Grahau sets a stiff pace in Air Mauritius Championship

Italian Marcello Grahau carded an excellent two-under-par 69 on the Links course at the Constance Belle Mare Plage to take a two-stroke lead after the first round of the Air Mauritius Amateur Championship (Gross event).
Grahau’s nearest challengers in Category 1, for handicaps 0-9, are Marcus Ferguson Jones, who enjoyed success in the Pro-Am, and Stephane Binazet.
Four players head the field in the Category 1 (Net), among them Grahau, who plays off scratch.

He shares top spot on 69 with two Mauritians, Roland Espitalier Noel (hcap 8), Ludovic Bax (h6), and the American David James (h7).
In Category 2, for handicaps 10 and over, Yannick Lagesse, from Mauritius, has a three-stroke advantage in the Gross event over Frenchman Jacob Chekib after shooting an impressive 75.
Raoul Gufflet and Howard Philips are one stroke further back.
The same four men occupy the leading positions in the Category 2 Net competition.
Thirteen-handicap Lagesse and 16-handicap Chekib head the leaderboard after net 62s, four strokes better than nearest rival Philips, with Gufflet a stroke behind in fourth place.

The Ladies’ Championship sees Isabella Calogero, from Italy, setting the pace in the Gross event. She returned a superb level-par 71 to lead by a stroke from Larissa Steinfelder and Prisca Taruffi, with the rest of the field six shots or more behind.
In the Net event, Mauritian Nalini Sooredoo leads the way by just a stroke. Playing off a handicap of 11, Sooredoo finished with a score of 68, one better than four-handicap Taruffi and 19-handicap Marcelle Blackburn.

Neil webber