PRESSBOOK MCBT 2024

8 December 2024

Peter Baker beat Simon Grifths on the third hole of a sudden-death play-of to retain the MCB Tour Championship Mauritius at Constance Belle Mare Plage. The Englishmen both birdied the last two holes of the regular tournament – which is the fnale to the Legends Tour season – to fnished tied on 16 under, three clear of the feld. They then matched each other with birdies on the frst two occasions they played an extra hole, the par-fve 18th, before Baker got up and down from a greenside bunker to make a winning four. Baker, who nearly pulled out of the tournament before his second round through illness, retained the title he won last year en route to claiming the order of merit but his victory in the tournament was not enough to keep hold of the John Jacobs Trophy. Instead, that title went to the man Baker pipped last year for it, Brazilian Adilson da Silva. Grifths had the consolation of winning the Barry Lane Rookie of the Year award. Earlier, Baker - the 1993 Ryder Cup player - went out in 35 thanks to a birdie bogey-birdie run in the middle of the front nine then picked up a shot at the 10th to move to 14 under. Six pars followed before he got to 15 under on the short 17th then tapped in for a four at the par-fve last afer his eagle putt for victory missed on the lef side. Grifths made birdies at the frst, third, ffh and eighth for a brilliant front half of four-under 32 and picked up another stroke at the par-fve 13th before his birdies at 17 and 18. There was no last-day charge on the Indian Ocean island for Colin Montgomerie, the champion on the Legends course at Belle Mare Plage in 2017.