The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Neil and Syme look to make their mark in Mauritius.
Golf: Young Scots pair line up in strong field as Colsaerts bids to end drought
Bradley Neil and Connor Syme are both taking part in this week’s AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open.
It will be Syme’s first European start since he won his Tour card so impressively at Q School, while Neil will be looking to build on a solid opening to the 2018 season after he made the cut in Hong Kong last week.
Syme, from Drumoig, has a noon local time tee-off, with Blairgowrie’s Neil starting 40 minutes later.
Former Ryder Cup star Nicolas Colsaerts meanwhile is prepared for “brutal” conditions as he tries to claim his first European Tour title since 2012.
Colsaerts should have “home” advantage on his side after visiting the island for 20 years and being attached to Heritage Golf Club’s sister resort, but surprisingly has never played at this week’s venue.
“This is actually the first time I have played this course funnily enough,” said the 35-year-old Belgian, who was third at the Four Seasons Golf Club at Anahita the last time the event was played in May 2016.
“It’s quite nice, there is a lot of water that comes in to play. Something we don’t have at Anahita is this long grass, so it’s quite wide but you still need to manage your way around.
“There are a lot more undulations on to the greens and it’s windier. I played a few holes on Monday and it was actually pretty brutal. If it blows like this I think we’re in for a decent test.
“This is my last event of the year, obviously one of the early ones on the Race to Dubai for 2018, but this will be when I close the curtain for the year.
“I’ll be quite happy to put a low number on the board and get the new season going.”
Colsaerts is ranked 102nd in the world and just two members of the top 100, South Africans Louis Oosthuizen and Dylan Frittelli, are in the field for the tri-sanctioned event.
World No 113 Scott Hend will hope to take advantage of that fact as he looks to avoid a first winless season since 2011.
“I’ve had a bit of a struggle this year since I lost in Crans,” said Hend, who was beaten by Matt Fitzpatrick in a play-off for the Omega European Masters.
“It has been very frustrating. I rate my year based on wins and I’ve been fortunate enough to win every year in the last few years. I’ve got two events left so I’m striving to do that.
“This event is quite important.”