in approach and off-the-tee. In addition, after initially struggling on the greens earlier this year, he's been strong with the putter in the second half of the year and has gained strokes in five of his last eight starts. 

Brown didn't play here in 2022 but was 3rd at the Matkovich-designed La Reserve Golf Links in the event last year. His case is further strengthened by 4th and 9th-place finishes on his two trips to St Francis Links in the SDC Championship.  

David Ravetto 

The big hitting David Ravetto always looks most at home on open, exposed courses and having performed with credit here in 2022, this new DPWT winner looks good value to be in the mix this week. 

Ravetto has broken through professionally on two tours this year, winning the Dimension Data Pro-Am on the Challenge/Sunshine Tour back in February and he then earned a first DPWT title in the Czech Masters in August.  

He does come here after missing the cut last time out in the Alfred Dunhill, but his game looked in good shape when 31st on his prior start in the Nedbank Challenge, which gives me the confidence that he can bounce back this week. 

Ravetto is at his best with driver, ranking 27th on the DPWT last season and his length was one of the assets that helped him to a 45th-place finish here in 2022. However, it's his record at St Francis Links that appeals in particular, a place at which he's finished 18th and 3rd in the last two seasons.  

Jacob Skov Olesen 

Former #12 amateur, Jacob Skov Olesen looks excellent value in this field and as a player with an excellent links pedigree, he should be able to handle the test thrown up at Mont Choisy. 

The Dane only turned pro in July after an eight-year amateur career laden with noteworthy performances, no more so than his victory in this year's prestigious Amateur Championship at Ballyliffin Golf Club in June. This got him into the Open Championship, where he finished a commendable 60th.  

He made his first pro start in the Danish Golf Championship on the DPWT, finishing 5th and earned a DPWT card pretty swiftly by finishing 21st at Q-School. He's since made two starts in the new season, finding the going tough when missing the cut at Royal Queensland in the Australian PGA Championship, but he was much improved the following week, finishing 27th in the Australian Open when we last saw him.  

Olesen has looked a strong tee-to-green player in his small amount of pro starts so far, indeed he ranked top 30 T2G in The Open. That level of performance will serve him well anywhere and with his win at Ballyliffin proof of his ability to go well on linksy courses, he should relish teeing it up in Mauritius.  

Martin Vorster 

Martin Vorster has yet to stamp his authority as a pro after a promising amateur career. Although, he arrives here in strong form and as one of few players to have had multiple spins around Mont Choisy, he's well worth a shot at this huge price. 

Vorster turned pro in 2021 after reaching the top 25 in the amateur rankings, with victories in events such as the South African Stroke Play Championship and African Amateur Stroke Play Championship to his name.  

This hasn't translated to success in the pro game as yet, though he is arguably playing his most consistent golf at current. He comes into this having missed just one of his previous nine cuts and has hit the top 10 on four occasions, including recording a 2nd-place finish in the Vodacom Origins – Sishen – his best pro finish to date. 

He's showing plenty of quality on the greens, ranking 5th and is also hitting plenty of greens, ranking 21st in GIR. In addition to being the sixth-best par 5 scorer on the Sunshine Tour, he ticks plenty of boxes for Mont Choisy. 

Vorster played here in the All Africa Team Championship amateur event in 2019, finishing 2nd to Jayden Schaper. He then made the cut at the course in this event in 2022, finishing 58th and with more experience now under his belt, he can cause a stir near the top of the leaderboard in this week's Mauritius Open.  

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