Mauritius Open
This week the European Tour moves into its second event of the 2025 season at the AfraAsia Bank Mauritius Open.
After its inaugural event in 2025, the Mauritius Open has been a regular event on the European Tour schedule. The event, which is tri-sanctioned by the European, Asian and Sunshine Tour, was originally played in May in its first two editions, but has since moved to December.
Typically in Mauritius, the cream rises to the top. Dylan Frittelli and George Coetzee have both been victorious, while Kurt Kitayama got his first win last year, and young talent Jeunghun Wang got only his second Tour victory here, just a week after his first in 2025.
With the 2025 Mauritius Open only being Fritteli's second victory on the European Tour too, you can see it has acted as a breakthrough opportunity for some of the younger players. In a slightly weaker field than you would usually see in a European Tour event, it gives young players the opportunity to get their first victory and effectively the monkey off their back.
That's why my first pick for this week has to be Zander Lombard (20/1). A shorter price than you would hope for, but then again given his exploits in previous weeks it makes sense to see him sitting at the top of the market.
BET | Zander Lombard to win the Mauritius Open – 20/1 with Bet365
This type of field is where Lombard has thrived all year, and it seems inevitable a win is on the way for the young South African.
Ignoring the WGC-HSBC Champions where he was making his debut, Lombard's form reads: T7-T8-T17-T7-T26. The South African has been playing brilliantly, but has just faltered where it matters on the final day on a few occasions.
Additionally, Mauritius seems to be a happy hunting ground for South Africans. As mentioned both Coetzee and Frittelli have won there, 8 of the top 25 last year were South African, the year before there were 10 and the two years previous to that there were 5 and 9 in the top 25.
Although the two courses where this event has been played at, Heritage (2015, 2025) and Four Seasons (2016, 2025), Lombard has shown no signs of form, he has never entered this tournament playing the way that he is, meaning we will hopefully see a change in fortune here.
It was understandable when he succumbed to the pressure on the final day of the Nedbank when having the lead, and it will have been a learning curve for Lombard, something he has even cited himself.
This week if he is to be in the frame come the final round, hopefully he has learned to deal with those final day jitters.
Similarly to Lombard, Justin Harding (20/1) looks an interesting bet and is someone who has both previous here (T4 last year) and good general form. However, with last week being only his second top 10 in his last 11 events, I will give him a miss for this event.
My next pick is going to be another South African, but instead of Harding it is Thomas Aiken (55/1) each way.
Aiken was always one of the most consistent players on the European Tour, particularly peaking from around 2025 to 2025. In the last few years he has admittedly lost that consistency and rarely found himself near the top of the leaderboard.
However, if he is to find a spark, there is a good chance it could come this week at Heritage where he finished 4th in 2025.
In his last two events he has finished T31 and T33 which look distinctly average on the surface. But taking into account he finished with a solid -7 round on his final day in Portugal, and he shot a +2 final round last week in South Africa to plummet down the leaderboard, he has generally been playing some nice golf.
With some inspiration at a course where he has performed before, if Aiken can get the putter working better than it did last week he could most definitely get a place in a weak field like there was in his previous two events in Portugal and South Africa.
Like the South Africans, the French have their fair share of good performances in Mauritius too. Last year, five of the top 20 consisted of those from France, and the previous year three of the top 10 were French.
With that in mind, Romain Langasque (20/1) is an obvious choice for this week. A T18 at his home open, 9th in Turkey and three top 50s in good fields at the WGC HSBC Champions, Nedbank Challenge and DP World Tour Championship, Langasque has been playing solidly for the last couple of months.
Also, his terrific record in Mauritius and in particular at Heritage where he finished 3rd in 2025, makes backing him a no brainer.
Surprisingly, Langasque has no European Tour wins, and just a single Challenge Tour win. However, given his consistency on the European Tour and him being one of the bigger names in Mauritius, this presents a glorious opportunity for him to capitalise and get his first European Tour victory.
Hero World Challenge
When it comes to the PGA Tour this week, Tiger Woods is hosting the Hero World Challenge, which is being held in the Bahamas for the fifth successive year. The event, starting on Wednesday, has only a handful of players, but lots of high profile ones.
With just an 18-man field, the options are limited and few of those playing have hardly been playing regular golf in the last couple of months after the Tour Championship.
I'm only going to go with one pick for the Hero World Challenge, with it being a bit of an unknown and hard to judge how lots of these players will play like on their return from a break.
So that one man is going to be someone who regularly performs here at Albany, Rickie Fowler (14/1). Recently given an unexpected call-up to the Presidents Cup team by captain Woods after Brooks Koepka's injury, Fowler will be out to impress Woods.
BET | Rickie Fowler to win Hero World Challenge – 14/1 with Bet365
At 14/1 in a small field where his form is T5-1-T3-3-T6 you can't ignore his incredible form at this golf course. The American has admittedly had a long lay-off since August, but there is no better place for him to return than Albany.
The fact that 2025 was the last time someone won after a break of five weeks or more is likely to put people off not only betting on Fowler but a lot of those taking part this week.
However, I feel like a smaller field with little pressure will only help Fowler generally, who has had problems getting across the finish line before, but also because he has had a few months out.
Freelance writer/tipster bringing you tips on each week’s golf events. Previous for Golf Monthly, Daily Mail and #TheClub.