Australian Andrew Dodt made light work of testing conditions in the first round of the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open to lead by two shots after a six under par 66.
The 30 year old posted an eagle, six birdies and two bogeys at a windy Four Seasons Golf Club Anahita to finish the day top of the pile, with India’s Rashid Khan and Bangladeshi Siddikur Rahman in second place on four under.
Dodt, a two-time European Tour winner who has had an indifferent 2016 so far, making two cuts from six appearances, chipped in for birdie on his first hole – the tenth – and finished by picking up two shots in the last three to surge ahead.
Defending champion George Coetzee opened with a one under par 71, while last week’s winner in Morocco, Korea’s Jeunghun Wang, continued in the same vein with a three under par 69 to lie tied fourth alongside Argentine Estanislao Goya.
“If someone offered me six under at the start of the day, I’d have taken it. It’s not easy out there. If you’re off by just a little bit, it gets magnified by the wind. I played really solidly. I didn’t make many mistakes and the momentum of the round just kept flowing.
“Knocking those six-footers in for par just keeps the momentum going. I did hole some key putts today. I didn’t hit a good shot into the tenth, but managed to chip in for birdie and that kept the round going. Then on 11 I went in the fairway bunker and hit a seven iron out to about two feet. It just got to the round off on the right note and it continued from there.
“It was pretty breezy, and when you get out to three, four and five you’re right on the beach and more exposed. I hit an eight iron from 96 metres at one stage. I haven’t done that before.
“When you play well the conditions don’t really matter, and I think that’s what happened today. Having said that, this course can bite you at any stage, so there’s a long way to go and a lot of golf to be played.” Dodt said.
The AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open is the only tournament tri-sanctioned by the European, Asian and Sunshine Tours, and has a prize fund of €1million.