Three players tied for 1st round lead at Mauritius Open

(MENAFN- Arab News) BEL OMBRE Mauritius: Thorbjorn Olesen Wang Jeung-hun and Carlos Pigem all opened with a 6-under 65 Thursday for a share of the first-round lead at the inaugural Mauritius Open.
The three were the early pacesetters on the Indian Ocean island in a new tournament shared by the European Asian and South African golf tours.
Denmark's Olesen picked up six birdies in his opening nine holes with the putter working well after returning from a three-month injury layoff caused by hand surgery.
'I holed a 40-foot putt on the first and just kept going' he said. 'I've been waiting a long time for this. Three months to play a competition round.'
South Korea's Wang had six birdies and didn't drop a shot at Heritage Golf Club at the Domaine de Bel Ombre resort on the south coast to match Olesen's newly-set course record.
Pigem of Spain birdied four of his last six holes.
They are being pursued by Oliver Bekker and Terry Pilkadaris who were one stroke back.
European Tour rookie Daniel Woltman of the United States was tied for sixth after a 67.
Thailand's Kiradech Aphibarnrat is the highest-ranked player on the Race to Dubai standings in Mauritius at No. 9 but he had an awful opening day for a 77.
Kiradech made six bogeys three of them in a row a double bogey and his only hole under par was an eagle three on No. 18. Tipped to be among the title contenders this week last month's Shenzhen International winner was tied for 123rd in the 132-man field.
His playing partner Thomas Bjorn who has 15 European Tour wins didn't fare too much better with a 74.
South Africa's George Coetzee shot a 70 playing in the same group as Aphibarnrat and Bjorn.

Buoyed by Match Play win McIlroy eyes prestigious Players
Rory McIlroy fresh from celebrating his World Golf Championships Match Play triumph and his 26th birthday is hoping to cure his TPC Sawgrass headache at last.
The world No. 1 has had mixed results in The Players Championship the US PGA Tour's $10 million flagship event that starts on Thursday in Ponte Vedra Beach Florida.
He missed the cut in his first three appearances. In 2013 he opened with a 66 en route to a share of eighth place and last year tied for sixth.
He acknowledged that the precision required off the tee at TPC Sawgrass can be frustrating to a player of his aggressive instincts.
'It's always hard for me when I can't get the driver in my hand because I feel like when I do get the driver in my hand I can give myself an advantage over the rest of the field' McIlroy said.
'It's just about being very patient and approaching it a different way winning a different way. I feel that would make me a more complete player.'
The high-profile tournament called one of the most important of the year by McIlroy will see the Northern Irishman paired on Thursday with Masters champion Jordan Spieth and Australian Jason Day.
The pairing featuring McIlroy and world number two Spieth is sure to fuel the talk of a rivalry between the two but McIlroy said he doesn't need that kind of buzz to build his enthusiasm.
'I don't think I need any extra incentive to get the juices flowing this week' he said refusing to be drawn into the rivalry hype.
Last year he said Rickie Fowler was deemed the man most likely to challenge him.
'This year it's Jordan might be someone else could have been Tiger' McIlroy said.
'It's sort of been four or five rivalries over the past year. It doesn't really do anything for me.'
The 21-year-old Spieth for his part says he has some way to go to be on McIlroy's level.
'I think it's still early especially with what he just did' Spieth said of McIlroy and his impressive WGC Match Play victory in San Francisco last week which featured a series of late-match rallies en route to a perfect 7-0 record that included a 4&2 triumph over Gary Woodland in the final.
'He moved even further away from it really being what I would consider a budding rivalry right now' Spieth said.
'I could certainly appreciate if I could get to where he's at but right now I don't see myself there.'
McIlroy's Match Play win was his first since Dubai in January and he's hoping it set him up for a solid May run.