Calum Hill leads at halfway in Mauritius Open

Scotland’s Calum Hill will take a one-shot lead into the
weekend at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open after a stunning second round
of 64.

The Fifer, who finished second on the Challenge Tour Rankings last season to graduate to the European Tour, recorded a top-15 finish at last week’s Alfred Dunhill
Championship to get his season off to a promising start. He brought
that form to Heritage Golf Club in the Indian Ocean, moving to 12-under-par as he matched
the low round of the week.

Hill
won twice in 2019 to secure his European Tour card, and he now leads
his second event of the new season after recording nine birdies and just
a single bogey on Friday.

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The
final birdie – a 20-foot putt on the last – was enough to edge the 25-year-old ahead of former Scottish Open winner Brandon Stone,
Belgium’s Thomas Detry and Matthieu Pavon of France.

French
pair Benjamin Hebert and Antoine Rozner, American Sihwan Kim and Hill’s fellow Scot
Connor Syme are one shot further back.

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“The
last couple of days, the game has been nice,” said a delighted Hill. “I managed to get the putter
going well today, which added up to a good score. Last week was a slow
start and I played better at the weekend. I’ve just built on it from
there.

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“I’m
happy with that, especially to make a putt on the last hole to finish
off a good round. I made a lot of long range putts. 

“So
far, so good on the European Tour. We seem to be following the
sunshine so we’re always playing in warm weather and the courses are in
great condition. I haven’t noticed a huge difference yet coming from
Challenge Tour. Obviously, the fields are stronger, but it’s the same as
every tournament you play – you go out and do your best, see where that
puts you at the end of the week, and dig in when you need to.”