Agathe Laisné opened with an excellent round of 64 (-8) on the Legend Course during the first day of the inaugural MCB Ladies Classic – Mauritius held at the Constance Belle Mare Plage.
The Ladies European Tour (LET) Order of Merit leader continued her rich vein of form rolling in 10 birdies during her opening round in Mauritius.
Laisne, who has won twice on the LET in 2026, began with back-to-back birdies at 10 and 11 before making three on the trot on holes 13 to 15, but dropped her first shot of the day on 16.
However, she bounced back with a birdie on 17 and rolled in another on the second, before a second bogey on the fifth.
The Frenchwoman finished strongly with three birdies in her closing four holes to set a course record and sit at the top of the leaderboard on eight-under-par.
“It was great fun. It was nice to sink some putts,” said Laisné. “The putting was definitely the best part. It’s very satisfying to make a lot of birdies and a lot of putts.
“I love it here. It’s really nice to see the ocean. It’s very relaxing, I missed the sunrise this morning but tomorrow I will try to see it. It’s been awesome, I feel it’s one of the best tournaments we have because the ocean is right there and we have a beautiful course.
“The layout can be tricky off the tee and then the smaller greens remind you that you need a really good iron game. The greens are somehow flat, so you can sink putts because there’s not too much break. My longest putt was 30-foot on the 15th, but I had multiple birdies within 12-feet.
“It’s been a good period, golf feels a little easier than usual because I’ve been playing really well and I know golf is, it can be tricky sometimes. We’ll see down the road, but I really appreciate it right now.”
South Africa’s Cara Gorlei is in solo second place after firing a round of 65 (-7) which included two eagles on day one.
The 30-year-old had two eagles, six birdies and three bogeys on her scorecard to be one shot behind Laisné after 18 holes.
“I’m very happy with it. If you gave me a 65 on Monday, I would have taken it. It was a grind out there, pretty hot and very windy, but I enjoyed it,” said Gorlei.
“The eagle on 18 was great. I really needed it. I hit my 4-rion to about 6-foot and made the putt. Then on the fourth, I hit it just short of the green, probably 15 short and chipped it in, so it was great.
“I started off on the back nine, and I started off birdie-par-birdie, so I thought let’s go. I hit a couple bad swings and missed the green. I was probably three-over when I missed the green, so that was not good. I said to my caddie, let’s just try to hit the greens because it’s clearly working. It was important to just stay in the moment, just focus on every shot.
“I hit a lot of fairways, so I was happy with that. Driver is not always my strong point, but I got it working. I was a little bit nervous. I didn’t know on the range this morning, I was hitting it all over the place. But when you get out there and you start just honing in on your targets and hitting them, I did that pretty well today.”
Denmark’s Smilla Tarning Soenderby is in outright third place one shot further back after her round of 66 (-6).
The LET winner started from the 10th tee and made four birdies on her front nine before rolling in another three; she then made back-to-back bogeys but bounced back with a birdie on eight.
“It was really nice, I had a lot of really good shots and holed a lot of really good putts,” said Soenderby. “After the bogeys, I thought it was getting away from me but then on my 17th hole, I hit a good approach and sank that putt and thought I was still there. I was just really solid.
“I was hitting very small targets and just had some good numbers. I feel like I got the wind spot on. I felt very confident on the greens. I managed the heat pretty well today and it’s beautiful here.
“It’s a vacation vibe. I have my mum with me this week and she’s hasn’t seen me play for a long time, so it was nice having her on the side and sending a smile to her.”
Ten players are in a share of fourth place on four-under-par including India’s Diksha Dagar who made an ace on the 11th hole.
Round two will begin at 7 am (local time) and there will be a cut to the top 60 professionals and ties at the end of the day in Mauritius.
Keep up with all the action at the MCB Ladies Classic – Mauritius on our socials – @LETgolf on Instagram and X and Ladies European Tour on Facebook and YouTube – #MCBLadiesClassic.
