Everything you need to know from day one in Mauritius.
Antoine Rozner was back on top, 59 Watch was in full swing, Sebastian Söderberg was doing ridiculous things and Matteo Manassero was in no mood for using the putter on day one of the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open.
Here is everything you need to know from the opening round at La Réserve Golf Links at Heritage Golf Club.
Rozner goes low to lead
Rozner continued his love affair with Mauritius as he began the defence of his title by breaking a host of personal records. The Frenchman signed for a brilliant 62 to match his lowest round on the DP World Tour and carded his lowest nine as he covered the tenth to the 18th in 29 shots. That moved him to ten under - his lowest 18-hole score to par - and handed him a one-shot lead over England's Paul Waring. "I couldn't dream of a better start, obviously I started really hot by shooting seven under on the back nine," he said. "It was unbelievable, I didn't miss a single shot, holed everything I had and holed the bunker shot on 18 - literally everything went my way. I just think I have good vibes here. Maybe the ocean helps me disconnect a little bit in the evening, I can go for a swim and relax a little bit more than usual. The atmosphere is amazing, the people here are very friendly, it's French-speaking. I feel just like at home and I'm enjoying myself a lot here."
59 Watch
Rozner's 62 may have matched or bettered some personal milestones and equalled the lowest round of the season so far but that does not tell the full story. When he made his ninth birdie of the day on the fifth having also made an eagle on the 18th, he was 11 under through 14 holes and we all know what that means. "I definitely thought about 59 after the birdie on number five that got me to 11 under with a few holes to go including a driveable par four and a par five," he said. "Unfortunately that bad tee-shot on number six cost me that magic score but it's golf, it's a phenomenal round, probably the hottest I've ever been on the course."
Waring leads the chase
Waring was bogey-free in his 63, birdieing the second before making a hat-trick of gains from the fourth. He then picked up shots on the tenth, 13th and 15th before a birdie-birdie finish saw Rozner's lead trimmed to one - an advantage that had been five shots when the leader had earlier birdied the fifth to get to 11 under. "I'm made up to shoot nine under," said Waring. "It's a really nice low opening round, it puts me into the tournament. I saw Antoine Rozner going really deep early this morning so I knew there was a low one out there... I felt like I played nicely today and kept control of it. It was a little bit unexpected in total honesty but to be fair I felt like I was playing myself into form last week at Leopard Creek, I played a lot of good golf there."
Did that just happen?
A bunker in the middle of a green is pretty rare. Chipping over that over the bunker for an eagle is practically unheard of. Enter Sebastian Söderberg.
Manassero at the double
It's fair to say the best players hole chips quite a lot and this one from Matteo Manssero was textbook.
This one, however, was not. Wow.
