Thorbjørn Olesen showed no signs of rust on his return from injury as a six under par 65 gave him a share of the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open first round lead.
The Dane, who has been out for three months following hand surgery, mixed eight birdies with two bogeys at Heritage Golf Club to join Korea’s Jeunghun Wang and Spain’s Carlos Pigem at the top of the leaderboard.
Starting on the back nine, Olesen raced out of the traps with four birdies in his first five holes and picked up further gains at the 16th and 18th – either side of a dropped shot on the 17th – for an outward 31.
Another bogey followed on the first, but Olesen birdied the fifth and completed his scoring with a ten-footer on the seventh.
“I’ve been waiting a long time for this – three months to play a competition round,” said 25 year old Olesen.
“I was excited to get out there this morning. We had great conditions and I hit a lot of great putts, so it was fun.
“Being out for three and a half months is a long time, especially when you can’t do anything. You are just doing rehab training, so it is frustrating. I’m excited to be out here again and I’ll be playing a lot of golf now.
“I’m really pleased to be back out here on The European Tour and play competition golf. I’ve been practising hard over the last two weeks but you don’t know what it will be like when you get out here.
“I didn’t have the biggest expectations. I knew I was swinging the club better than I have been, but you never know what will happen, so I couldn’t be happier with this start. It’s an awesome start.
“Having a break is very nice, but having a break because of injury is not very nice. You play so much golf so sometimes it is nice to get away from it and clear your mind, but I would definitely have preferred to have been without that injury.”
In the first event to be tri-sanctioned by The European, Asian and Sunshine Tours, it was the Asian Tour best represented at the top of the leaderboard, with Pigem and Wang both members.
“I’m so happy with my score,” said Wang. “The wind was so strong and the rain was very hard.
“I’m happy that I played like this and my putter was pretty nice today. The putter worked really well.
“I’m enjoying my week in Mauritius. The weather wasn’t nice today but I want to keep my golf going like this.”
Pigem has had two top-ten finishes in his last five starts, and was pleased to continue that form.
“I didn’t expect to play quite so well because the conditions were tough, so I’m happy with my game,” he said.
“It’s my third year in Asia. I played the European Tour Q-School last year but missed out at the final stage. It’s my target to be on The European Tour in the future and I know if I work hard I will be, but right now I’m enjoying it in Asia and learning a lot. I have two or three more co-sanctioned events, and the Spanish Open next week, so if I can do well I might play more on The European Tour. It’s tough not having many events, but I will try.”
South African Oliver Bekker and Australian Terry Pilkadaris were tied for fourth on five under, with seven players tied a shot further back including John Parry and Justin Walters.
