The European Tour moves to The Four Seasons Golf Course at Anahita in Beau Champs, Mauritius for the second renewal of the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open this week. George Coetzee won the inaugural edition of the tournament in a playoff a year ago, but that was at a different venue. That makes it a bit of a challenge when it comes to handicapping this event. Not only do we not have a long history to work with, we also can’t even look back to last year to get some insight as they’ve changed the venue. At any rate, here’s our preview and pick of the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open.
Event Details
Event: AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open
Category: European
Date: May 12-15
Location: The Four Seasons Golf Course at Anahita, Beau Champs, Mauritius
Coetzee beat Thorbjorn Olesen in the playoff a year ago but it wouldn’t make sense to buy in to the stats from that event too much with the change in venue for this year’s tournament. However, we can look at what we have learned from the limited field, 54-hole Mauritius Masters that has been played at this course in each of the last six years in order to get a better idea of what will be required to win.
Past Winners
2015: George Coetzee
What To Know About The Course
The Four Seasons Golf Course is over 7,400 yards long with wide fairways that is described as being better suited for the long hitters. The width of the fairways should favor Driving Distance more than Driving Accuracy. Familiarity with this course will be somewhat limited but experience could certainly play a role.
The Field
Coetzee is listed as the betting favorite to win this event outright at +1000 odds and that has a lot to do with his overall form and how his skill set should translate at this event. Scott Hend is another in-form player that will receive a lot of attention at the top at +1100 odds along with Brandon Stone and Jaco van Zyl at +1200. With The Players Championship commanding a ton of attention this week it also might be worth keeping a close eye on the in-play odds in case there is some value that can be exploited if the odds makers are slow to react on the final day of the tournament.
A Good Matchup To Bet: Scott Hend over Jaco van Zyl
With so little to go on heading in to this tournament we will stick with what we know and bet Hend to finish with a better result than van Zyl this weekend. Hend won’t have his good friend Tony Carolan at the tournament with him but it might not make a difference with the Australian exhibiting some fine form heading in to this event including top-10 finishes at the Shenzhen International and Volvo China Open. Meanwhile, van Zyl has missed the cut at two of his last three events and he is definitely worth fading at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open this week.
Top Five Pick: George Coetzee
Coetzee has been a little bit inconsistent so far this season, but he is the best player in a relatively weak field and there is a reason why he is listed as the betting favorite to win this tournament outright. Coetzee’s AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open victory might have come at a different venue a year ago but he still managed to figure out that course and finish first and we won’t overlook that. History at an event is usually one of the main factors that the odds makers take into account.
We would definitely feel safer holding out on a top-five pick and monitoring the in-play markets once the tournament gets underway but if we had to pick a golfer here there is no doubt it would have to be Coetzee as the best bet on the board to finish in the top-five.
Top 10 Odds To Win AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open
George Coetzee +950
Scott Hend +1050
Brandon Stone +1150
Jaco Van Zyl +1150
Jeunghun Wang +1250
Soomin Lee +1550
Dean Burmester +1650
Hao Tong Li +1850
Haydn Porteous +2050
Dylan Frittelli +2250
