DP World Tour : AfrAsia Mauritius Open. .Leaderboard Tee Times Weather
Eddie Pepperell produced a big finish to lead by one shot after the first round of the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open.
With windy conditions at Mont Choisy Le Golf making life difficult for the afternoon starters, Jacob Skov Olesen's -5 67 total saw him lead for much of the day.
But Pepperell saved his best until last, closing his 66 with a hat-trick of birdies to reach -6 to overtake Dane Olesen at the top of the leaderboard.
The two-time DP World Tour winner suffered the disappointment of missing out on his card by one shot at Qualifying School last month but he looked back to his best on Thursday.
Olesen, who became the first Danish winner of The Amateur Championship at Ballyliffin in the summer before securing his DP World Tour card at Qualifying School, fired an eagle and three birdies in his spotless -5 67 to sit alone in second place.
Italian Renato Paratore, Norway's Andreas Halvorsen, Dane Hamish Brown and South Africans Jayden Schaper, Jacques Blaauw and Wilco Nienaber were tied for third -4 68
Pepperell bounced straight back from a bogey at the second with his first birdie of the day at the third before picking up another shot from six feet on the fifth.
He closed the front nine with a birdie after sending his approach at the ninth to tap-in range.
And after a quiet start to the back nine, Pepperell's round burst into life in the closing stages, as he took advantage of the long 14th before chipping in for an unlikely birdie on the 16th.
A stunning tee-shot at the par-three 17th led to a birdie there before he took the solo lead with a third successive birdie from around four feet on the 18th.
Pepperell, who has his wife Jen on the bag this week, said: "I am pleased with that. I wasn't expecting it, I wouldn't have said.
"After bogeying the second hole I was worried it was going to be one of those Thursdays again, a bit like last week in the windy conditions.
"But I turned it around really nicely and played very well, to be honest, on the whole. So I'm very pleased.
"Good finish. I told myself on the 15th 'just keep your head down, let it happen'. It's been a while since I've been in a position where you're three, four, five under par at the top of the leaderboard - even on a Thursday.
"So sometimes it can get in your head and it could have done but I just tried to keep my head down, focus and keep doing what I've been doing on the range yesterday and today, and it seemed to work."
europeantour.com
Bryan Angus
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