Anahita member Nicolas Colsaerts used local course knowledge to shoot a stellar seven-under-par 65 on Friday and rose into a share of third place at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open, four shots behind midway leader Andrew Dodt. While Colsaerts grabbed headlines, England’s Ross McGowan shot a five-under-par 67 to end the day in fifth on his own.
Colsaerts was unaffected by the gale-force winds that battered Four Seasons Golf Course during the second round, despite carding an opening 75 on Thursday. The ‘Belgian Bomber’ had a mountain to climb considering, but took up the challenge and went on a run of four birdies in fives holes early in his round. He turned in 31, but stumbled into the back nine with a bogey at the tenth. If there was a fear that Colsaerts’ promising charge was about to falter, he put them to bed by rolling off three birdies in a row from the 12th to the 14th. Unfortunately for Colsaerts, there was a further slip at the 16th, where he made bogey and dropped to three-under-par. He shrugged off the drops and birdied the eighteenth to reach four-under-par at the halfway mark.
McGowan also breezed around the course. He started on the 10th and his first nine was made up of three birdies plus a single bogey to go out in 34. His second nine was even better as he compiled back-to-back birdies twice and dropped a single shot to conclude his round of 67.
However, despite charges from players lower down the field, overnight leader Dodt kept his composure for a solid two-under-par 70. While the Australian double-bogeyed the par five thirteenth, he made four birdies on the back nine for a three-shot lead going into the weekend.
Jaco van Zyl threatened at stages of the afternoon, but signed for 72 to reach one-under-par. He was joined there by the likes of Ruan de Smidt, Jaco Ahlers and Hennie Otto, who are the leading South Africans.
