Arjun Atwal was on a roll as he fired a superb nine-under-par 62 without playing a practice round to lead by four shots on the first day at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open on Thursday.

 

 

 

 

                                                  Arjun Atwal was on a roll on day 1 at the Mauritius Open

 

The former Asian Tour number one posted a flawless round highlighted by seven birdies and one eagle to hold a commanding lead over Miguel Tabuena of the Philippines, Sebastian Heisele of Germany, Louis de Jager of South Africa and Adilson Da Silva of Brazil at the Heritage Golf Club.

 

Major champion Louis Oosthuizen and George Coetzee of South Africa, who won this event in 2015, were bunched up in tied sixth place on matching 67s at the €1million (approximately US$1.07 million) event sanctioned by the Asian Tour, Sunshine Tour and European Tour.

 

 

                                                        Atwal is the captain of Team Asia for the Eurasia Cup

 

Atwal, who is the Captain for Team Asia at the 2018 EurAsia Cup, arrived late Wednesday evening after traveling 16 hours via Dubai from Kuala Lumpur where he attended a press conference to announce his team for the match-play event against Europe next year.
 

He said, "I was in Kuala Lumpur the last two days to announce the players in Team Asia for the EurAsia Cup and I had some media activities to do. I had no practice round and straight on the first tee. I’m pleased and shocked. I took a very long route coming here. I came through Dubai and it took me 16 hours to get here. I was tired and I didn’t really expect anything. Sometimes when you don’t expect much, you get a lot out of it."
 

The 44-year-old exceeded his own expectations by shooting 31 in each half with the highlight of his day coming on the 14th hole where he sank a huge 25-foot eagle putt. His score of 62 is also the new course record at the Heritage Golf Club.
 

 

The 23-year-old Tabuena put on a battling performance and is on a mission to erase the heartbreak of missing out on a second Asian Tour title at the Resorts World Manila Masters three weeks ago where he bogeyed the last hole to miss the play-off.
 

 

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW?
 

• Atwal replaced the course record of 65 set by Coetzee, Jeunghun Wang of Korea, Carlos Pigem of Spain and Thorbjorn Olesen of Denmark in 2015.
• The last time Atwal shot a 62 was in the opening round of the 2005 Indonesia Open. The score remains his lowest on the Asian Tour.
• He took advantage of a hot putter in the opening round where he totalled 26 putts which included 10 one putts.
• Atwal is an eight-time Asian Tour champion but his last victory was at the 2014 Dubai Open. He also won the Order of Merit in 2003.
• Atwal holds the distinction as the first Indian to win on the PGA Tour at the 2010 Wyndham Championship.
• The last time he played at the Heritage course was in 2015 where he missed the cut. He finished tied 27th last year but on a different golf course.