Mark Mouland leads the MCB Mauritius Legends after shooting his age on day one at Constance Belle Mare Plage. The 64-year-old’s magnificent eight-under-par 64 propelled him to the top of a stacked leaderboard on a day of low scoring in Mauritius.
The chasing pack includes Ryder Cup player Jamie Donaldson, India’s Jeev Milkha Singh, Englishman Greg Owen and a former winner of the MCB Tour Championship at this venue, Clark Dennis. All four are at -7 after rounds of 65.
One shot back, Craig Farrelly sits alongside a pair of Swedes – Patrik Sjöland and Johan Edfors – at -6 after all three carded rounds of 66. Brian Davis, Adilson da Silva and Scott Drummond are at -5.
For Mouland, however, it was a special day with the novelty of shooting his age for the first time. He started with birdies on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th, added two more on seven and eight, and then picked up four more shots on the back nine. A missed short putt on 15th resulted in the only blemish of the day.
“A 64 at 64! I’m delighted,” said the Welshman, who won twice on the DP World Tour and made 555 appearances. “I played really well all day, it’s probably the best I have played for five years.
“I won the Mauritius Open twice back in the day so I know the place really well. I’ve been coming here for 35 years so it’s one of my favourite places in the world and I just feel really comfortable. I won back-to-back here in 2002 and 2003, when the likes of Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter were playing. I was in my forties then so to win back-to-back against those guys was obviously very special. I’m definitely feeding off it a little bit this week.”
If he is to emulate those two victories, Mouland will surely have to hold off the challenge of his fellow countryman Jamie Donaldson, who won the Mauritius Open himself in 2008. He once again shone with a sparkling 65 to sit just one back, with the highlight of the round surely a tap in eagle after a miraculous second from the trees at 13.
“It was one of those where you’re thinking, ‘I shouldn’t really be taking it on’ but you hit it anyway,” said the three-time DP World Tour winner. “I had to hook it out the rough, under one tree and over another. Thankfully I managed to hit it perfectly and it drew round the corner, bounced up and stopped a couple of inches from the hole.”
“It’s a tricky little course. Everybody’s hitting to about the same spots and there’s not too many holes where the longer hitters can open the shoulders and smash it. So it’s going to be the guy that hits it closest to the pin and makes the putts. It’s a good test, and a lot of the guys are scoring well. You’ve got to shoot low scores to be in position to win tournaments like this, so I’ll just be trying to give myself as many birdie putts as possible.”
It’s clearly horses for courses at the stunning Constance Belle Mare Plage this week as another former winner at this venue – Clark Dennis – joined Donaldson and Greg Owen at -7 after a 65 of his own.
“I haven’t had a very good year, but I love it here,” said the American, who claimed victory in the MCB Tour Championship here in 2018. “I’ve had a good record here, and I feel super comfortable on this course. I got off to a bad start and was one-over after three, and then I just kind of settled down and played really solid after that. You’ve got to drive it straight around here, which I did, and then it’s all about wedges and putting. You’ve got to make a lot of putts so it really helps to have the course knowledge after playing it eight times before.”
England’s Owen has been one of the Legends Tour’s most consistent performers this season, but is still chasing that elusive first win. At -8 with two to go he looked on track to seize the outright lead with the par-five 18th to come, but a bogey on 17 and a par on 18 forced to him to settle for a 65. “I’m disappointed with the finish but happy overall,” said Owen, who has had five top-10s on the Legends Tour this season.
“I’d love to win the tournament. I feel like I’m one of the most consistent players but consistency gets you nothing in this game, so it’s frustrating when you produce a lot of good rounds but don’t get the results. The course is yielding a lot of birdies so you’ve got to keep the pedal down and make some putts.”
The Order of Merit has already been won by Scott Hend but the Barry Lane Rookie of the Year award is still very much up for grabs. The four key protagonists, however, were unable to make a decisive move with Darren Fichardt’s 68 just one shot better than Matt Cort, Stephen Gallacher and David Drysdale.
Play continues on Saturday.
Round 1 Leader Interview
