Frenchman Antoine Rozner will take a two-stroke lead into Sunday’s final round of the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open at battling his way through a tough third round at Mont Choisy Le Golf.

Playing in a three-club wind, Rozner overcame a bogey-bogey start and fought his way back to a very respectable 68 and the tournament lead on 14 under par.

“Yeah, it was tough out there. It was blowing a lot more than the previous days. The long game was tough and the putting was even worse so I struggled,” said Rozner, who in 2019 lost this title in playoff and is back as a two-time DP World Tour winner and also chasing a place in the European Ryder Cup team.

“I had a big birdie putt on the fourth that helped me a lot. It helped me to get the round going. I was very solid after that. I feel like I missed a lot of opportunities but I still shot four under. In these conditions that was pretty good. Now we have one more round to go.”

His nearest challenger is fellow Frenchman Julien Brun, who posted a 67 and was equally delighted with his performance on a very challenging day.

“I’m very pleased with my patience out there because I struggled at the start. It was crazy tricky out there. Downwind your pitching wedge flies and you still have to assess the bounce on the greens, and these greens have big slopes on them. And then into the wind it was at least a three-club wind. It was tough mentally,” he said.

South Africa’s Oliver Bekker is in third place on 11 under par following a third round of 70, and a maiden DP World Tour victory on Sunday would be a tremendous reward for a golfer who has certainly paid his dues globally this year in securing himself a card.

“I played pretty solid. I didn’t make too many mistakes and I’m feeling good about the final round. This is the kind of golf course where you can make quite a few birdies. If you can get off to a good start and put the guys under pressure you’re in with a good chance. We’ve seen 62s and 64s here this week so even if it’s windy you can still get a good score out there. It’s going to be nice to be a few back and be able to play a bit more aggressive, and see how it pans out.”
The 2022 AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open has also drawn a glittering array of blue-chip sponsors including Beachcomber Resorts & Hotels, Mont Choisy Group, Jaguar, Rogers, Heritage Resorts, IBL, the Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA), 3G Mobile, Phoenix Beverages, Air Mauritius, Mautourco, Fenix XCell Apparel, Hertz, Jacobs, C-Care, Emtel, PRO CARTS, IT Solvz, Häagen-Dazs and Dragon Electronics.

