Dylan’s Day

---

Frittelli pips Atwal in Mauritius playoff

Dylan Frittelli defeated Arjun Atwal at the first playoff hole to capture the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open and his second European Tour title of the calendar year.

The 27-year-old South African, who was named Graduate of the Year after finishing 19th on the 2017 Race to Dubai, birdied the first extra hole after both players had finished on 16 under par.

“It is good for me to finally win a playoff. It has been three on the European Tour and one on the Sunshine Tour which I’ve lost. I’m proud of the way I played the 18th hole. I hit a good drive there which pretty much sums up the week. Just great ball striking and putting pressure on the rest of the field. Putting held on at the end,” said Frittelli.

While Frittelli celebrated adding to his 2017 Lyoness Open powered by ORGANIC+ title, there was disappointment for three-time European Tour winner Atwal, who began the week at Heritage Golf Club with a stunning course record 62 and had led after every previous round.

The 44 year old from India, who will captain Team Asia in the EurAsia Cup presented by DRB-HICOM, almost snatched victory when his eagle putt on the last lipped out, before settling for birdie and a closing 68 to force a playoff after Frittelli had signed for a 67.

Atwal said, “I didn’t read the line in my second shot (playoff), didn’t hit a good shot and didn’t hit a great putt. Dylan obviously did the right thing and deserves to win. I’m happy with the way I played this week but right now I’m just disappointed to lose the tournament.

“You don’t get many chances especially at my age. I’ll take a lot of positives out of this week but right now I’m really mad.”

He added, “To be honest, I haven’t been in that situation in a while. To be fair, I think I handled myself quite well. The tee shot (playoff) was okay. I still put myself in position to make birdie but I didn’t pull through.”

France's Romain Langasque, playing on a tournament invite after losing his card at the end of last season, also finished with a 67 to end the week in third place on 14-under-par – his best European Tour finish.

Louis de Jager of South Africa finished in fourth position on 13-under-par, with Frenchman Matthieu Pavon. Miguel Tabuena of the Philippines, a winner on the Asian Tour, posted a 71 to claim a share of fifth place after playing through a wrist injury at the Heritage Golf Club.

South African Major winner Louis Oosthuizen looked like he could put in a late challenge, starting his back nine with a hat-trick of birdies, followed by his second eagle of the day on the 14th. But a triple-bogey seven on the 16thsaw him finish in a tie for seventh place alongside José-Filipe Lima of Portugal on 11 under par.

Final scores:

• 268 Dylan Frittelli 67 66 68 67, Arjun Atwal 62 70 68 68
• 270 Romain Langasque 67 69 67 67
• 271 Louis de Jager 66 67 67 71
• 272 Matthieu Pavon 69 68 69 66, Miguel Tabuena 66 68 67 71
• 273 Louis Oosthuizen 67 68 71 67, Jose-Filipe Lima 68 66 69 70
• 274 Ockie Strydom 66 68 73 67, George Coetzee 67 71 68 68, Jean-Paul Strydom 71 69 66 68, Oliver Bekker 67 67 71 69, Joel Stalter 67 68 70 69
• 275 Jeff Winther 71 68 72 64, Justin Walters 68 66 69 72
• 276 Darren Fichardt 70 66 70 70, Shiv Kapur 69 69 68 70, Laurie Canter 67 66 72 71, Ricardo Gouveia 68 68 68 72
• 277 Ashun Wu 72 68 70 67, Jinho Choi 71 66 70 70
• 278 Paul Peterson 70 69 70 69, Sam Horsfield 68 72 69 69, Scott Vincent 70 70 68 70, Neil Schietekat 70 70 68 70, Masahiro Kawamura 68 70 69 71
• 279 Shubankar Sharma 68 72 71 68, Andrea Pavan 68 69 73 69, Nico Geyger 71 69 70 69, S S P Chawrasia 69 67 73 70, Dean Burmester 71 70 68 70
• 280 Lyle Rowe 72 69 72 67, Scott Fernandez 73 68 71 68, Pep Angles 68 69 73 70, Richard Mcevoy 68 73 69 70, Jacques Blaauw 71 70 69 70, Jbe' Kruger 67 72 70 71, Casey O'Toole 68 72 68 72, Mark Williams 69 66 71 74
• 281 Jason Knutzon 67 73 72 69, Gaganjeet Bhullar 70 71 67 73, Haydn Porteous 69 71 66 75, Doug McGuigan 69 71 66 75
• 282 Pedro Oriol 71 70 73 68, Jens Dantorp 70 70 72 70, Steven Brown 73 68 71 70, Ashley Chesters 72 69 71 70, Phachara Khongwatmai 71 68 70 73, Carlos Pigem 73 68 68 73
• 283 Johannes Veerman 69 72 75 67, Jarin Todd 68 69 76 70, Clement Sordet 70 69 74 70, Sutijet Kooratanapisan 76 62 73 72, Marcus Kinhult 67 72 72 72, Suradit Yongcharoenchai 69 71 71 72, Peter Karmis 73 67 70 73
• 284 Pavit Tangkamolprasert 72 69 74 69, Christiaan Basson 72 69 72 71
• 285 Anders Hansen 67 69 75 74, Adilson Da Silva 66 71 74 74, Marcel Schneider 72 66 72 75
• 286 Jaco Prinsloo 69 68 77 72, Jacques Kruyswijk 68 72 72 74, Sebastian Heisele 66 73 72 75
• 289 Jack Harrison 71 69 73 76, Pontus Widegren 67 74 70 78