Olesen marches on

Thorbjorn Olesen is one stroke clear of the field after two rounds at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open.

The Dane backed up his opening round of 65 with a three under 68 on the Heritage Golf Club in Domaine de Bel Ombre on Friday.

Olesen struggled initially, with bogeys on the first and third. But the 25-year-old bounced back to roll in five birdies over his next six holes.

The back nine included a bogey and a birdie on the par four 16th, that was followed by ten foot par putt on the tricky 17th.

“On the front nine it was quite tricky but I kept it going out there and finished strongly with birdies on seven, eight and nine and then tried to keep fighting,” revealed the world number 112 on europeantour.com.

“I’m enjoying being out there and I holed some nice putts. All in all it was a good day and I’m happy with three under. I’m really looking forward to the weekend. It’s been a long break and then all of a sudden I’m up there in the lead, so it will be a lot of fun. Mauritius is a beautiful country, so no matter what happens, I will still like it.

“I didn’t have the biggest expectations this week but I knew I was swinging the club well and I’ve been practising hard the last couple of weeks. I was obviously hoping for something good, but I’ve been surprised at how good my short game has been this week.

“I thought it would be the part that would be rusty, but it has actually been really good. I’m pleased at that it’s brilliant to be leading. It’s fun to be out there and be at the front again.”

The round left Olesen on nine under for the event, one stroke ahead of Sweden’s Pelle Edberg. Dean Burmester and Thomas Aiken of South Africa are joined by England’s Matthew Fitzpatrick on seven under.