Staff WriterThe AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open is back with a familiar smell in the trade winds: hot form, harder rough, and the sort of coastal golf that punishes bravado and rewards brains. And right now, Jayden Schaper has arrived at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open looking like a man who’s brought both.
Schaper rocked up this week still glowing from his first DP World Tour win, and he’s got history in his sights. Win again on Mauritius soil and he’d pull off something only Louis Oosthuizen has managed at this event — going back-to-back, the way Oosthuizen did in 2023 when he followed an Alfred Dunhill Championship victory by lifting the Mauritian Open trophy.
There’s a neat symmetry to that chase, too, because the stage is La Réserve Golf Links — the very place Oosthuizen helped shape, co-designing the course with Peter Matkovich. If you’re going to try matching a rare feat, you might as well do it on the same turf where it was last pulled off.
Schaper’s Mauritius habit: turning up, hanging around, contending
Schaper’s case isn’t built on wishful thinking; it’s built on receipts. In three starts at the Mauritius Open, he hasn’t finished worse than 13th. And the last time the tournament pitched up at La Réserve Golf Links in 2023, he finished sixth — which is close enough to hear the trophy being polished on Sunday afternoon.
Form-wise, it’s even louder. Schaper tees off on Thursday with a ridiculous collection of “leader” labels: top of the Race to Dubai Rankings, top of the DP World Tour’s Opening Swing standings, leading the Sunshine Tour’s Courier Guy Order of Merit, and freshly climbed into the top 100 on the Official World Golf Ranking.
But the strongest pull might be simpler than all that: the place matters to him. He’s back on an island he’s loved since childhood, a family-holiday stamp in the passport that’s now turned into a professional comfort zone.
“The last two weeks have been incredible, and being here after that is pretty cool,” Schaper said on Tuesday. “I just love Mauritius. I love the resorts, the ocean, the golf courses. What I like about this design is that it’s familiar. My home course is also a Peter Matkovich design, and his designs are focused on being smart and not just bombing it. They’re fun to play. There are always a couple of driveable par fours in his designs, which are also fun.”
That line about “smart and not just bombing it” is doing plenty of work, because La Réserve has teeth. It’s a thinking course dressed up like a holiday postcard: wind off the ocean, angles that matter, and greens that don’t reward hopeful swings.
Parry tries to do what nobody has done: defend the title
Schaper isn’t the only one sniffing at the history books. Defending champion John Parry has flown in with a different kind of pressure — the chance to become the first player to successfully defend the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open title.
“I’m really excited. Defending a title is not something I’ve had the opportunity to do before so it’s a new experience which I’m really looking forward to. I absolutely love it in Mauritius. I have my wife with me as well. The golf course looks fantastic. I can see the rough is heavy and I’m guessing it blows a lot here.
It looks like a very second-shot golf course and it’s all about hitting it in the right areas and the right levels on the greens. There’s a feeling that if you’re playing well and it’s a windy course like this it might play into your hands a little bit. And being from England I’m fairly used to a bit of wind as well. So I’m excited,” he said.
Parry’s scouting report is the one every caddie loves: heavy rough, plenty of breeze, and a “second-shot golf course” where the real talent shows up after the drive. That’s code for: you can’t fake it for four days.
What to watch this week at La Réserve
- Can Schaper keep the pedal down? Winning once is hard. Winning again immediately is a different sport.
- Wind management. If it freshens, patience becomes a weapon — especially for players raised on coastal golf.
- Second-shot control. This is where the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open will likely be decided: distance control, trajectory, and picking the right sections of green.
One way or another, this edition has a clean narrative line: a young star trying to echo Oosthuizen’s rare double, and an English champion trying to do what nobody has done here — defend.
On a links built to expose impatience, it’s a lovely week to be clever.
