It's unlikely that the nearly two-hundred-year history of golf has ever recorded anything quite like it. Jayson Schaper, a 24-year-old South African, won the Mauritius Open, the year-end event on the DP World Tour, mirroring the sequence with which he had opened his account the previous week: with an eagle, in a playoff, and from off the green.
Jayson Schaper, news
If last week, at the Alfred Duhill Championship, outside Johannesburg, he sank a putt from the green's rim, this time in the archipelago named after Mauritius of Nassau in the 16th century, he did it with a chip shot from even further out. His wedge from 30 meters caught on one of the slopes of the area to guide him straight into the hole.
The stroke rewarded the two 64s the African golfer shot over the weekend, completing a fantastic run over the last three weeks: he finished second at the Nedbank Challenge before securing those two victories, which place him among the top 70 in the world. Before the playoff, Schaper had carded six birdies and an eagle with no bogeys.
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The loser of the playoff, Ryan Gerard, did not play that role, however. The North Carolina native, who earned his PGA Tour card this year through the Korn Ferry Tour and finished eighth at the PGA Championship, traveled 16,000 kilometers to play in this tournament and secure the world ranking points needed to finish 2025 in the top 50 and qualify for the Masters Tournament in Augusta. He needed to finish fourth and easily achieved his goal.
Among the Spanish players, Manuel Elvira, with a 70 on Sunday, finished seventh, eight strokes behind the winner, and ngel Ayora finished 21st. The DP World Tour returns on January 15 with the Dubai Invitational, a tournament that will feature Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood, among others.
The rules of golf are relatively complicated compared to other sports because they are played outdoors, close to nature and animals. Respecting the rules is a fundamental element in the game of golf, which, almost always based on self-control and the free conscience of the players, often sees distorted results, sometimes consciously, but often unconsciously or through carelessness, due to the failure of many players to comply with the rules of the game. In addition to the rules, golf adheres to a code of conduct, known as etiquette, which generally means playing the game with due respect for the golf course and other players. Etiquette is an essential component of this sport.
