Ireland’s Lawrie leads in Morocco

First round leaderboard: -8 P Lawrie (Ire) -5 R Davies (Wal), S Kapur (Ind), J Bickerton (Eng) -4 J Van Zyl (SA), D Horsey (Eng), M Tullo (Chi), L Saltman (Sco), J Luiten (Ned), G Coetzee (SA), F Oscar (Swe)
Selected others: -3 M Campbell (NZ) -2 D Clarke (NI)

Lawrie is currently ranked 141st in the world

Ireland’s Peter Lawrie shot an eight-under 64 to take a three-shot lead after the first round of the Trophee Hassan II in Morocco.

Lawrie fired two eagles and five birdies on the par-72 Golf du Palais Royal course to head the field.

Welshman Rhys Davies and India’s Shiv Kapur carded five-under 67s on the same course to share second.

With the field split in two, England’s John Bickerton also returned a five-under 66 on the Golf de L’Ocean layout.

Seven players were tied for fifth on four under.

Former US Open champion Michael Campbell, who is without a win since 2005 and a top-10 finish on the European Tour since September 2008, posted a three-under 69.

Lawrie, whose only previous European Tour win came in Spain three years ago, said: “I got off to a great start with an eagle at the 10th hole. After that I played lovely, gave myself lots of chances and made one stupid bogey.

“I think we got very lucky with the draw to be honest. The wind calmed down on the back nine, and the front nine – the windier nine – was when the wind was dying down a bit.”