Francesco Laporta will take a one-shot lead into the weekend of the Trophée Hassan II after a round of 70 on the tough Red Course at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam.
The Italian rookie came into day two with a share of the lead on four under par, and followed his opening round of 68 with another impressive effort to move one shot clear of Australia’s Jason Scrivener, Spaniard Borja Virto and South Korean Jeunghun Wang.
Laporta finished in a tie for fourth place in Madrid on the Challenge Tour last week and admitted after his opening round that his improved display in the Spanish capital had served as a major confidence boost.
Virto had set the clubhouse target on five under par in the morning session, but Laporta soon moved past that with birdies on the tenth and 12th holes. A bogey on the 13th was followed by a double bogey on the 14th, where he three-putted after splashing out of the bunker, but he then made three birdies in four holes to turn in 35 and establish a two-shot lead.
Another gain on the second opened up a two-shot lead, and the 25 year old then missed birdie chances in a run of five pars before a missed short par putt on the eighth saw his advantage reduced to a single shot.
American Daniel Im, Irishman Peter Lawrie and South African Zander Lombard head into the weekend in Rabat in a share of fifth on four under par, one stroke ahead of Englishman Gary King and France’s Adrien Saddier.
Key quotes
Francesco Laporta: “I played very well from the start. Unfortunately I gave the shots back with the double on 14, but I actually hit a pretty good tee shot, but it just caught the bunker and then I three-putted. But other than that, I hit the ball very well again. It was just a really solid display, and I enjoyed it.
“It’s going to be exciting at the weekend. I haven’t been in this position going into the weekend at a European Tour event before, so I’m, just going to try to enjoy it and do my best. It should be a great experience, and I’m looking forward to it.”
Borja Virto: “I played well again today. The back nine is probably a little easier, and I was two under at the turn so it was a good start. Then I three-putted the first and made another bogey on the third, so it was a difficult start to my back nine, but I managed to get the shots back so overall I’m very happy.
“It was quite windy again, but it was blowing the same direction so that made life a little easier. The course is pretty tough anyway, so if the wind is really strong it would be very difficult to make any birdies.”
Zander Lombard: “You’ve really got to hit the fairways or you’re cooked. I hit a few wayward drives early on in my round, but managed to keep the big numbers off my card. The eighth is a tough hole, almost 500 yards into the wind, and I tried to hit my drive too hard. It went left and I had to chip out, then I made a three-putt to compound the mistake. So that was disappointing, but the rest of the round was really solid.”
Daniel Im: “I got off to a pretty solid start, and hit the ball well for much of the day. Yesterday I hit six birdies and five bogeys, so I tried to cut out the mistakes today and for the most part I managed to do that. The course is very narrow and it’s also playing long, which makes it a tough customer. The rough’s also pretty thick, so you have to be right on top of your game to score well out there. The greens are quite small but if you do hit them you’ve normally got a good chance to make birdie, because they’re rolling very true.”
