Fernanda Lira produced a round of 71 (-1) on the second day of the Final Qualifier Marrakech to sit at the top of the leaderboard on 12-under-par.
The Mexican player carded a women’s course record at Al Maaden on day one and headed over to Royal Golf De Marrakech.
Lira opened her round with a birdie on the 10th before making back-to-back bogeys on 13 and 14, but she bounced back with a birdie on 17.
The 28-year-old then rolled in three more birdies and two bogeys on her back nine to seal a round of one-under and hold a one-shot lead.
“I really like this tree-lined course, it reminds me a lot of home in Mexico,” said Lira. “It was nice, it was a lot more challenging.
“Obviously, when you get into difficult situations – on this course especially around the green because there’s a lot more rough – it’s a lot more difficult to get it back into a good position or give yourself a good chance.
“I did have a couple of times where I went around the green, but it’s good. I enjoyed it and I really like the challenge and I like the contrast between both courses because I feel like you have to be on game on every hole.
“Overall, I have been putting really good. That’s the strong part of my game. I had some wedges that I hit good, but I think off the tee you have to be solid, and I think that’s something that on this course it is something that is asked of every player so I think that helped today to be a better round.
“I look forward to going back to Al Maaden and making as many birdies as possible again. That’s a really fun course where you can really go low. I am looking forward to that and then being a little bit more consistent and working a bit more on my short game for this course for the fourth round.”
Two players sit in a tie for second place with Spain’s Luna Sobron Galmes and Nataliya Guseva both on 11-under-par.
Sobron followed up her opening round of 65 (-8) at Al Maaden with a 69 (-3) at Royal on day two in Morocco.
The Spanish player had dropped shots on the ninth and 12th holes but rolled in birdies on six, eight, 14, 15 and 18.
“A different course,” said the Spaniard. “You have to keep the ball straight, it’s stressful! But I was playing really good from the tee shots and I made a lot of putts. I’m very happy with the round, three-under on this course is amazing.
“Yesterday, I was talking with Alvaro [caddie] and we saw the best score was five-under and the second best was three-under. I was talking with him about being patient and staying calm and the opportunities will come.
“I think I’m going to play the same way tomorrow and try to keep the ball straight. I’m not going to change the strategy because I have to play at Royal again, so I will keep the strategy the same.”
While Guseva, who was playing at Al Maaden, began her round with three birdies in the first four holes before dropping a shot on the fifth.
The 20-year-old made a birdie on the seventh but dropped another shot on the ninth, however, she then made an eagle on 13 and back-to-back birdies on 15 and 16 to finish with a flourish for a round of 67 (-6).
“I was trying to take today hole by hole, shot by shot again,” said Guseva. “Continue that rhythm that I had yesterday.
“I’m one of the longest hitters which is definitely a very big advantage. Whenever my putter is also hot, I can play some very good rounds. I hope this continues.
“The courses are very different. Here, the fairways are like an airport, you can land it wherever! Both courses are a good test.
“It’s been a long season with the Epson Tour and Q-Series on the LPGA. But honestly, I’m not that tired. I had a month of rest and although it’s kind of crazy, I’ve got a lot of confidence. It’s always been my dream to come to LET because my junior golf was always here in Europe.”
Slovenia’s Ana Belac sits in outright fourth place on the leaderboard on 10-under-par after shooting a round of two-under 70 at Royal.
“I was three-over after seven holes,” said Belac. “I just needed a little time to adjust. The greens are very different, it’s so much narrower and you have to adjust to the visuals a little bit. I was struggling on the first few holes. I told myself to keep being patient because there’s some wider holes coming up and I had it going better on the back nine.
“[On her eagle on the eighth hole] I hit my second shot to just by the green and then I had a 35m pitch and I pitched it in. It was nice to see the ball go in! I just had one hole left but it’s still nice. You don’t hole out shots very often and I did it twice in two days – it’s definitely fun.”
India’s Pranavi Urs and Singapore amateur Shannon Tan both fired rounds of 68 (-4) at Royal to move up to a share of fifth place on nine-under-par.
Four players are in a tie for seventh place with Thailand’s Onnarin Sattayabanphot and Aunchisa Utama, Sweden’s Corinne Viden, and Spain’s Teresa Toscano all on seven-under-par.
The third round begins at 9.30 am (local time) with the players switching courses again
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