Eddie Pepperell made a bogey and three birdies on the front nine then made four birdies on the back nine including three back-to-back to close his round and card a 6-under 66 to take a one-shot lead at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open.
“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.”
Pepperell has won twice on the DP World Tour, at the 2018 Sky Sports British Masters and the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, but lost his Tour card last season and missed out on getting it back at Qualifying School last month by one shot.
Jacob Skov Olesen lies in second place at 5-under after making an eagle at the par-5 7th and three birdies for a bogey-free 67. Olesen became the first Dane to win The Amateur Championship at Ballyliffin last summer and secured his Tour card at Q-School last month.
South Africas Jayden Schaper, Wilco Nienaber and Jacques Blaauw all carded a 68 and lie in a hare of third place at 4-under alongside Norway’s Andreas Halvorsen, Italy’s Renato Paratore and Denmark’s Hamish Brown.
