Kathleen leads by one point at the halfway point in the International Series… | kbnmart

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American golfer Jon Catlin, who is seeking his third title in four appearances on the Asian Tour, retained his first place in the $2 million Morocco International Golf Championship today.

The joint first-round leader, Catlin, shot 71-under-par at the Royal Golf Dar Es Salam in Rabat, taking his two-day total to nine-under-par. The performance gave the six-time Asian Tour winner a one-stroke lead over India’s Gaganjit Bhullar (68), Australia’s Travis Smith (69), Japan’s Genichiro Kozuma (70), New Zealand’s Ben Campbell (70) and the Philippines’ Miguel Tabuena (71).

New Zealander Kazuma Kobori, who shared the first-round lead with Catlin, dropped to 77 and is now three under par.

Catlin, the Asian Tour leader and recent winner of the Macau International and Saudi Open, had an eventful back nine, scoring an eagle and birdie on the 18th hole and a three-bogey, but managed to retain his top spot heading into the weekend.

After making his LIV Golf Championship debut, where he finished 24th in Houston and tied for seventh in Nashville, the 33-year-old Catlin is set to compete at Valderrama next week.

Meanwhile, Tabuena finished the tournament strongly with birdies on the final two holes, after finishing fifth at the Kowloon Korea Open two weeks ago.

“Yeah, it was fine, I just wish I was a little sharper.” “Caitlin said.”

“I felt like I was a little bit wrong, but I was able to hold on well, still put in a decent number and stay at the top of the leaderboard. That was important for me in the last round. I felt like I wanted to make four on 18 and be in the final group.”

Zimbabwe’s Scott Vincent and Spain’s Eugenio Chakara are one stroke behind after both shot 71. Vincent faced an unusual challenge when he arrived without his clubs, which were delayed. Despite a penalty for arriving late due to a trip to Casablanca airport to retrieve them, Vincent shot 68 to move two strokes off the lead. Today, Vincent hit a three-bogey on the 10th hole, but recovered with four birdies on the final six holes.

he added: “I just love the game. I love playing. I want to keep playing and I think that’s the beauty of it – there’s always next week, there’s new goals you set, there’s always new heights you try to reach.

“You know, Tiger Woods said, ‘You never reach your destination, it’s like a journey where you never reach your destination.’ Right? You’re always doing well, and I can do a little bit better here. I can do this a little bit better, I can do that a little bit better, and I think that’s the beauty of it.”

He said: “It was good. I knew it was going to be tough today, it was windy and there were some good pins out there. I didn’t start well, but I held myself together and finished well.

“I just kept being patient. I knew there were a lot of gaps left in the round, a lot of gaps left in the next few days, and I just wanted to put myself in a good position to move up the leaderboard.”

“I misjudged my timing of my return (yesterday). We made a wrong turn which made me a few minutes late.” The 2022 international ranking champion said:

“My golf clubs arrived at about 9.30am that morning, so I was there waiting for them. I could see from my Apple tags that they were at the airport, but I couldn’t get to them in time. So yeah, it was hard to leave them knowing I was 20 metres away from them somewhere. But yeah, I had to leave them in order to try to get to tee time, and yeah, I probably left a little bit late.”

After his bad start today he said: “We thought we were over it after yesterday’s game, but yeah, we just tried to adapt to the situation. We tried not to get carried away by the circumstances and played our game, and after that it was really nice and cohesive.”

South African Jaco Ahlers shot his best shot of the season so far, shooting 71 to move four shots off the lead. He also made a stunning shot on the 12th hole, hitting his second shot from 252 yards using a hybrid ball. It was the 28th shot in Asian Tour history and the first in two years.

“It’s so nice to dig that up for the albatross.” Last year’s Mercury Taiwan Masters winner said:

“It’s the first ball I’ve ever had, so I’m very happy. It was a good ball, but it hit it a little bit to the right and the slope helped it, so it was great to see it go in.”

Defending champion Jazz Janwattanawand of Thailand shot 73 for the second time to tie for the championship.