Golf: MCB Indian Ocean Open Mauritius |24 June 2023
Members of the Seychelles team
Weidner finishes second in Pro division, Jean-Baptiste third in mid-amateurs class
A group of seven Seychellois golfers took part in the MCB Indian Ocean Open in Mauritius for the second year, from June 15-18.
This international tournament, as well as most others played now by teams from Seychelles, was made possible thanks to the contributions of the main headline sponsor for the Seychelles Golf Federation (SGF), Absa Bank (Seychelles) Ltd.
Professional golfers William Weidner and Garry Pouponneau played alongside fellow SGF members Richard D’Offay, Godefroy Andrade, Jerry Jean-Baptiste and Damien Hoareau. The team were led by the chairman of the Seychelles Golf Federation (SGF), Michael Lavigne, and they went up against the best players in the region, in an individual 54-hole stroke play tournament.
This is the second consecutive year that Seychelles took part in the MCB Indian Ocean Open; whilst the team played fairly well last year, team leader Michael Lavigne had high hopes for an even better performance this year.
“We certainly weren’t disappointed with the results this year,” says Lavigne. “Our Pro from the Seychelles Golf Club, William Weidner, came in second overall in the Pro division, and one of our mid-amateurs (a class of amateur golfers from 35 to 49 years) Jerry Jean-Baptiste, was ranked third in the Mid-Amateur division. This is by far the most exciting result we have achieved, considering the players from our little country of 100,000 people went up against Mauritius, South Africa and many other countries with much larger pools of high-level golfers,” said Lavigne.
Players from South Africa, Mauritius, Reunion, Madagascar, Namibia, Kenya, Germany and a several other countries took part in the competition.
‘’It’s an 18-hole championship course with some very challenging holes; quite a bit of water, which was tricky, with some very difficult pin placements on certain days, but all in all a very exciting layout, and on a course which was in impeccable condition. I was really pleasantly surprised to see our team out there facing their adversaries, and coming home with these amazing results. Richard D’Offay, who was also playing in the Mid-Amateur division for the last time, as he will be in the next category of Seniors in next year’s tournament if he qualifies back home here in Seychelles, came in at T15, or 15th place, which was also an excellent result,” Lavigne added.
This was the first international tournament that Seychelles has taken part in this year, with at least one more to follow later in the year, namely the Inter-Iles Tournament, which will be relaunched in Madagascar and will include Mauritius, Madagascar, Reunion, Seychelles and Mayotte.
“The more exposure and experience our players get from international tournaments, the stronger our play becomes, and the proof is here today, with the results from the MCB Indian Ocean Open 2023. We played two significant tournaments last year, with some of the same golfers, and it helped us to shine there in Mauritius last week. The ultimate hope is to absolutely glow during the All Africa Team Championship, which we will be hosting here in Seychelles next year in September,” noted Lavigne.
“Credit goes to our six golfers this year in Mauritius, who represented both their game and their country with the utmost dignity and elegance. Now it’s onwards and upwards for the tournaments to come,” Lavigne concluded.
Contributed
