Mauritius Open: Steve Palmer's final-round preview, best bets, free golf tip

When to watch

Sky Sports Golf, 8am Sunday

Best bets

Brandon Stone to win Mauritius Open
2pts each-way 10-1 Coral, Ladbrokes

Story so far

Three European Tour maidens are tied for the lead going into the final round of the Mauritius Open – Calum Hill, Thomas Detry and Antoine Rozner.

Hill, a three-time winner on the Challenge Tour last season, is a rookie who has made an impressive start to life on the main circuit. Birdies at the 17th and 18th holes in round three have put the Scot atop the board.

Detry has been threatening a breakthrough for much longer and the Belgian is 5-2 favourite with 18 holes to play. Rozner, 100-1 at the start of the week, won twice on the Challenge Tour last season and, like fellow graduate Hill, closed round three with back-to-back birdies.

Pre-tournament favourite, Thomas Pieters, is tied for 20th spot, seven shots off the pace. Christiaan Bezuidenhout is in eighth place, three behind.

Leaderboard
-16 Calum Hill, Thomas Detry, Antoine Rozner
-15 Sihwan Kim, Rasmus Hojgaard
-14 Brandon Stone, Renato Paratore
-13 Connor Syme, Christiaan Bezuidenhout

Best prices
5-2 T Detry, 7-2 C Hill, 11-2 A Rozner, 10 B Stone, 11 S Kim, 12 R Hojgaard, 14 R Paratore, 18 C Bezuidenhout, 30 C Syme, 40 B Hebert, 80 bar

Final-round preview

Thomas Detry has become a regular contender for European Tour titles, but he has made a habit of faltering when hitting the top of the leaderboard, and bogeys at the 12th and 16th holes meant a wobble in round three just when it seemed he was taking control.

Detry has a superb swing, bundles of natural power, and won a Challenge Tour event by 12 shots, but there are slight question marks over his temperament in tight European Tour combat, and 5-2 is an unappealing price on a congested board.

Antoine Rozner is older and seemingly less talented, and of the front three, it is the 7-2 about Calum Hill which seems the best value. Hill has just turned 25 and looks to bursting with composure, having become a winning machine on the Challenge Tour.

Hills appears to have overcome his upgrade with ease, making the cut in a PGA Tour event last month, then opening his European Tour campaign with 13th spot in the Alfred Dunhill Championship.

The 7-2 Hill is fair, but the most appealing option of all is the 10-1 about Brandon Stone, who fought his way back into the tournament in gutsy fashion after a horror start to round three. A triple-bogey at the first hole was a gutbuster which left him detached, but he covered the final eight holes in six under par to move just two shots behind.

Stone was generally superb in the French Open and the Portugal Masters, before flopping when well fancied in the Alfred Dunhill last week. Sensing his opportunity and talking up his chances before the Alfred Dunhill, he probably put too much pressure on himself, and quickly got tailed off. This week, his form has returned, aside from that first-hole blunder, and he can approach the final round with freedom and confidence and go close to a fourth European Tour triumph.

Stone tees off with compatriot Christiaan Bezuidenhout at 7.55am UK and Ireland time. The final pairing of Detry and Rozner is on the tee at 8.25am.

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