India’s Abhijit Chadha stayed three shots off the pace on a crowded leaderboard where the first-round lead of the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open was shared by five players on Thursday.

 

 

 

Viraj Madappa was tied 59th at one-under while Gaganjeet Bhullar, SSP Chawrasia, Rahil Gangjee, S Chikkarangappa, Khalin Joshi and Aman Raj were tied 78th.

 

Scotland’s Grant Forrest, South Africa’s Brandon Stone, Denmark’s Rasmus Hojgaard along with Frenchmen Benjamin Hebert and Romain Langasque shared the opening day’s honours when they returned with identical six-under-par 66s.

 

 

Chadha, who is battling to secure his Asian Tour card with three events left on his schedule, put up a gallant fight by mixing his card with four birdies and one bogey for a 69 and a share of 22nd place at the Heritage Golf Club, which is hosting the tournament for the third time.

 

 

The Indian is coming into the week on the back of an encouraging result on his domestic circuit last week and is hopeful he can translate his good form into success on the Indian Ocean island this week.

 

 

 

 

 

South Africa’s Keith Horne, who is still searching for his Asian Tour breakthrough, returned with a 67 to stay within a shot back of the leaders in tied-sixth place. Despite the threat of his younger rivals, the 48-year-old knows he still has every chance to match up to them. The AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open was inaugurated in 2015 and was the first tournament to be tri-sanctioned by the Asian Tour, Sunshine Tour and European Tour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did you know?

• Abhijit Chadha earned his Asian Tour card this season by finishing tied-35th at Qualifying School last December, the second time he has finished inside the top-40 since 2015. He is currently in 107th place on the Asian Tour Order of Merit.
• His best result this season came at the Classic Golf and Country Club International Championship in September where he finished tied-fifth.
• He enjoyed a tied-third finish at the Kensville Open presented by Tata Steel PGTI last week.
• Chadha was one of India’s top amateurs in 2010 and 2011, and a member of the Indian team that won the silver medal at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games.
• He finished a career-high third in the Professional Golf Tour of India’s (PGTI) 2015 Ranking, having secured a win at the BILT Open along with three other top-10 finishes, including two top-three results in the season.  
• At 18, Rasmus Hojgaard is a Qualifying School graduate from the European Tour. He made his first European Tour cut at last week's Alfred Dunhill Championship where he finished tied-49th.