The DP World Tour from South Africa moves to Mauritius where the AfrAsia Bank Open will be played from 15 to 18 December. At Mont Choisy Le Golf in Grand Baie, there will be two Azzurri competing: Renato Paratore, who in this event finished second after a three-way play-off in 2019 (the year of the last edition of the event) won by the Dane Rasmus Hojgaard ( absent this time), and Filippo Celli.
The two Romans aim to close 2022 in the best possible way in an appointment – which offers 1 million euros – already included in the DP World Tour 2023 calendar.
AfrAsia Bank Open, schedule
After those at home arrived respectively in the South African Open and the Alfred Dunhill Championship, the South Africans are chasing their third consecutive success on the circuit.
Among the most anticipated are Dean Burmester, Jaco Prinsloo, Juan Carlo Ritchie and Ockie Strydom, back from last week’s success in Malelane. In addition, the Danish Thomas Bjorn and the Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts, among the vice-captains (together with Edoardo Molinari) of the Europe team at the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome, are also in the field.
Thomas Detry, Antoine Rozner, Laurie Canter, Craig Howie and Freddy Schott also aim high. Many tournaments had been confirmed independently ahead of the official announcement in November 2021, when the majority of the tournaments were confirmed along with the DP World title sponsorship agreement.
The schedule included the four major championships as usual; however the World Golf Championships were downgraded to just two events. The Rolex Series had risen to five events, seeing the inclusion of the Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic for the first time.
As part of a new “strategic alliance” between the European Tour and PGA Tour, there were three regular tournaments co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour; these events were the Genesis Scottish Open, the Barbasol Championship and the Barracuda Championship.
It was also confirmed that the “strategic alliance” would see an increased prize fund for the Horizon Irish Open, rising to US$6,000,000. Other additions to the schedule included the Ras Al Khaimah Championship, the Ras Al Khaimah Classic, the MyGolfLife Open, the Steyn City Championship, the ISPS Handa Championship in Spain and the Catalunya Championship.
