For our now regular betting angle for punters here at SA Tour Golf, we bring you tips for the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open from Mike Green (former Sunshine Tour communications manager).
MIKE GREEN says:
The form books point towards Dean Burmester and Thomas Detry as favourites for the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open this week, but form books don’t factor in the kind of indefinable drive that took Ockie Strydom to victory last week.
After a season of eight top-10 finishes on the 2022 DP World Tour – with a very close shave as runner-up in the Catalunya Championship in May – Oliver Bekker looked the part with his share of fourth in the Alfred Dunhill Championship last week. A closing round commensurate with his first three of 69-66-68, instead of his eventual one-under 71, would have taken him closer to the summit of the leaderboard. Heading into his final tournament of a long year, his game has started firing at the kind of level which has brought him seven Sunshine Tour titles. South African players seem to relax into the tournament in Mauritius, and, while it’s not really a ‘home game’ for him, Bekker will feel comfortable on the fairways and greens of the Indian Ocean island which feels like an ideal getaway for him and his countrymen. A win would be just reward for a good first year on the DP World Tour – and predicting one is not simply an act of sentimentality either: he has the tools to do well just about anywhere.
Thomas Detry is one of those players about whom there is much head-scratching about why he hasn’t won a DP World Tour title yet. The Mauritius title is one of many where he’s been close, in the last event played on the island back in 2019. He finished in a share of fourth, one shot behind play-off winner Rasmus Hojgaard of Denmark then. Separating him and Dean Burmester feels like something of a fool’s errand, and they are justifiably joint favourites for the week. But it feels more likely that Detry will break his duck, for very similar reasons that we believe Bekker could do so too. Burmester has an advantage in that he is an ambassador for Mont Choisy Le Golf, one who has spent plenty of time there. We’re picking Detry over Burmester (but a little insurance in the opposite direction couldn’t hurt).
Young Tom McKibbin of Northern Ireland was just two bogeys in his final round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship outside the top 10 last week. He has three top-20 finishes in his three tournaments on the DP World Tour’s new season, and, as he heads to his 20th birthday on December 19, he looks every inch the next big thing from Northern Ireland. He has shown he can string together some really low scores – it’s worth noting that those two bogeys were in his closing 66 at Leopard Creek last week – and he’s no doubt itching to justify the hype about his game. With Mont Choisy Le Golf showing during the Legends Tour finale last week that it can deliver some low scores, McKibbin looks a likely customer.
Talking about going low at Mont Choisy Le Golf, it was Thomas Bjorn who did the job by seven shots, ahead of James Kingston, who closed with a 65 and a 64 himself. So with the great Dane having been in the mood and in the zone last week, a little flutter on him probably couldn’t hurt.
My three picks for the week:
Oliver Bekker (19/1 to win; 5.5/1 for top five)
Thomas Detry (7/1 to win; 2.5/1 for top 5)
Tom McKibbin (34/1 to win; 9/1 for top 5)
Flutter, anyone?
Thomas Bjorn (101/1 to win; 17/1 top 5; 9/1 top 10)