An equal best of the day 5-under 66 from Scott Hend saw the Queenslander charge into the top 10 and claim top Australian honours at the co-sanctioned AfrAsia Bank Open in Mauritius at the expense of rising star Nathan Holman.

Hend’s six birdies against a lone bogey saw him climb from a share of 11th to within three of eventual winner George Coetzee who took the title in a play-off from Denmark’s Thornjorn Olesen.

Hend, who is playing his rookie year on the European Tour at the age of 41, overtook fellow Australian and Asian Tour standout Nathan Holman whose final round 2-over 73 dropped him from T5 to T20.

Holman is one of the most promising Australian players to emerge in recent years and will be bitterly disappointed to have missed a huge opportunity to earn a European Tour card.

Having recovered from a poor second round to shoot a brilliant 66 of his own on Saturday Holman had a genuine chance to contend for the title over the final 18 holes but never got going.

At 1-over through five holes of the final round Holman was off the pace early and struggled the rest of the way eventually posting six bogies against four birdies for his 73.

Andrew Dodt and Sam Brazel finished on the same score as Holman with Scott Barr and Unho Park a shot further back and T29.

Terry Pilkadaris got off to a great start with a first round 66 to share fourth just one out of the lead but couldn’t maintain the momentum and eventually finished in a share of 37th.

Adam Groom also finished T37 ahead of Kalem Richardson (T55) and Jason Scrivener (T67) the only others to make the cut, with Jake Higginbottom and Marcus Both missing out.