Round Two Scores (cut on 148, +4):
138 F Laporta (Ita) 68 70,
139 J Wang (Kor) 71 68, B Virto Astudillo (Esp) 69 70, J Scrivener (Aus) 68 71,
140 P Lawrie (Irl) 71 69, D Im (USA) 71 69, Z Lombard (RSA) 70 70,
141 A Saddier (Fra) 69 72, G King (Eng) 71 70,
142 S Henry (Sco) 71 71, C Bezuidenhout (RSA) 72 70, J Senior (Eng) 72 70, J Lima (Por) 72 70, J White (Eng) 73 69, N Elvira (Esp) 71 71, K Mueck (Aus) 72 70,
143 M Korhonen (Fin) 70 73, A Cañizares (Esp) 71 72, P Peterson (USA) 71 72, C Hanson (Eng) 72 71, C Berardo (Fra) 70 73, F Serghini (Mar) 71 72, C Shinkwin (Eng) 74 69, S Benson (Eng) 72 71,
144 A Johnston (Eng) 70 74, R Rock (Eng) 74 70, A Otaegui (Esp) 74 70, E Goya (Arg) 69 75, K Phelan (Irl) 70 74, L Nemecz (Aut) 77 67, O Fisher (Eng) 74 70, D Dixon (Eng) 73 71, R McEvoy (Eng) 73 71, N Bertasio (Ita) 72 72,
145 M Manassero (Ita) 72 73, L Jensen (Den) 71 74, M Southgate (Eng) 72 73, D Burmester (RSA) 71 74, C Doak (Sco) 72 73, S Kapur (Ind) 72 73, B Eccles (Aus) 70 75, N Marsh (Eng) 73 72, T Linard (Fra) 68 77, M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 69 76,
146 M Orrin (Eng) 71 75, A Quiros (Esp) 75 71, A Levy (Fra) 71 75, T Muto (Jpn) 71 75, D Papadatos (Aus) 72 74, A Wall (Eng) 75 71, R Jacquelin (Fra) 73 73, T Lewis (Eng) 71 75, S Webster (Eng) 74 72, B Åkesson (Swe) 73 73, R Paratore (Ita) 70 76,
147 S Gros (Fra) 77 70, M Nixon (Eng) 75 72, J Carlsson (Swe) 75 72, E Pepperell (Eng) 73 74, T Sinnott (Aus) 75 72, G Hurley (Irl) 71 76, D Frittelli (RSA) 72 75,
148 P Dunne (Irl) 72 76, Y El Hassani (Mar) 69 79, B Hebert (Fra) 76 72, J Knutzon (USA) 74 74, D Brooks (Eng) 77 71, S Manley (Wal) 77 71, C Bouniol (Fra) 76 72, E Molinari (Ita) 76 72, T Pilkadaris (Aus) 76 72, G Bourdy (Fra) 74 74, S Griffiths (Eng) 74 74, P Gustafsson (Swe) 72 76, R Fox (Nzl) 74 74, J Hugo (RSA) 76 72,
CUT LINE
149 R Wattel (Fra) 70 79, M Lundberg (Swe) 75 74, J Ballesteros (Esp) 77 72, M Kinhult (Swe) 72 77, J Robinson (Eng) 72 77, B Evans (Eng) 76 73, M Foster (Eng) 75 74, R Karlsson (Swe) 74 75, G Murray (Sco) 74 75, U Van Den Berg (RSA) 76 73, R Davies (Wal) 73 76, A Bernadet (Fra) 74 75, A Id-Omar (am) (Mar) 77 72,
150 F Fritsch (Ger) 81 69, D Gaunt (Aus) 77 73, R Lynch (Aus) 72 78, S Walker (Eng) 72 78, R Evans (Eng) 78 72, J Fahrbring (Swe) 76 74, E España (Fra) 78 72, M Jonzon (Swe) 75 75, S Hansen (Den) 74 76, G Havret (Fra) 75 75, D Gavins (Eng) 78 72, C Paisley (Eng) 76 74, C Blomstrand (Swe) 77 73, J Quesne (Fra) 73 77,
151 J Kelly (Nor) 74 77, S Jeppesen (Swe) 74 77, J McLeary (Sco) 76 75, C Sharvin (Nir) 73 78, P Oriol (Esp) 77 74, M Crespi (Ita) 78 73, T Lawrence (RSA) 76 75, A McArthur (Sco) 75 76, N Ravano (Ita) 75 76,
152 M Tullo (Chi) 74 78, Y Touhami (am) (Mar) 80 72,
153 R McGowan (Eng) 78 75, J Dick (Eng) 76 77, M Baldwin (Eng) 79 74, N Cullen (Aus) 76 77,
154 D Horsey (Eng) 78 76, J Hansen (Den) 76 78,
155 L Canter (Eng) 82 73, J Elson (Eng) 76 79, C Heavens (USA) 79 76, M Ford (Eng) 78 77,
156 M Hoey (Nir) 77 79, S Dyson (Eng) 75 81, C Sutherland (Sco) 78 78, A Joudar (Mar) 80 76,
157 C Costilla (Arg) 76 81, J Walters (RSA) 78 79,
158 J Busby (Eng) 82 76,
159 R Green (Aus) 82 77, C Rodiles (Esp) 80 79,
162 T Pfister (Sui) 76 86,
164 R McNamara (Irl) 80 84,
** B Lane (Eng) 78 WD, R Coles (Eng) 74 RT, K Ferrie (Eng) RT 0,
