Coetzee beats Olesen in Mauritius Open at 

second hole of play-off


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George Coetzee prevented Thorbjørn Olesen from making a dream return after three months out injured by defeating the Dane on the second hole of a play-off to win the inaugural AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open today.
Olesen, who has not played since the start of February after surgery to his left hand, had set the clubhouse target of 13 under par with a three under par final round of 68.
But South African Coetzee, who had led for the majority of the final day until a bogey on the 17th hole, birdied the closing hole for a round of 69 to match that total and take the tournament to extra holes.
After his eagle attempt lipped out on the first extra hole and both players made birdies, Coetzee then took advantage second time round with another four, compared to Olesen’s par five, to claim his third European Tour title.
The victory, Coetzee’s second of the season on The European Tour after March’s Tshwane Open, moves him into the top ten on The Race to Dubai, and with the campaign only 19 events old, he is the fifth multiple European Tour winner so far in 2015, joining Branden Grace, Anirban Lahiri, Andy Sullivan and Rory McIlroy.
Singapore’s Mardan Mamat birdied two of the closing three holes for a final round of 67 to finish third on 12 under par. Fittingly, it meant the Sunshine, European and Asian Tours were all represented in the top three in the first tournament to be tri-sanctioned by the three Tours.
Key player quotes
George Coetzee – 69 (-13 total)
“I felt nervous during the day but I’m happy to have pulled through it and posted a good number. Thorbjørn did unbelievable well to put pressure on me the whole day and I had to work hard to catch him. I’m just happy the job is done, it doesn’t matter how many holes it takes, you just get it done.
“I would have love to have won it on the first play-off hole with an eagle and do it in style, but I’m obviously happy just to have won.
“They’ve done a fantastic job with the tri-sanctioning of this event and bring us to a fantastic place like Mauritius. It is great to get another victory on the European Tour and obviously it counts towards my Sunshine Tour ranking as well so I’m pleased with that too. I actually played on the Asian Tour in 2009 and I couldn’t make a cut – I was living on scraps – so it is nice to finally get an Asian Tour win as well.
“I definitely thought about the fact I had two play-offs at the Match Play last week. I definitely felt more comfortable because of that and I thought about it in the play-off here. I thought I was ready for it and just wanted to play my game.”
Thorbjørn Olesen – 68 (-13 total)
“It’s disappointing, of course, when you are in a play-off and you don’t win. There were a couple of key moments out there where I hit a bad tee shot on the tenth andf the 14th, and those two holes cost me today. It’s difficult to play that 18th with a three wood,  but I’ve been hitting my driver pretty bad so I had to. George hit some great shots there in the play-off to get two birdies, as it’s not an easy hole. So big congratulations to him and he’s played really well.
"I hit a great five iron on 17 and walked it up there. I knew it was going to be good and hit a nice putt. A birdie on that hole is one of the good birdies. I had the chance on 18 also but hit it right, and it was a difficult bunker shot. I’m pretty pleased with the way I hadnled things today though. I had a bad start again and fought my way back. It was a lot of fighting out there and George just played a little better.
"I didn’t expect this before the tournament so to be in a play-off is unbelievable when I haven’t been in a tournament for three months. I’m very pleased with that and I can take it with me. It’s a good start."

FINAL TOTALS
Par 284 (4x71)
271 G Coetzee (RSA) 70 67 65 69, T Olesen (Den) 65 68 70 68
272 M Mamat (Sin) 69 69 67 67
273 T Aiken (RSA) 69 66 68 70
274 J Parry (Eng) 67 70 71 66, M Kawamura (Jpn) 68 69 71 66, S Hend (Aus) 72 66 70 66
276 M Bremner (RSA) 71 70 66 69, O Bekker (RSA) 66 71 71 68, B Ritthammer (Ger) 71 70 68 67
277 T Van Der Walt (RSA) 73 66 69 69, R Gangjee (Ind) 67 70 74 66
278 J Roos (RSA) 70 71 67 70, R Lee (Can) 72 68 72 66, J Janewattananond (Tha) 69 70 68 71, J Walters (RSA) 67 73 69 69, K Horne (RSA) 70 69 71 68, P Edberg (Swe) 68 66 74 70, A McArthur  (Sco) 68 70 68 72,
279 A Dodt (Aus) 72 69 70 68, S Brazel (Aus) 69 70 70 70, C Lloyd (Eng) 73 70 69 67, M Fitzpatrick  (Eng) 68 67 73 71, A Pavan (Ita) 73 69 68 69, D Burmester (RSA) 67 68 71 73, N Holman  (Aus) 67 73 66 73, M Lundberg (Swe) 68 71 72 68, C Pigem (Esp) 65 72 69 73
280 C Paisley  (Eng) 72 69 68 71, B Evans  (Eng) 70 70 70 70, J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 71 69 72 68, V Riu  (Fra) 71 70 68 71, S Barr (Aus) 69 73 71 67, U Park (Aus) 72 70 69 69, J Hugo  (RSA) 73 69 69 69, C Del Moral (Esp) 68 74 69 69
281 J Palmer (Eng) 71 69 69 72, T Khrongpha (Tha) 69 72 68 72, A Groom (Aus) 71 71 68 71, A Tadini (Ita) 71 69 70 71, T Pilkadaris (Aus) 66 71 74 70, B Virto Astudillo (Esp) 68 72 71 70, M Muthiya  (Zam) 67 74 67 73,
282 C Nel (RSA) 69 69 75 69, J Hahn (USA) 70 72 68 72, K Phelan (Irl) 68 73 72 69, G Bhullar (Ind) 72 71 71 68, A Da Silva (Bra) 72 69 73 68, C Hung (Tpe) 70 71 69 72
283 S Lewton (Eng) 70 69 70 74,
284 J Colomo  (Esp) 72 69 72 71, C Phadungsil  (Tha) 72 71 70 71, E De La Riva  (Esp) 71 71 71 71, P Martin Benavides (Esp) 72 66 73 73,
285 K Richardson (Aus) 73 66 73 73, D Van Den Heever (RSA) 73 70 71 71, C Bouniol (Fra) 71 70 76 68, M Perera (Sri) 72 71 68 74, P Peterson (USA) 69 70 72 74, D Van Tonder  (RSA) 73 70 66 76, J Lagergren (Swe) 70 71 73 71,
286 T Wiratchant (Tha) 71 71 70 74, R Karlberg  (Swe) 68 75 72 71, E Goya (Arg) 70 71 72 73
287 P Pittayarat (Tha) 67 74 75 71, D Chopra (Swe) 70 68 77 72,
288 R McGowan  (Eng) 70 72 70 76, J Scrivener (Aus) 71 72 72 73, D Woltman (USA) 67 74 75 72, J Wang (Kor) 65 72 76 75, S Supupramai (Tha) 70 73 73 72,
289 P Oriol (Esp) 70 73 72 74, R Wannasrichan (Tha) 74 69 71 75,
290 R Cairns (Zim) 69 74 72 75

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