Joburg Open runner-up Zander Lombard made a promising start to sit near the top of the pack at the Trophee Hassan II on Friday. After compiling a round of 70 on Thursday afternoon, the Pretoria resident enjoyed a productive first nine holes the following morning.
On Friday the world number 260 started on the 10th at the Royal Golf Dar Es Salam and birdied his first hole out. He followed it up with an eagle at the next and went on to bogey the 15th and birdie the last to turn in five-under-par.
A good start to his second loop yielded two birdies and the overall lead before he came to the 16th hole of his round, the par-four seventh. The Woodhill Country club member dropped a shot there and suffered a double bogey immediately after, thereby falling out of the lead. He finished the day with a round of 70 and shared second at four-under-par.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout was the next-best South African at two-under-par, while a few players in the afternoon field were yet to tee off.
After firing rounds of 69 and 70 it was Spain’s Borja Virto Astudillo who held a one-shot lead with his five-under-par total.
