Young Hojgaard triumphs in play-off to win the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open

Mauritius, December 8: Denmark’s Rasmus Hojgaard announced his arrival on the biggest stage when he sunk an eagle on the third play-off hole to win the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open on Sunday.

At 18, the Danish teenager secured his European Tour card at Qualifying School last month and his breakthrough at the Heritage Golf Club came very quickly in what was only his fifth appearance on the European Tour.

It took a crucial birdie on the 72^nd hole for the young Dane to force his way into a three-way play-off with Italian Renato Paratore and Frenchman Antoine Rozner after closing with a four-under-par 68 and 19-under-par 269 total.

Hojgaard missed a 12-foot eagle putt for the title on his first trip back up the par-five 18. With Parattore bowing out after hitting his ball into the water then, it was left to Hojgaard and Rozner to battle for top honors again.

Both made birdies on their second play-off hole but Hojgaard’s moment of glory would come soon after when he eagled the hole in his third attempt for an emotional triumph on the paradise Indian ocean island.

China’s Wu Ashun and India’s Jyoti Randhawa flew the Asian flag when they finished in a share of 13^th and 17^th place respectively at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open which was inaugurated in 2015.

It was the first tournament to be tri-sanctioned by the Asian Tour, Sunshine Tour and European Tour.

Did you know?

• The Heritage Golf Club was staging the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open for the third time (2015, 2017 and 2019) and each time a play-off was always need to determine the winner.
• Alongside twin brother Nikolai and John Axelsen, Rasmus Hojgaard led Denmark to a first World Amateur Team Championship win at the 2018 Eisenhower Trophy
• The Hojgaard brothers also played in the 2018 Junior Ryder Cup.
• Victory for Italy’s Renato Paratore would have been his second win on the European Tour in his 152nd appearance after his maiden win at the 2017 Nordea Masters.
• Antoine Rozner finished seventh in his only previous appearance at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open last year.
• Jyoti Randhawa recently celebrated his career milestone on the Asian Tour when he teed up for his 300th event at the Panasonic Open India last month.
• He once reached a career high of 70th place on the Official World Golf Ranking in March 2008.
• Randhawa enjoyed his best finish of 2019 when he finished tied-14th at the Thailand Open in November.