Scores:
202 – Antoine Rozner 70 64 68
204 – Julien Brun 69 68 67
205 – Oliver Bekker 64 71 70
206 – Pierre Pineau 65 71 70, Sami Valimaki 62 72 72
207 – Jayden Schaper 68 72 67, Simon Forsstrom 71 69 67, Alfredo Garcia-Heredia 68 66 73
208 – Dylan Mostert 69 71 68, Jeong Weon Ko 67 71 70
209 – Ricardo Gouveia 69 69 71, Christoffer Bring 67 69 73
210 – Brandon Stone 71 72 67, Niklas Norgaard Moller 72 67 71
211 – Julien Guerrier 69 75 67, Marco Penge 73 70 68, Bryce Easton 72 69 70, Gary Hurley 72 68 71, Oihan Guillamoundeguy 72 66 73
212 – Ugo Coussaud 70 73 69, Sean Bradley 73 69 70, Jaco Prinsloo 74 68 70, Thomas Aiken 71 70 71
213 – Nathan Kimsey 75 69 69, Anthony Michael 75 69 69, Pedro Figueiredo 71 72 70, JC Ritchie 66 72 75, Stephen Ferreira 70 68 75, Casey Jarvis 69 67 77
214 – Ruan Korb 71 72 71, Jeremy Freiburghaus 71 72 71, Matthew Southgate 69 70 75
215 – Danie Van Niekerk 74 69 72, Joel Stalter 73 70 72, Marcel Siem 73 69 73, Matthieu Pavon 73 69 73, Laurie Canter 70 72 73, Alexander Knappe 70 72 73, Bradley Bawden 68 74 73, Louis de Jager 71 71 73, Ross Mcgowan 74 68 73
216 – Ian Snyman 71 73 72, Henric Sturehed 73 71 72, Albert Venter 69 75 72, Todd Clements 70 73 73, Nikhil Rama 72 71 73, Jens Dantorp 71 71 74, Thomas Detry 68 74 74, Christiaan Burke 73 69 74
217 – Jens Fahrbring 69 75 73, Dylan Naidoo 74 69 74, Dan Erickson 68 75 74, Niklas Lemke 67 75 75, Alejandro Canizares 71 71 75, Richard Sterne 71 71 75, Lyle Rowe 69 73 75, Gary Stal 71 70 76, Craig Howie 70 71 76, Tom McKibbin 70 71 76
218 – Keenan Davidse 72 72 74, Manuel Elvira 71 73 74, David Ravetto 70 73 75, Santiago Tarrio 70 72 76
219 – Martin Rohwer 69 75 75, Pieter Moolman 74 68 77
220 – Martin Vorster 72 72 76, Keagan Thomas 72 69 79
222 – Thomas Bjorn 70 74 78, Neil Schietekat 72 70 80
223 – Ockie Strydom 69 73 81
Missed the cut:-
145 – John Axelsen 76 69, Lucas Bjerregaard 73 72, Philip Eriksson 76 69, Jacques P de Villiers 71 74, Harry Konig 73 72, Ryan Van Velzen 69 76, Joshua Lee 72 73, Yan Wei Liu 74 71, Sam Hutsby 72 73, Heinrich Bruiners 70 75, Rupert Kaminski 73 72, Kyle Barker 72 73
146 – Makhetha Mazibuko 72 74, Rhys Enoch 75 71, Nicolas Colsaerts 73 73, Jordan Gumberg 73 73, Ashley Chesters 75 71, Renato Paratore 73 73, Dean Burmester 71 75
147 – Angel Hidalgo 75 72, Luke Jerling 74 73, Anton Karlsson 72 75, Wynand Dingle 74 73, Jordan Duminy 72 75, Velten Meyer 76 71, Louis Albertse 75 72, Jean-Paul Strydom 74 73, Peter Karmis 72 75, Aldrich Potgieter 74 73, Jake Redman 75 72, Luke Harries 73 74, Graeme Storm 74 73, OJ Farrell 73 74
148 – Herman Loubser 74 74, Estiaan Conradie 76 72, JJ Senekal 78 70, Rhys West 74 74, Gudmundur Kristjansson 78 70, Luke Brown 72 76, Vishnoo Seenevassen 72 76, Tristen Strydom 75 73, Pavan Sagoo 75 73
149 – Steve Surry 77 72, Ricardo Santos 76 73, Brooklin Bailey 79 70, Javier Sainz 74 75, Deon Germishuys 72 77, Michael Palmer 76 73, Alejandro Del Rey 68 81, Kyle McClatchie 73 76, Mikael Lindberg 72 77, Jbe’ Kruger 76 73, Luca Filippi 73 76, Keith Horne 73 76
150 – Merrick Bremner 76 74, Grant Forrest 72 78, Divan van den Heever 71 79, Matias Calderon 73 77, Toto Thimba Jnr 75 75, Pierre Pellegrin 75 75, Michael Kok 72 78, Stefan Wears-Taylor 76 74, Benjamin Rusch 80 70
151 – Adam Breen 77 74, Jaco Van Zyl 72 79, Elias Bertheussen 79 72, Mateusz Gradecki 76 75, Andre De Decker 72 79
152 – Quintin Wilsnach 74 78, James Hart du Preez 77 75, MJ Viljoen 80 72, Malcolm Mitchell 74 78, Hennie Otto 73 79, CJ du Plessis 78 74
153 – Keelan van Wyk 76 77
154 – Filippo Celli 73 81, Gerard du Plooy 76 78, John Murphy 70 84, Ryo Hisatsune 77 77, Emilio Cuartero Blanco 80 74
155 – Hugo Esposito 77 78, Freddy Schott 79 76
156 – Kristoffer Reitan 77 79
157 – Henry Sheridan-Mills 78 79
162 – Ruan Conradie 79 83
RTD – Adilson Da Silva 73 RTD

Photo by EPA/ALI HAIDER