El Jadida: Florian Praegant followed up an opening 68 with a second day’s 69 to maintain a lead of seven under par in the El Jadida Championship — round two of the 19-stage Mena Golf Tour — on Tuesday.
The 32-year-old Austrian, who is chasing his first win on tour, finished his second round with back-to-back birdies to go two strokes clear of second-placed Andrew Marshall of England, who backed up his opening 70 with a 69 to go five under.
“I am very happy with a 69,” said Praegant, whose previous best finish on tour is second at last year’s Dubai Creek Open. “I hit some very good shots out there. My short game really kept me going as I made some good up-and-down pars and also holed some long putts, which was good.
“The conditions were a bit different. It wasn’t that windy except for a couple of holes coming down the stretch and it helped. Finishing strongly with two birdies in a row was the certainly the high point of my round.
“You never know what tomorrow [Wednesday’s final round] holds, but the thinking is to stay focused on every shot and see what happens.”
Second-placed Marshall is five strokes clear of a three-man group on level par including Morocco’s Faycal Serghini.
Serghini did well to recover from an opening 75 with a second day’s 69 and now leads the Mena division for professionals by three strokes over his compatriot Younus Al Hassani, who is three over for the tournament with 77, 70.
Fellow Moroccan Jamal Allali, leads the amateur division after back-to-back 75s on six over, two shots clear of compatriot Yassine Touhami, who has carded 72, 80 to sit eight over.
Elsewhere, England’s Zane Scotland, who won the Mena Golf Tour opener in Mohammedia, Morocco, last week, added a 72 to an earlier 76 to sit four over par.
