It was a typical Wilco Nienaber round on Thursday as the lanky South African made a triple-bogey, two bogeys, seven birdies and an eagle on his way to a four-under-par 68 in the first round of the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open at Mont Choisy Le Golf on the Indian Ocean island.
That was enough for a share of third, two strokes off the lead which was held by England’s Eddie Pepperell. He is playing on a sponsor’s invitation in the Sunshine Tour and DP World Tour-sanctioned tournament, and he made seven birdies and a bogey in tough, blustery conditions to lead by one from left-handed Dane Jacob Skov Olesen. Nienaber shared third with fellow-South Africans Jacques Blaauw and Jayden Schaper, as well as Italian Renato Paratore, Norwegian Andreas Halvorsen and Hamish Brown from Denmark.
Nienaber started his round on the 10th, and immediately dropped a shot there. But he responded well with a birdie on 11, and then made four more ahead of the turn on the 18th, which he reached in four-under 32. There was another gain on the second before his eight on the par-five fifth. He made up for those lost three strokes with a birdie on six and an eagle on seven, but he dropped a shot on eight to play the back nine in an eventful level-par 36.
Blaauw dropped a shot on each of the nines on his way to his four-under, and Schaper dropped just one shot, on the fourth to join those in a share of third.
The lanky Christo Lamprecht was the next-best of the South Africans, with his three-under-par 69 containing a double-bogey and a bogey putting him in a share of ninth.
Louis de Jager, Deon Germishuys, Dylan Naidoo, Luke Brown and Anthony Michael were in a share of 17th on two-under-par.
On his first trip to Mauritius and treating it as a belated honeymoon with his wife, Jennifer, Pepperell produced a strong finish of four birdies in his final five holes to lead by one over Denmark’s Jacob Skov Olesen, who signed for a bogey-free 67.
“It’s the first time me and Jennifer have been here. We really love it. We’re staying in a lovely hotel. I said to her before we came out here to treat it as a bit of a honeymoon because we haven’t had one since our wedding in August,” said Pepperell.
He overcame a bogey at the second and produced a string of birdies thereafter, including that strong finish in some windy and testing conditions.
“I’m pleased with that. I wasn’t expecting it. After bogeying the second hole I was worried it was going to be one of those Thursdays again. But I turned it around nicely and played very well. I had a good finish. I just told myself, ‘Keep your head down and let it happen’. It’s been a while since I’ve been in a position where I’m at the top of the leaderboard on a Thursday.”
It was a positive start by the double DP World Tour champion, who admits he had to stay in the present when his game was flowing – particularly on that closing stretch.
“Sometimes it can get in your head, but I just tried to keep my head down and focus and keep doing what I’ve been working on in the range. This year there have been so many rounds I’ve played where things have deteriorated and I’ve become increasingly frustrated, and the difference today was my game held up. Clearly what I’ve been working on has been good, so if I can just keep doing it in tough conditions then I’m optimistic. This golf course is really tricky, especially in the wind. This course needs the wind and you can easily make some high numbers around here. It’s deceptive.”
