Antoine Rozner, one of the three co-leaders thru 54 holes, closed the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open at Heritage GC with a 3-under-par 36-33=69 to reach a three-man playoff with 19-under 269 but had to settle for T2 after losing to Rasmus Hojgaard’s eagle at the third extra hole.
A bad beat? In some ways. Rozner birdied the par-5 18th three times in the playoff and while the first of those helped shake off Renato Paratore, it wasn’t enough after Hojgaard made eagle. The Frenchman’s main regret will not be making birdie there in regulation play when a par breaker would have given him the title. He chose to lay up and couldn’t wedge it up and down. However, this was just his sixth European Tour start and, overall, he handled himself impressively in the final round. The signs didn’t look good when he bogeyed 1 and 3 but, from there, Rozner worked his way back to the top of the board with birdies at 5, 7, 10, 11 and 14. He’ll be one to keep a close eye on in 2020.