The MCB Ladies Classic – Mauritius is finally underway, and the golfers made sure to put on a clinic deserving of such a majestic setting.
Blue skies and a beating sun reigned supreme once again at the Legend Course at Constance Belle Mare Plage, but unlike the preceding practice rounds, golfers were treated to an intermittent breeze that made the Mauritian climate slightly more bearable.
15 English golfers are taking part in this week’s inaugural tournament.
Three of those competing Englishwoman sit inside the top 10 of the Order of Merit Rankings, with Esme Hamilton (4th), Meghan Maclaren (7th), and Cara Gainer (9th) chasing the elusive Agathe Laisne.
Hamilton failed to capitalize on her momentum from winning last week’s SA Women’s Open, finishing the day at one-over-par, while four bogeys on the back nine puts MacLaren at two-over-par.
Gainer, however, after bogeying the first hole, went on to finish three-under par to leave her T14th heading into day two.
Golf Today caught up with the previous LET winner, along with two of her other compatriots, at the conclusion of their rounds.
(Credit: Constance Belle Mare Plage)
Cara Gainer: Round 1, 69 (-3) — T14
“Just one poor tee shot, I guess, to start the day – but other than that, I hit my irons really, really nice”, Gainer admitted not long after birdieing the par-5 18th to take her to three-under-par.
Like all top golfers, her ability to bounce back is remarkable, and the 30-year-old immediately responded to her opening bogey with back-to-back birdies, setting her on course for a more than adequate round.
Gainer is currently ninth in the Order of Merit, and has been a prominent figure on the LET since her opening win in Morocco last season, which eventually saw her finish sixth in the Order of Merit.
It’s been a relatively slow start to this season for Gainer, hailing from Oxford, but she’s recently found some impressive form.
A T5 at the Joburg Ladies Open followed by a second place at last week’s Investec SA Women’s Open bodes well for the Englishwoman this week.
“It was pretty hot, but luckily we had a bit of wind out there. We haven’t had much wind the last few days, so it’s been nice to get a bit of breeze and it made the course a little trickier”, she acknowledged when asked about the gruelling overhead conditions.
“If I can straighten out a couple of the drivers and get myself in the fairway a couple more times, then maybe I’ll have a few more opportunities tomorrow.”
Just 30 points behind Pia Babnik in the Order of Merit rankings, Gainer is eyeing up the chance to make some ground this week… “I’ll just keep putting my foot down. It’s obviously a long year, so yeah, hopefully another really solid result this week will help.”
Alice Hewson: Round 1, 68 (-4) — T4
Alice Hewson is no stranger to success on the Ladies European Tour, with three wins to date, but has had a mixed season thus far.
A T15 last week in South Africa, and a T10 in Australia earlier in the season are the highlights, but the Hertfordshire 28-year-old feels that her performances are not as subpar as previous scores might suggest.
“I feel it’s been trending in the right direction. My game’s not been too far off, but scores really haven’t shown it that well”, she accepted when recapping the start to her season.
Hewson currently sits 28th in the Order of Merit, on 206.48 points. A win this week would certainly push her into the top 10 – a category that she has finished in three times in her career so far.
Her bogey-free round of four-under-par today was spotless, scoring 34 (-2) on both the front and back nines.
A particular highlight came at the iconic par-3 17th, where she came close to holing out from the tee box.
“From where we were standing on the tee, it looked like it had a chance if it kept going a little bit. But yeah, signature hole – it’s always good to make a birdie.”
While the Legend Course can claim a number of victims to the water that surrounds it, Hewson was resolute in her plans for the day: “The best thing I did was that I missed in the right places”.
“I didn’t go after too many pins, and had a lot of 20 footers throughout the day. And then if I gave myself a closer opportunity, I’d take it. And I think that’s so important out there”, she noted.
“The course is really tight , and it can be very penal, so, yeah, fairways and greens are really important”.
Lily May Humphries: Round 1, 68 (-4) — T4
Joining Hewson at four-under-par for the day is Lily May Humphries.
Like Hewson, Humphries’ scorecard was unblemished and bogey free, but all her birdies came on the back nine, after a nine-par start on the front.
“I was playing nice golf on the front nine and gave myself a couple (of scoring) chances but didn’t quite convert them”, she told Golf Today after handing in her scorecard.
Humphries has five top-10 finishes and one LET title to her name, having won the Joburg Open back in 2023 – but she hasn’t had the smoothest time this season.
Other than a ninth-place at the Australia Women’s Classic, she has failed to finish inside the top-50 in the five other events that she has played.
But her charge on the back nine today is a great reflection of what she is capable of.
“I’m feeling good. Just trying not to put too much pressure on myself, because I feel like my mind is my worst enemy at the moment, but my game is in a good place”, she opined.
“I’m just trying to be like, ‘that’s good’. Make sure everything’s ticking over better and working on my mindset and patience. So yeah, it should be a good season if I just carry on with what I’m doing.”
Having worked hard at her long game after a tough few years, Humphries now is unwaveringly straight off the tee: “The last couple of years, it’s been the opposite, but this year it’s been so much better and I’m much more confident”, she explained with regards to her driving.
Indeed, the 24-year-old boasted a driving accuracy of 93% today, which was an essential ingredient to her round.
“Once you hit a bad tee shot it’s quite a challenge to get it back into position… So I just tried to stay patient, because once you’re good off the tee, most holes, you have a good chance of making birdie”.
The rest of the field
Agathe Laisne might just be a robot.
As Cara Gainer said herself; “I’m not sure what course she was playing this morning”.
The Parisien carded 10 birdies during the opening round, on her way to shooting a 64, eight-under-par.
What made her round even more impressive is that it was done with no caddie at hand.
The 26-year-old pushed her trolley up and down the slanting course, took all her yardages, read every putt, cleaned every club, and still ended the day on top of the leaderboard.
India’s Diksha Dagar made a hole-in-one on the par-3, 155-yard, 11th hole – while South Africa’s Cara Gorlei made two eagles to take her to seven-under-par.
England’s Ellen Hume also shot four-under-par, having been three-over after the first four holes.
An outstanding seven birdies that followed after her slow start, including a hat-trick to start the back nine, saw Hume join Hewson and Humphries at T4, heading into day two of the MCB Ladies Classic – Mauritius.
