England’s Toby Tree fired a bogey-free seven-under par 65 at Woodhill Country Club to secure his AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open ticket along with nine others on Tuesday.
‘Yeah I’m really happy with the low one today. Kinda means I don’t have to stress and wait around too. Coming back from European Tour Q-School, I didn’t play well in that final stage, so going to Mauritius will be nice,’ explained Tree.
Having only landed in South Africa two days prior to qualifying, Tree found some much-needed form to earn his place in the Indian Ocean’s golfing paradise, and, he’ll be looking to perform alongside his South African friends of old.
‘It’s nice to see Hayds and the boys doing well in Europe. I used to give them a little bit of a beating back in the day so it just shows that anyone can do it,’ he said jokingly.
Another Englishman in the form of Jack Harrison joins Tree in qualifying after a six-under 66.
‘I played Mauritius last year and I qualified here at Woodhill as well. I know how good the event is and it’s great to be going back. It’s such a relaxed atmosphere there and it kind of relaxes you when you’re playing,’ said Harrison.
Jake Roos, JP Strydom and Teaghan Gauche joined the two Englishmen in avoiding play-off action for the seven available spots, while Omar Sandys and Christiaan Basson made birdie on the first extra hole to secure their spots at Heritage Golf Club.
Gerit Foster and Toto Thimba claimed the two available historically disadvantaged individual spots after carding rounds of 70 and 71 respectively.
Qualifiers:
65 – Toby Tree
66 – Jack Harrison, Jake Roos
67 – Jean-Paul Strydom, Teaghan Gauche
68 – Omar Sandys
68 – Christiaan Basson
Did not qualify:
68 – Stefan Engell Andersen
68 – N.J. Arnoldi
68 – Andrew Georgiou
68 – Andre De Decker
69 – Stuart Smith, Sean Bradley, JJ Senekal, Steven Ferreira, Daniel Greene, Jake Redman, Desne Van Den Bergh
70 – Jason Viljoen, Bryandrew Roelofsz, CJ du Plessis, Gerrit Foster, Ryan Cairns, Michael Hollick, Callum Mowat, Martin Rohwer
71 – Toto Thimba, Antonio Rosado, Andrew van der Knaap, Dongkwan Kim, Cody Martin, Michael Palmer, Francois Coetzee,Aubrey Beckley
72 – Musiwalo Nethunzwi, Michiel Bothma, Wallie Coetsee, Herman Loubser, Lindani Ndwandwe, Mohammad Rauf Mandhu,Jason Froneman, Ryan Tipping, Gert Myburgh, Morne Buys, Ulrich van den Berg, Dwayne Basson, Martin Rominger, Arthur Horne,Jason Diab
73 – Rhys West, Neil O’Briain
74 – Ruan Huysamen, Greg Bentley, Altaaf Bux, Jaco Mouton, Quintin Wilsnach, Irvin Mazibuko, Dayne Moore, Neil Schietekat,Thanda Mavundla, Drikus van der Walt
75 – Chris Cannon, Tyrone Ferreira, Allister de Kock, Rourke van der Spuy, Colin Nel, Matthew Carvell
76 – Coert Groenewald, Thriston Lawrence, Jason Smith
77 – Danie Van Niekerk
78 – Makhetha Mazibuko, Matthew Spacey
79 – Wynand Dingle
80 – Jeff Inglis, Shane Granger
82 – Mohit Mediratta
84 – Gerard du Plooy
Photo: Petri Oeschger/Sunshine Tour/Gallo Images
