South Africa’s Dylan Frittelli came through a playoff against India’s Arjun Atwal to win the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open at the Heritage Golf Club.
Dylan Frittelli picked up his second European Tour title with a playoff victory over India’s Arjun Atwal. The 27-year-old South African birdied the first extra hole to add further success to what has been an excellent 2017.
Frittelli finished 19th on the Race to Dubai standings for 2017, won in Austria and was named European Tour Graduate of the Year at the start of this tournament week.
“It’s been a pretty good year for me,” said Frittelli. “I’ve set some pretty lofty goals and achieved most of them so I can’t wait for 2018 – set more goals and go and chase them again.”
Frittelli began the final round in Mauritius one shot behind 54-hole leaders Atwal and Louis De Jager of South Africa. But Frittelli played some superb golf in testing conditions to take control of the tournament through 14 holes.
The South African stalled on the run for home and when he failed to take advantage of the par-5 last, Atwal was given a lifeline.
The 44-year-old Indian needed an eagle on the home hole to overtake Frittelli and win the tournament outright. He gave himself a chance with a brilliant second shot that left a 20-foot putt. His effort for the win narrowly missed and the resulting birdie meant a playoff was required to decide the tournament.
The players went back to the 18th tee and this time it was Atwal who was unable to take advantage of the par-5. Frittelli made birdie an the victory was his.
3 Talking points from the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open
1 – Frittelli has enjoyed a fine year on the European Tour. He won the Lyoness Open in June and then finished strongly. A tie for second in the Turkish Airlines Open was followed by a tie for fourth in the DP World Tour Championship. This victory confirms that he is one of the form players in world golf at this point. Frittelli has climbed to 55th place on the Official World Golf Ranking.
2017 blade test:
2 – Arjun Atwal will captain his continent in the upcoming EurAsia Cup started the tournament with a superb 62 and was disappointed to miss out on the victory.
“I’m just disappointed to lose the tournament,” he said. “You don’t get many chances, especially at my age. I’ll take a lot of positives out of this week but right now I’m really mad”
3 – Louis Oosthuizen made a great run on the back nine of his final round. The 2010 Open Champion looked totally out of the picture when just level par for the day through six holes. But he then made four birdies and an eagle between the 7th and 14th holes to give himself a chance. He fell away though with a triple bogey at the 16th and ended the week tied seventh, five shots off the lead.
AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open
Heritage GC, Domaine de Bel Ombre, Mauritius
Nov 30 – Dec 3
Purse: €1,175,000 Par: 71
1 Dylan Frittelli (RSA) 67 66 68 67 268 €158,500
2 Arjun Atwal (Ind) 62 70 68 68 268 €110,000
3 Romain Langasque (Fra) 67 69 67 67 270 €74,200
4 Louis De Jager (RSA) 66 67 67 71 271 €49,100
T5 Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 69 68 69 66 272 €38,350
T5 Miguel Tabuena (Phi) 66 68 67 71 272 €38,350
T7 Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 68 66 69 70 273 €27,050
T7 Louis Oosthuizen (RSA) 67 68 71 67 273 €27,050
T9 Oliver Bekker (RSA) 67 67 71 69 274 €18,260
T9 George Coetzee (RSA) 67 71 68 68 274 €18,260
T9 Joel Stalter (Fra) 67 68 70 69 274 €18,260
T9 Jean-Paul Styrdom (RSA) 71 69 66 68 274 €18,260
T9 Ockie Styrdom (RSA) 66 68 73 67 274 €18,260
Note: Player score in bold signifies Titleist ball usage
This article Dylan Frittelli wins Mauritius Open appeared first on Golf Monthly.