Norwegian Suzann Pettersen hit the front at the Lalla Meryem Cup with a second round of one-under-par 71 on the Blue Course at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam in Rabat on Friday morning.
At four-under-par, she opened up a two-stroke clubhouse lead ahead of playing partner Georgia Hall, Olivia Cowan, Agathe Sauzon and Yan Liu.
The 36-year-old Solheim Cup star scrambled for her score and said afterwards: “This course is not easy to play from the rough. You’ve really got to hit fairways as the greens are so small and the rough is very unpredictable. I don’t think I’ve had one great lie where you feel that you can control the ball and the spin. I’ll keep hitting fairways and try to hit more greens than I did today.”
Her five birdies came at the second, eighth, 13th, 16th and 17th holes while she dropped shots at the seventh, 11th, 14th and 18th.
“If I was a little bit older I probably would have had a heart attack, because it was up and down, up and down,” she said.
“There are birdies out there, but you don’t have to be much off. A slight mistake and the bogeys are very easy to make. It was not my best from tee to green so I have a job to do, but I’ll look forward to the weekend. If you hit fairways and greens I think you can shoot low around this place.”
After playing with Georgia Hall for the first time over the opening two rounds, Pettersen commented: “Apart from the fact that I could be her mom, she is a great golfer and I know she is leading the race for Solheim. She would be a great asset to our team. She’s a good ball striker, putts well and it’s good to have some fresh, young blood on this tour.”
Namesake Lydia Hall and Klara Spilkova, who are playing in the same three-ball, were both three-under-par after as many holes as the second round continued under clear blue skies.
