Ayoub Lguirati gladdened the hearts of home fans as he used his immense local knowledge and moved to the top of the leaderboard at the halfway stage of the US$125,000 Morocco Rising Stars Marrakech, the first of the two Asian Development Tour (ADT) events being played in the country.

The 31-year-old Lguirati overcame back-to-back bogeys early in his round to post a solid round of six-under par 66 to move to 11-under total, where he was joined by American Varun Chopra with a similar score, but one that featured an eagle and was bogey-free.

India’s Khalin Joshi shot a sparkling nine-under 63 to match the course record. He could have easily broken it as he made a last-hole bogey after playing the first 17 holes to 10-under par.

The bogey on the 18th also denied Joshi a share of the lead, but he was alone in third place at 10-under, while overnight leader, Thailand’s Varanyu Rattanaphiboonkij, only added a one-over par 73 round to his  Thursday outing of 63 and slipped to a five-way tie for fourth place at eight-under.

Varun Chopra of the USA. Picture by Paul Lakatos/Asian Tour.

The cut fell at two-under par 142 and 55 players, including amateur Ayoub Ssouadi, progressed to the weekend.

Lguirati, who will be looking to improve on his career best ADT finish of tied fourth (at 2024 Toyota Tour Championship), said he knew he had to take advantage of playing in calmer morning conditions.

“I have been playing at this club for the past couple of years. The course, and the staff, is just amazing. I knew the conditions would be much easier in the morning with the greens being receptive and the wind being calm. I was having difficulty stopping my wedges on the greens when I played in the afternoon on Thursday,” said Lguirati, who started from the 10th tee.

“I was happy with the eight birdies I made, but the one on the par-3 17th was special, because I had made back-to-back bogeys on the 14th and 15th. I hit a 5-iron to about 15 feet and made that putt. It was important because it helped me get back into the round and I made three birdies in a row on the first to third holes.”

Chopra started from the 10th tee, and turned a solid bogey-free round of four-under after 17 holes into a spectacular round of 66 with an eagle on the par-5 ninth hole.

Khalin Joshi of India. Picture by Thananuwat Srirasant/Asian Tour

Joshi was a bit perplexed that his drive on the 18th hole travelled 320 yards and finished right up the fairway bunker wall after going through the fairway. He had to come out in the fairway and did not hit the best chip from 40 yards to make the only bogey of his round.

“I’m very happy with the way I played today. I was very solid from tee-to-green,” said Joshi, a winner on the Asian Tour.

“I think we got the harder side of the draw yesterday – it was pretty windy – and I felt I left a lot of shots out there. But I did manage to capitalise today as conditions in the morning were pretty gettable.

“I had no idea that 10-under was the course record. I hit a solid drive on the 18th, exactly where I planned to hit it, and it just ran through the fairway into the wall of the fairway bunker. I just had to hack it out at made a bogey. If you gave it to me at the start of the day, I would have taken the nine under for sure.”

Apart from the winner’s cheque, the champion this week will almost be assured one of the two invitations up for grabs for the US$2 million International Series Morocco, which will be played from July 3-6. The two leading players from an aggregate money list from the two Morocco ADT events (not otherwise exempt) will earn the invitations.

Varanyu Rattanaphiboonkij, no stranger to success on the Asian Development Tour, put himself in pole position for a third Tour title after the opening round of $125,000 Morocco Rising Stars Marrakech, the first of the two Moroccan events being played at the Samanah Golf Club.

The 28-year-old Thai star won the Combiphar Players Championship in 2018, and then went low in all three rounds at the 2022 Aramco Invitational. On Thursday, he once again showed his penchant for making birdies in a bunch when he made nine in a bogey-free round of nine-under par 63, matching the course record at the Jack Nicklaus-designed Samanah Golf Club.

Canadian Stephen Ames also shot a 63 during the 2020 Morocco Champions, an event on the Champions Tour.

Despite going low, Varanyu was ahead only by one shot, as exciting young Filipino star Aidric Chan made four birdies on both nines of the golf course to be just one behind the leader.

The English duo of Matt Killen and Finlay Mason, and Malaysia’s Shahriffuddin Ariffin were tied third at six-under 66.

Morocco’s Ayoub Lguirati, who finished tied fourth at last year’s Toyota Tour Championship, was best placed among the local stars in the field. Without dropping any shots, the 31-year-old finished on five-under 67, tied sixth with six other players.

Aldric Chan of the Philippines. Picture by Jason Butler/Asian Tour.

“Very happy with my round today. Never missed anything. I played well all the way until I finished. I just tried to keep it simple, tried to enjoy my game, enjoy the weather and just laughed a lot through the round,” said Varanyu, who started his round from the first and was five-under par at the turn with four straight birdies from the sixth to ninth holes.

“I like the golf course. It is a lot of fun. So, I am happy to match the course record in my first time playing in Morocco.

“My favourite hole on the golf course is the ninth (537-yard, par-5), because I think I have a chance of making an eagle there.”

Chan, who is fifth in the ADT Order of Merit after winning the Lexus Challenge earlier this year, started with a birdie and picked up shots on each of the four par-5s on the golf course.

“I played the course fairly steady in terms making birdies one at a time. Like I really did not try to force anything out there. Was very happy a lot of the putts kind of went in for me and even made a couple putts from off the green,” said Chan, who represented University of Arizona when in college.

“This golf course reminds me a bit about the courses we had in Arizona. The desert, the bunkers and definitely the greens, are like what we get in Arizona. The heat is very similar, too.”

Indonesia’s Peter Gunawan made his first hole-in-one in a competitive round when he aced the par-3 eighth hole, en route to a one-under par 71 effort.

“It was brutal and into the wind. It was playing about 178 yards. All I was thinking was, as long as I keep it left of the pin, the wind is going to push it back in. Hit a 5-iron, keep it about 30 feet left of the pin and see what happens,” said the 29-year-old Gunawan, who will be looking to make his first top-10 finish on the Asian Development Tour.

“I’m kind of blind, and I did not see it go in. My playing partner saw it and I was like, ‘Nah, it can’t be’. I went to the toilet, and when I came out, that was a happy little surprise.”

Apart from the winner’s cheque, the champion this week will almost be assured one of the two invitations up for grabs for the US$2 million International Series Morocco, which will be played from July 3-6. The two leading players from an aggregate money list from the two Morocco ADT events (not otherwise exempt) will earn the invitations.