Dodd extends lead in day 2 of the MENA Golf Tour’s Royal Golf D’Anfa Open
The weather improved dramatically, but it wasn’t exactly the case with the scoring as Stephen Dodd continued to maintain his position atop the leaderboard going into the final round of the MENA Golf Tour’s Royal Golf D’Anfa Open in Mohammedia on Wednesday.
The joint overnight leader with England’s Dale Marmion, Dodd carded a steady three-under 69 to move to five-under, a good three shots clear of Zane Scotland (England) and Fredrik Quicker of Sweden.
The Moroccan duo of Amin Joudar and Abdelhak Sabi each fired a brilliant five-under 67 — the day’s the best score – to narrow the gap on leaders, but the biggest cheer of the day was reserved for their compatriot Channane Addelali.
The talented amateur earned the distinction of scoring the very first albatross on the MENA Golf Tour, achieving the feat, also called double eagle, on the 433-metre, par-5th, when he holed his seven iron from 152 metres.
With the weather clearing up with bright sunshine throughout the day, the experienced Dodd held centre-stage with another solid effort.
“I struck the ball well, but made a couple of silly mistakes out there and that resulted in disappointing bogeys,” said Dodd, who mixed six birdies with three bogeys.
“Though the weather was fine, the wind – about one-and-a-half club – was a factor and it wasn’t easy to score.
“It always feels nice to go into the final round with a little bit of advantage, but still there are 18 holes to play and anything can happen,” said Dodd, a three-time winner on the European Tour.
Scotland said his was kind of an up-and-down round. I eagled the par-5, seventh and made a few birdies, but just couldn’t keep bogeys off my card,” he said after carding a 70.
“You never know what tomorrow holds, but I try and concentrate of my game and see what happens. I am not putting any undue pressure on me. Whatever is to happen will happen,” said Scotland, the winner of the tour’s opening event Rabat last week.
Overnight leader Marmion signed off with a two-over 74 to slip to sixth place while Scotland’s Duncan Stewart followed his first-round 73 with a 70 to share the third place with England’s Daniel Wardrop on under 143.
Morocco’s Ahmed Marjan carded back-to-back 73 to keep alive his hopes of winning the amateur division. “My game is in good shape and I am learning with every round. It will be great if I can shoot an under par score in the final round,” said Marjan, who won the MENA Tour’s order of merit title in 2011.
The cut was made at 17-over 161 with 52 players, including 11 amateurs, making it to the final round.
A new initiative by the Shaikh Maktoum Golf Foundation, the MENA Golf Tour is supported by Omega and Mercedes-Benz. It is affiliated to the Arab Golf Federation and the R&A – golf’s governing body and boasts a combined prize fund of $ 575,000, including $75,000 for the Tour Championship.
Leading scores after second round (par-72):
139 – Stephen Dodd (Wales) 70 69
142 – Fredrik Quicker (Sweden) 72 70, Zane Scotland (England) 72 70
143 – Duncan Stewart (Scotland) 73 70, Daniel Wardrop (England) 73 70
144 – Dale Marmion (England) 70 74, Amine Joudar (Morocco) 77 67
Ian Keenan (England) 76 68, El Hali Abdelkader 75 69
145 – Matthew Dearden (Wales) 75 70, Greg Snow (Kenya) 73 72
Leading amateurs;
146 – Ahmed Marjan (Morocco) 73 73
149 – Mehdi Saissi (Morocco) 75 74
151 – Jean-Michel Hall (England) 79 72
