Klára Spilková of the Czech Republic (above) and Lydia Hall from Wales (below) share the early lead on day one at the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco after a pair of three-under-par 69s.
Both players made six birdies and three bogeys on the Blue Course at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam in Rabat.
Ariane Provot of France was on four-under-par before she dropped two shots in her last three holes to join six other players on two-under-par including Moroccan star Maha Haddioui, who had two birdies in a flawless opening round of 70.
Spilková is playing in her first LET tournament of the season and she said: “It was a really relaxed round and I only hit 10 greens, but I had 24 putts, so that helps. I had two chip-ins as well, on the last hole, the ninth and on the par-3 fourth. It was a really good day.
“I just took a month’s rest, doing some boxing and then practising in Thailand for two weeks and I went to the LETAS event in Terre Blanche and finished really well. I was a little bit nervous on the first day I arrived here, but it’s great to be back. It’s the start of the season and I feel like, ‘let’s do it’ and I’m really motivated.”
Hall added: “At the start of the day I would have taken three-under, but I’m a little disappointed to have bogeyed the last hole. Klara and I both had 69 and kept spurring each other on.”
Spilková and Hall share the same score as the leading male professional in the Hassan Trophée II on the neighbouring Red Course, Frenchman Gary Stal, as play continues under blue skies.
Meanwhile Moroccan Olympian Haddioui was in the clubhouse after carding a steady round with birdies on the 14th and 16th. She said afterwards: “It was a good round and I’m happy with the start. It was not an incredible round, I missed a lot of birdie opportunities, but I’m happy to start with this score. There was a lot of pressure and I’m expecting a lot from myself this week.”
She explained that the experience of playing with His Royal Highness Prince Moulay Rachid in the Pro-Am helped her to cope with her own high expectations and added that the course changes suit her eye.
“I’m really happy to be playing at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam and the course is unbelievable. It’s so good to be playing at home. They’ve added 19 bunkers so it makes the game more difficult, but for me, it helps me with my aim. I had a hole, 10, which was so wide before that I had a lack of focus on it. Now, having the bunkers, it makes it easier somehow, if you don’t go in the bunkers. There were some holes where you could relax, like the fifth hole, which you can’t anymore. They have brought the water into the fairway. On every hole, you have to be 100 per cent there and that’s what I think is amazing about this course.”
