Joy takes early lead in Casablanca

Dubai: Luke Joy shrugged off early season blues to fire a bogey-free five-under 66 to seize early momentum going into the second round of the Mena Tour’s Palmeraie Country Club Casablanca Open on Tuesday.

The Englishman picked up four birdies in his last five holes after making the turn at one-under to go two clear of his compatriots Lee Corfield and Jordan Loft and Sweden’s Henric Sturehed, on a day when 20 players broke par.

Spain’s Carlos Balmaseda and England’s Joshua White, the winner of the Mena Tour’s Order of Merit title in 2014, were tied for fifth, a further shot adrift in a nine-man group that also included Englishman Benjamin David, who was making his professional debut.

“It was a solid day from tee to green,” said Joy, a two-time winner on tour. “It’s a fairly new course, but actually it’s quite good and fair. The greens are just fantastic and they rolled very well. Had great fun out there. Also, the weather was quite good,”

Corfield, a four-time winner on the tour, had a mixed performance, making eight birdies, three bogeys and a double bogey in his opening 68 while Sturehed almost kept it clean, offsetting a bogey on the seventh with four birdies in his last 11 holes.

“It was kind of an up-and-down round. Made lots of birdies and bogeys. I may have left some shots out there, but can’t complain after opening with a 68,” said Corfield.

“There are plenty of scoring opportunities out there if you can drive the ball well off the tee and avoid bunkers. The greens are just excellent,” he added.

Netherland’s Pierre Junior Verlaar carded a 72 to lead the amateur division, one shot ahead of Morocco’s Ayoub Saidi and two off fellow Moroccan Amine El Kharraz.

Home players also made their presence felt in the Mena Division, with Mustapha El Maouas hitting the front after signing for one-under 70 as Younes El Hassani and Faycal Serghini shared second on level par.

Among the notables, England’s Zane Scotland, a 10-time winner on the Mena Tour, returned a 74 while Danny Poulter, the elder brother of European Ryder Cup hero Ian, shot a 72 and India’s Feroz Singh Garewal, who graduated from the Mena Tour’s Qualifying School last week, carded a level-par 71.

The 2016 Mena Tour champion Craig Hinton left himself with plenty of work to do after opening with an eight-over 79 that left him in a tie for 78th place. The Englishman dropped all the shots in his first 10 holes, including a triple-bogey on the par-three, seventh.