Ecuador’s Daniela Darquea fired a round of 65 (-7) at Royal Golf Marrakech to sit at the top of the leaderboard at the end of the first day of the Final Qualifier of Lalla Aicha Q-School.
Darquea began her day from the 10th tee and started with a birdie before making further birdies on 14 and 17.
The Ecuadorian then had a phenomenal nine holes, rolling in four more birdies on the second, fourth, sixth and eighth to be seven-under-par after day one.
“It was a really good round, I was really good off the tee,” said the Olympian. “I think this course is very challenging off the tee. It’s very narrow, so that was a big advantage. I feel like I hit my irons pretty good, pretty close and I had really good opportunities for birdie.
“It’s hard from the tee. It was very hard. I have to hit a low draw with my driver most of the times and I don’t hit it like that!
“My usual shot is just a fade off the tee, so it’s obviously something I’ve had to adapt to, but I think it’s a really good course. I really enjoy being very patient and disciplined on this course.
“I have a local caddie. He is really awesome and cool. I don’t understand a word he says, but with sign language we’ve been doing really good.
“Tomorrow it’s a very different golf course, I think off the tee I’m going to be a little bit more relaxed, but still, we have to keep doing what we’re doing with the irons and hopefully play good.”
Spain’s Blanca Fernandez and Italy’s Anna Zanusso sit in a share of second on -6 just one shot behind the leader.
The duo, who both played in the same group at Al Maaden Golf Marrakech, fired opening rounds of 67 (-6).
Fernandez made her first birdie on the 12th before dropping her only shot of the day on the next hole.
However, the Spaniard soon rolled in four birdies on the trot between holes 17 and two before adding further birdies on the fifth and seventh holes to seal a solid start.
“It’s been a really good day, I started decent and then I started making good distances and good shots, and then I made the putts,” said Fernandez.
“On a couple of the birdies, I hit the driver in the middle of the fairway and then we had the exact distances to the flag, so I was like okay, that’s perfect. So that’s how it went and I would putt it from two metres or one.”
The 23-year-old has an experienced caddie on her bag with Carlota Ciganda’s former caddie Alvaro Alonso helping her out.
She added: “I’m going to approach tomorrow like today. I’m just going to play round by round and try to make the best shots. We’ll see by the last day how it all goes. Alvaro’s on my bag this week, he has caddied for Carlota so I’m in good hands.”
Zanusso, who also began from the 10th hole, had a colourful scorecard with two eagles, four birdies and two bogeys to her name.
“It’s been a great day playing with Blanca, gave me some extra fire to make more birdies and then two eagles with the hole on 18 was great,” said the Italian. “A good way to finish the day.
“I feel great that I hit every single green today. It’s definitely building my confidence, as Blanca said, it’s a long week so you just have to play day by day, hole by hole, and that’s all.
“I haven’t had any days off the last few days. I just wanted to practice as much as possible but also taking rest where I can.
“Tomorrow’s course is very different. I feel like tee shots are very important. I’m going to hit some more three woods rather than driver, and then many wedges, so you can really be aggressive. Strategy is important. Hit the fairway, green and then hopefully make some more putts.”
Irish amateur Canice Screene is in outright fourth place having produced a round of 68 (-5) around Al Maaden.
The 23-year-old, who is currently studying for a master’s at University College London, was bogey-free rolling in birdies on the first, fifth, sixth, 14th and 17th holes.
“That’s the first time ever I have been bogey-free! I started off with a birdie which was nice and then I finally rolled some putts in,” said Screene.
“They were almost there last week, so it was nice to have them finally go in. I holed a couple of good par putts to keep the momentum going, but overall, it was pretty steady.
“My dad is my caddie – he’s the best! I love having him as my caddie, we work really well together. I do most things myself so he’s there for the conversation and to make sure the clubs are clean. He’s great.
“Even though it’s seemingly tight [at Royal], I don’t think it’s too bad. I have played courses that are worse. You can be as aggressive with your approach shots and the greens aren’t incredibly quick, so I’m going to try and do the same thing.”
Eight players are one shot further back in a share of fifth place on four-under-par with English duo Meghan MacLaren and Ellen Hume and Ireland’s Sara Byrne all carding 68 (-4) at Royal Golf Marrakech.
Meanwhile, Denmark’s Cecilie Finne-Ipsen, Spanish duo Amaia Latorre and Marta Perez, England’s Thalia Martin and Australia’s Kelsey Bennett all produced rounds of 69 (-4) at Al Maaden.
MacLaren, who is a three-time LET winner, had five birdies and one bogey on her scorecard for her round of 68 (-4).
“It’s difficult, when you’ve been on Tour for a while, I think it’s natural to be a bit more nervous whenever you come to a course like this because you see more trouble than you do when you first come out,” said MacLaren.
“But at the same time my game is in a really good place and I feel I’ve really taken care of a lot of things over the past month or two. It’s just a case of going out there and trusting the work that I’ve been doing. It was there today.”
Ireland’s Byrne got off to an exceptional start at Royal with six birdies on her front nine including three on the trot between holes seven and nine.
Despite a trickier back nine where she dropped two shots, the 23-year-old was still happy with her day.
“Obviously, I went through the first nine holes six-under,” said Byrne, “Just everything was solid, I was hitting fairways, and it was hitting fairly close.
“I didn’t have too many long putts for birdie either, which was really nice, so I was just hitting really solid. I slowed up a little bit on the back nine, but honestly it was just a three-putt and not an up-and-down, everything else was really solid out there.”
The second round begins at 9.30 am (local time) with the players teeing it up on the opposite course to the first round.
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