Thomas Bjørn says his victory on the Legends Tour in Mauritius last week came as a pleasant surprise but is expecting another challenge altogether as the DP World Tour visits the island for this week’s AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open.
The Dane posted a closing 67 to win the MCB Tour Championship - Mauritius, which was the final event of the calendar year on the Legends Tour, by seven shots after not playing professional golf since the acciona Open de España presented by Madrid in early October.
He is now aiming to build on that confidence-boosting success at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open, an event he is competing in for the first time since 2015.
“It was a bit out of the blue to be honest,” said Bjørn of his victory at Constance Belle Mare Plage last week.
“I hadn’t played since Madrid in October, so I didn’t have many expectations going into last week.
“I played well in the first round, extremely well in the second round and kept it together on the final day. It was a slight surprise how well I played.”
The sixth edition of the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open – back on the schedule for the first time since 2019 – is breaking new ground this week as it heads to Mont Choisy Le Golf, which is hosting an international tournament for the first time.
Despite staying on the island for back-to-back weeks of tournament golf, Bjørn is prepared for a different test of his game at the Peter Matkovich-designed layout
“This is a different type of golf course, it is probably the polar opposite of last week,” he said.
“It was short last week, it was tight so all about putting the ball into play.
“Here, you can give it a good whack off the tee and then get yourself in a different position.
“I look forward to it, it is always nice to have something in the near background that was positive so I will try to build on that for this week.”
