If this year’s top money-earner on the USPGA Champions Tour or the clear leader of the European Senior Tour order-of-merit fail to win the MCB Tour Championship, they should have no excuses, certainly as far as the course is concerned.
Tom Lehman, the most celebrated player to have competed in a professional event on Mauritius, and the Australian Peter Fowler have both given their stamp of approval to the Legend course, over which this weekend’s drama will be enacted.
Lehman, a Ryder Cup veteran who won the Open Championship at Lytham & St Annes in 1996, had his first experience of the tight, meandering layout in Thursday’s second round of the Constance Hotels Pro-Am. His verdict:
“I love it.”
Lehman continued: “It’s a tight course but there is room where there needs to be room.
“The greens are good and the fairways are well defined.
“And there are some nice settings for the greens,” he added, “unlike a lot of courses where they all look the same.
“I enjoyed it out there and I’m looking forward to the next three days.”
Lehman said that he played well in company with his team of three amateurs and this was borne out by the fact that he helped steer the combination into second place in both the gross and the net events.
Lehman’s views of the course were echoed by Fowler who is clear favourite to lift the John Jacobs Trophy.
“You’ve got to plot your way around the course,” he said, “and that’s a part of the game that I quite enjoy.
“It’s a little narrow but there’s a bit of space if you take the right clubs and pick the right line.
“I’m pretty happy with the course and the way it is set-up. Now we shall just have to see what happens.”
Neil Webber
