Another great Dane – Hojgaard seals maiden victory
Mauritius Open report: What happened at Heritage Golf Club?
Rasmus Hojgaard became the third-youngest winner in European Tour history as he prevailed in a three-way play-off.
Antoine Rozner, Hojgaard and Renato Paratore carded rounds of 3, 4, and 5-under respectively to book their spots in the play-off with a total of 19-under.
He's done it!! 🇩🇰🏆
18-year-old Rasmus Højgaard eagles the third play-off hole to win the #AfrAsiaOpen! pic.twitter.com/dOGBADtmNf
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) December 8, 2019
The players headed back to the tee of the par-5 18th following the tee shots it was advantage Hojgaard. The Dane bombed his drive more than 350 yards down the centre of the fairway just as he had done in regulation.
- Related: What clubs did Hojgaard use?
Paratore found the right rough, while Rozner was on the very left edge of the fairway. From there Paratore pulled his second into the water to all but end his chances of victory. Rozner found the right-hand green side bunker.
Hojgaard was last to play and having seen both of his opponents find trouble he played a brilliant 7-iron to the top-tier of the green leaving a good look for eagle.
What a shot by the 18-year-old Dane!💪#AfrAsiaOpen pic.twitter.com/pbJKLNK0ic
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) December 8, 2019
With Hojgaard in position, Rozner needed to play his long bunker shot to perfection and he did just that. He left a tap in for birdie with his opponent needing to hole his third for victory. This wasn’t to be as his putt slid just by.
Paratore was eliminated and with a pair of birdies the remaining duo teed off 18 again. Rozner hit a virtually identical drive to the last time round and Hojgaard left his just behind in the left rough.
From there both players remained side by side as they found the front of the green with their second shots and two-putted for birdies to head back up 18 again.
Two more birdies and we're back to the tee, again! 🥊#AfrAsiaOpen pic.twitter.com/zF2HPJ3NAw
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) December 8, 2019
For the final time the pair teed off and found both the fairway. Hojgaard took the advantage with his second shot sending his ball close to the flag at the back of the green while Rozner again found the front.
The frenchman putted first and left a good look at birdie and this opened the door for Hojgaard to hole out for eagle and win the tournament.
Elsewhere, Thomas Detry again came close to claiming his first European Tour title but a plugged lie in a green side bunker on the 17th saw him drop a shot at a crucial point and finish one back of the lead.
Benjamin Hebert was another who just came up short after a final round of six-under but Louis De Jager put in the round of the day storming to eight-under for the day, but one short of the winning total.
Joe Hughes
Tour editor covering men's golf, women's golf and anything else that involves the word golf, really. The talk is far better than the game, but the work has begun to change that.
