American golfer John Catlin, aiming for his third title in four starts on the Asian Tour, held onto his lead in the US$2 million International Series Morocco. Catlin, the joint first-round leader, shot a two-under-par 71 on the Red Course at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam in Rabat, bringing his two-day total to nine-under. This performance gave the six-time Asian Tour winner a one-stroke lead over India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar (68), Australia’s Travis Smyth (69), Japan’s Jinichiro Kozuma (70), New Zealand’s Ben Campbell (70), and the Philippines’ Miguel Tabuena (71). New Zealand’s Kazuma Kobori, who shared the first-round lead with Catlin, slipped back with a 77 and is now three under.
Catlin, the Asian Tour Order of Merit leader and recent winner of the International Series Macau and Saudi Open, experienced an eventful back nine with an eagle, a birdie on 18, and three bogeys but managed to retain his top position heading into the weekend. Fresh from his debut on the LIV Golf League, where he finished joint 24th in Houston and tied for seventh in Nashville, the 33-year-old Catlin is set to compete at Valderrama next week. Tabuena, meanwhile, finished strong with birdies on the last two holes, following up his fifth-place finish at the Kolon Korea Open two weeks ago.
“Yeah, it was okay, I just would have liked to have been a little bit sharper,” said Catlin. “It just felt a little bit off, but I was able to hang in there well, and you know I still posted a decent number and stayed on top of that leaderboard. That was important to me coming down the last. I was like, ‘I want to make a four on 18 and be in that final group’.”
Zimbabwe’s Scott Vincent, accompanied by Spaniard Eugenio Chacarra, is one stroke further back after both shot 71. Vincent faced an unusual challenge as he arrived without his clubs, which were delayed. Despite a penalty for arriving late due to a trip to Casablanca airport to retrieve his clubs, Vincent shot a 68 to sit two off the lead. Today, with his own clubs, he triple-bogeyed the par-four 10th but recovered with four birdies in his last six holes.
He added: “I just I love the game. I love to play. I want to keep playing and you know, 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’re trying to get to. “You know, Tiger Woods said it, he’s like ‘you never really arrive, it’s like a journey where you never really get there’. Right? Like, you’re always okay, I can be 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, the winds were swirling and there were some good pins there. I didn’t get off to a good start, but I held in there and finished pretty well. “I just continued to stay patient you know. I knew that there were a lot of holes left in the round, and a lot of holes left in the next few days, and I just wanted to put myself in a good position to move up the leaderboard.”
“I misjudged the timing coming back (yesterday). We made one wrong turn and that put me a few minutes behind,” said the 2022 International Series Rankings champion. “My clubs had arrived at about 9.30 that morning, so I was there waiting for them. I could see with my Apple tags that they were in the airport, but I just couldn’t get to them in time. So yeah, it was hard letting them go knowing that I was within 20 metres of them somewhere. But yeah, I had to leave them in order to try and make the tee time and yeah, maybe left a little too late.”
After his poor start today he said: “Kind of thought we were over that after yesterday, but yeah, it was just trying to get into the rhythm. Tried to not get caught up in the circumstances and just play your game, and yeah, after that it was actually really nice and solid.”
South African Jaco Ahlers made the shot of the season so far, carding a 71 to sit four off the lead. He achieved a spectacular albatross on the par-five 12th, holing his second shot from 252 yards with a hybrid. This marks the 28th albatross in the history of the Asian Tour and the first in two years.
“That’s pretty nice to hole that for an albatross,” said last year’s winner of the Mercuries Taiwan Masters. “It’s the first one I’ve ever had, so pretty happy. It was a good number, just hit it a little bit too far right and the slope helped it out, so it was nice to see it going in.”
Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond, the defending champion, carded his second 73 and is even for the tournament.
