RESULTS 2008 - THE INTERNATIONAL PRO-AM
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Tuesday 9th and Wednesday 10th December 2008
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The 15th edition of the Mauritius Golf Open gets under way on Friday with a number of past contenders bidding to occupy the position vacated by the 2007 champion, Peter Baker.
The 41-year-old Englishman has not returned to defend his title on The Legend course at Belle Mare Plage, leaving the way open to a host of leading players from recent years to fight it out for the title.
Among them is Portugal’s Jose-Filipe Lima, who has had to settle for the minor honours twice in the last two championships.
In 2005, Lima went down by a single stroke to Miles Tunnicliff, from England, after driving into the lake at the final hole of the tournament.
Two years later, Lima was four strokes clear of eventual winner Baker after the first three holes of the last round.
But by the time the leaders had left the 12th green, that lead had been eroded and a disastrous double-bogey at the next hole, where he lost a ball, ended Lima’s challenge.
Portugal’s only representative in the championship will be hoping to go one better in 2008.
Welshman Jamie Donaldson has demonstrated in recent years that he has the ability and temperament to lift the Mauritian Open title and he arrives at Belle Mare Plage at the end of his best season on the PGA European Tour.
Donaldson comfortably retained his Tour card with an 89th place in the order-of-merit and was well in contention for last year’s title before also coming to grief at the 13th.
There is little to separate Donaldson and Englishman Simon Wakefield on recent form. Wakefield finished a place above Donaldson in the European Tour order-of-merit and the two men shared third place in last year’s Mauritius Open.
The most experienced competitor in the field is Phillip Price, from Wales, a former Ryder Cup player who only missed out on lifting the winner’s trophy in 2006 when Van Phillips produced an incredible run over the closing eight holes.
Price failed by a single stroke after Phillips played the final nine holes in a record-breaking 29 strokes, with seven birdies and two pars.. |
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Phillips, meanwhile, has only recently recovered from surgery on a hip earlier this year and the Mauritian Open may have come just a little too soon for the 2006 champion.
The name on most people’s lips when talking of likely winners, however, is Gregory Havret, France’s leading player who has had an excellent year on the European circuit.
The 32-year-old from Aix-en-Provence showed immense character to win the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles in August with a brave up-and-down from a bunker at the 18th hole on the final day and he went on to finish the year a highly respectable 33rd in the European Tour order-of-merit.
Others with serious claims in this year’s championship include Havret’s compatriots Christian Cevaer and Jean-Francois Lucquin, Englishman Richard Bland, who has earned his place on this season’s PGA European Tour with a 13th placing on the Challenge Tour, and three players from the top eight in 2007, former champion Phil Golding and Shaun Webster and Belgium’s Jerome Theunis.
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Two other past champions, Michael McLean and Sebastian Delagrange are also in the line-up.
The Mauritius Open has gained a reputation in recent history of producing a twist of fate that has changed the direction of the major honours.
Who is to say that this year will be any different?.
All the latest details and scores will be carried on this website at the end of each day’s play.
Neil Webber |
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Calendar & Results |
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Tuesday 9/12/2008 |
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Legend Course Overview |
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Links Course Overview |
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News |
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