DP World Tour : AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open Leaderboard
Sami Välimäki was joined by Alfredo Garcia-Heredia and Antoine Rozner at the top of the leaderboard at the halfway stage of the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open.
Välimäki and Garcia-Heredia were among the earlier starters and their mark of -10 was regularly threatened but by the end of the day only Rozner had caught up with them.
Oliver Bekker last week's winner, managed a 71 to sit one back -9, a shot ahead of Christoffer Bring, Casey Jarvis and Pierre Pineau all at -8.
Mauritius is an African territory, an island east of the mainland in the Indian Ocean. It has it all, beaches, lagoons, reefs on the coast and a mountainous interior with a National Park, waterfalls, a rainforest, wildlife like the flying fox and hiking trails. English is the national language, 28% of the population are Catholic, 47% Hindu and the Muslims make up 17%.
They are playing a resort course called Mont Choisy Le Golf, a 7000 foot par 72 and this is the last regular event of this 2022 calendar year before the Christmas break and a return to play in mid January in the middle east (UAE)
Välimäki shot a course-record 62 on Thursday and, after starting his second round at the tenth, hinted that another low round was coming with birdies at the 11th, 14th and 15th but a first dropped shot of the week arrived at the 16th and he bogeyed the second as well.
He struck back at the next with a birdie but a bogey-double bogey finish, after a birdie at the seventh, sent him to the clubhouse to sign for a level-par 72.
Garcia-Heredia began at the tenth too and he birdied three in a row from the 12th, picked up another shot at the 18th and three more at the fourth, fifth and seventh. His only bogey of the day in his 66 came at the difficult eighth.
"It was fun out there today," said Garcia-Heredia. When asked what areas of his game were strong he said: "All of them. I played really solid yesterday and really solid today. I improved my putting. I went to see a putting coach because last year wasn't very good. I'm really happy with all of that."
Rozner appeared to be heading for the top of the leaderboard on his own.
The Frenchman went into the second round eight shots off the pace and made steady progress on his front nine before bursting into life on the way home.
He fired four birdies on the way out before four in a row from the 12th took him alongside Välimäki and Garcia-Heredia.
He said: "I think it's one of the first times in my career I'm happy with every single score on every single hole. That doesn't happen a lot and I don't think I can score any better on this course. It was tricky, it was tough so I'm really pleased with the way I played."
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