There is a contrast between the golfing heritage of Mauritius, the small island east of Madagascar, and the world’s awareness of it, one which is pretty much as vast as the Indian Ocean which surrounds it.
The Mauritius Golf Federation’s website writes, for example, “the founding of the Gymkhana Club in 1849 resulted in Mauritius becoming the fourth country where golf was played.”
It’s a bold claim, one that seems almost impossible to verify, but what cannot be denied is that the very fact golf was played there more than 170 years ago is nothing more or less than slightly astounding and very impressive.
From those precocious beginnings, however, the sport made little impact on the region until the explosion of resort courses drew golf tourists from predominantly France, Britain and South Africa in the late 20th century.
Tournament golf arrived on the island in 1994 in the shape of the Mauritius Open, which was then a small-field invitational event offering players warm-weather competition with a relaxed vibe in the off-season. Ian Poulter was among those who played it, and fellow Ryder Cup veterans Peter Baker and Jamie Donaldson have both lifted the trophy.
By 2009, the tournament had morphed into a European Senior Tour event. Two years later, it became the official seasonal finale, the MCB Tour Championship.
Throughout this time the Legend Course at Constance Belle Mare Plage was the host, and its determination to put Mauritius on the golfing map cannot be underestimated. Without it there would be no Mauritius Open on the DP World Tour (confusingly it is an entirely new version and will have its sixth edition later this month) and no Legends Tour expansion elsewhere in the region.
These are but the bare details, however. The tale of Indian Ocean golf is as full of mystery as the depths of the sea itself and can perhaps be revealed in the stories of three men.
• • •
Gary Pouponneau was born on the main Seychelles island of Mahé and grew up near the country’s only golf course. Intrigued by the game, he started caddying and was soon encouraged to start playing on the nine-hole layout.
Talented at the game, he dreamed of making it his career with the rather striking caveat that he lived more than 1,000 miles (all of it water) from any 18-hole course.
He once represented Seychelles at a Commonwealth tournament in Scotland, spending his time agog at the difference between golf played near the equator and golf on the freezing linksland of East Lothian. He also played alongside Poulter in the Mauritius Open.
In 2019, MCB added a third stage to the Indian Ocean Swing in Madagascar. It was a week when many in the field were reminded of the conditions they had encountered on the Safari Tour, a circuit that ventured around Africa in the European Tour winters of the 1970s and ’80s.
It was all great fun, but how was he ever going to earn a living from golf in Seychelles? The answer came when the island of Praslin, a 15-minute flight from Mahé, became home to Constance Lémuria, a course sneaking between rainforest and volcanic boulders.
Pouponneau got a job at the course and in time became the professional, introducing visitors to the unique pleasures of a course featuring a beach that can be visited after the 15th hole (keeping the honour on the next tee) and jungle trees that provide refreshment in the form of ripe mangoes (no need for a halfway hut).
When, in 2018, the European Senior Tour added a visit to Lémuria to its schedule, Pouponneau’s journey was complete: from curious kid to official host of major champions such as Tom Lehman.
As improbable as it had once seemed, golf had, after all, provided him with a career, and a very good one at that.
• • •
Like Pouponneau, Jean Baptiste Ramarozatovo didn’t hail from a strong golfing background. He also lived near a golf course (in his case the International Golf Club Du Rova in Andakana, Madagascar), caddied as a child and graduated to hitting balls himself.
In time, a Canadian ex-pat became aware of his skills and sponsored his quest to turn professional.
Ramarozatovo won a hat-trick of Madagascar Opens in the late 1990s and regularly received an invitation to the Mauritius Open in its early guise, one time narrowly missing out on the title in a playoff. In 1998, he also made one start on the Challenge Tour in Ivory Coast.
But his touring opportunities were always harshly limited by geography and finance, so he settled in as the International Club’s pro.
Then, just when he thought his chances of competing at a decent level were beyond him, luck threw him a second chance.
In 2019, MCB added a third stage to the Indian Ocean Swing in Madagascar. It was a week when many in the field were reminded of the conditions they had encountered on the Safari Tour, a circuit that ventured around Africa in the European Tour winters of the 1970s and ’80s.
The event was played at Ramarozatovo’s course, and he was invited to play on the tight, tree-lined, baked-earth fairways. He suspected local knowledge might prove beneficial, but no one knew quite how profoundly that would be the case.
He was in contention all week, and seven birdies early on Sunday set the course alive. Locals, with only the slenderest appreciation of gallery etiquette, flocked the fairways, and his competitors were tickled rather than annoyed by the fuss.
On paper, it was no contest, a walkover, a gimme. In reality, among the tropical trees of the Legend Course, it was a rout.
In fact, they were energised, entertained by the local hero’s habit of sharing a cigarette with friends between shots, and staggered at the contrast between their cussed veteran determination to make par and his dizzying collection of birdies, eagles, bogeys and double bogeys, which ultimately left him just three shots behind winner Barry Lane.
Twenty-one years after his first tour start, Ramarozatovo not only finally had a second crack but also had a first check.
It was for €8,217. Small fry for many pro golfers, but 8,217 times what his three brothers – Norbert, Gilbert and Jackoria – earn when caddying for a day. In that sense, then, a fortune and another golfing wish fulfilled.
• • •
And so back to Mauritius and the senior-circuit regulars, among them other chasers of dreams including the Englishman Paul Wesselingh.
A 12-handicapper at 16, he was playing off 3 and working behind a desk in his 20s yet still quit to become a club pro who then “had a couple of half-hearted attempts at the main tour, but I was rubbish, really.”
Recognizing his game had matured in his late 40s, he took aim at the Senior Tour, gained a card, won on his fourth start, landed Rookie of the Year in 2012 and then found himself in a head-to-head with Colin Montgomerie in the final round of the 2013 season-ending MCB Tour Championship.
It was the one-time club pro versus a Ryder Cup star who was undefeated (with six wins) in eight singles matches. On paper, it was no contest, a walkover, a gimme. In reality, among the tropical trees of the Legend Course, it was a rout.
Just not the thrashing anyone expected. Monty carded a 74 while Wesselingh tallied 69 to win both the tournament and the Order of Merit. Another unlikely Indian Ocean story, this one an Indian Summer.