Daniela Darquea and Kaiyuree Moodley sit in a share of first place on eight-under-par after the first two days of the Final Qualifier of Lalla Aicha Q-School.
At the start of the day, Darquea held a one-shot lead after her first round at Royal Golf Marrakech in Morocco.
The Ecuadorian rolled in a birdie on the fifth at Al Maaden Golf Marrakech, dropped a shot on the sixth, but made it up with two further birdies on 14 and 16 later in the round.
However, after finding the water on the last, Darquea ended the day with a bogey to sign for a score of 72 (-1) and be co-leader after 36 holes.
“I think I had a very slow day,” she said. “I don’t know, for some reason I didn’t make any putts at the beginning of the round. But it’s just a matter of staying patient. I know the tournament is very long.
“[Al Maaden] is very different. I don’t know if I played as good – obviously the scores are very different. This course has more birdie chances, so I know over the next few days I can score pretty good.
“At tomorrow’s course, Royal, you have to be a little more patient and disciplined. That’s what I did yesterday, and it worked out pretty good. Same again tomorrow.
“Finishing last week in Alabama, I really wanted to give myself another playing opportunity. I think this tour is really good. This Tour goes to really interesting places. It has really cool people and good players. We’ll see what happens. Hopefully I can get some status.”
South African amateur Moodley had a great second day firing a round of 67 (-6) at Al Maaden to join Darquea at the top of the leaderboard.
The 23-year-old only dropped two shots in her second round making eight birdies to card a score of eight-under.
“It was a great day overall and it was nice to finish on back-to-back birdies,” said Moodley. “I was striking the ball well and I hit the majority of the greens today, which was better than yesterday.
“I was up-and-downing a lot yesterday. Today, I just think I struggled with my lag-putting, and in terms of speed, plus distance control. This made it really tough for two of my putts and hence the two bogeys. However, after I started focusing on speed and not really the line, things started dropping, so it was good.
“[Al Maaden and Royal] are both great courses. Royal is obviously very tree-lined, which is different from Samanah, and Samanah is similar to Al Maaden, which is nice. I think they’re both fair tests if you’re driving the ball well and if you’re hitting greens, the scores can be really low.”
Five players are in share of third place with Germany’s Polly Mack, Irish amateur Canice Screene, India’s Avani Pashanth, Spain’s Blanca Fernandez and Thailand’s Supamas Sangchan all on seven-under-par.
Mack, who was a co-medallist at LET Q-School in 2022, had a bogey-free day rolling in six birdies for her round of 67 at Al Maaden.
“Today was just about taking advantage of the par-5s and kind of taking advantage of the course as well, and I’d say that’s what I did,” said the German.
“It was just a smooth round overall. I played solid yesterday, I just had one little mistake that kind of cost me a little bit. But I bounced back well, and it was smooth riding.
“With this course, there was nothing really in my way off the tee. I was able to take advantage of that. I made a couple putts here and there. I hit three out five par-5s in two, which gave me two putts for birdies.
“The emotions are definitely more chill [because I’ve been here before]. I have an amazing caddie, Chichi! She used to be a player and she’s amazing. She kept me calm and we had good conversations. We had fun.”
Irish amateur Screene had another solid day on the golf course carding a 70 (-2) which included four birdies at Royal to be in T3.
“It’s just so different at this course,” said Screene. “I think visually is the biggest thing. I was trying to remind myself it’s not as tight as it looks, it just looks a lot worse. But actually, I pretty much hit most fairways, I just didn’t hole as many putts today. It’s tough, the courses are just so different, so adjusting is hard.
“I’m really happy. I’m hitting the ball nicely and when the putts go in, the scores have been low. I’m just going to try and keep doing the same thing and hopefully, more putts will roll in tomorrow.
“I was more nervous about coming here [to Royal] just because this was so different. Noria and Al Maaden are kind of similar, then coming here, it was so different. But I’m a lot less threatened now after playing it today because I think I realize it’s just all in your head. It looks so narrow, but it isn’t. I definitely feel a bit more relaxed in the next two rounds.”
India’s Prashanth, who won on the LET Access Series in 2023, also had a good day firing a 69 (-4) at Al Maaden which included an eagle and four birdies.
“I think I did great on the par-5s today,” said the 18-year-old. “I think I was six-under on the par-5s. I lost a couple of shots on two of the par 3s, but that’s okay, so I’m just really happy with the way I played. I’m looking forward to the rest of the week.
“Yes, the eagle was definitely the highlight today. I hit five-wood from about 230 and then held a 25-footer for eagle so it was pretty nice.
“I really like both courses. I think here it’s just like driver everywhere, which is quite fun. But also, I like the other course too, because it’s a lot of thinking involved for every shot, which is what I like to play, and even back home, I play a lot of tree line golf courses.
“Like my coach said, it’s a marathon, so that’s what I keep reminding myself anytime I’m getting frustrated, so trying to keep that at the back of my mind throughout these rounds.”
Five players are in a tie for eighth place with Argentinian amateur Ela Anacona, Spain’s Teresa Toscano, Dutch player Mayka Hoogeboom, Germany’s Verena Gimmy and French amateur Vanessa Bouvet all on six-under-par.
The third round begins at 9.30 am (local time) on Wednesday with the players switching courses once again.
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