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| Lawrie, Round 2 in Rabat - Getty Images |
Lawrie reached the 13th before any loss and was three under par by the halfway mark following his afternoon start. The Dubliner then birdied the tenth to go five under and take a share of second place before the par four thirteenth took its toll. With another birdie at fifteen the run for home was level except for a slip up on the 16th.
"It was a good day and I played solid golf from start to finish," said Peter Lawrie afterwards, "Have good memories of this course from a few years ago and that was a help in some ways."
"But it's still a tough place to scramble a decent score and were only half way through."
"But it's still a tough place to scramble a decent score and were only half way through."
"Yesterday probably didn't get the rub of the green as we had a few chances," continued Lawrie, "But today was different and a few things clicked. So very happy to see the work I have been doing bear fruit."
Kevin Phelan signed for a two over par second round on Friday losing some of the ground gained in round one at the Royal Golf Dar es Salam in Rabat.
There were bogeys on the third and eighth followed by a birdie on the par four seventh to recover a stroke. After the turn the West Waterford man traded a bogey and birdie on his last two holes to end the day with a round of 74.
Gary Hurley ended day four over par and a stroke inside the cut line to earn a weekend stay on =3 overall, after carding a double bogey, four bogeys and two birdies for a total of 76.
Paul Dunne drifted down the leaderboard with a four over par 76 on a day which saw the Greystones man open with a birdie - only to lose it on the second hole – with another dropped shot on the par four 16th. A mixed patch on the run for the clubhouse saw Dunne exchange bogeys and birdies with the 16th then damaging his day’s work when he double bogeyed.
Cormac Sharvin shot 78 on Friday to miss the cut after a double bogey on the par 5 eighteenth followed 6 dropped shots – with only two birdies to limit the damage.
Michael Hoey suffered in Rabat with three double bogeys. The first of which was on the 12th followed by the 16th and 18th. A round of 79 the final result with another two dropped strokes despite birdies on his first, fifth and fifteenth holes.
Rory McNamara teed off in the afternoon and was well outside the running from the outset but battled through day two despite eight bogeys and only one birdie on the par five fifth. However, a double bogey at 17 and then a triple on the last saw him signing for a second round of 84
He will miss the cut along with Sharvin and Hoey.
Francesco Laporta will take a one-shot lead into the weekend his round of 70 on the tough Red Course at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam.
The Italian rookie came into day two with a share of the lead at four under and followed his opening 68 with another impressive effort to move a shot ahead of Australia's Jason Scrivener, Spaniard Borja Virto Astudillo and South Korea's Jeunghun Wang.
Laporta claimed the 15th card at Qualifying School in November but made just one of his first six cuts on the European Tour in 2016 and played in the Challenge de Madrid on the Challenge Tour last week.
The 25-year-old finished in a tie for fourth in the Spanish capital and admitted after his opening round that that had served as a major confidence boost, and he carried that confidence into Friday's play.
Virto Astudillo had set the clubhouse target at five under in the morning but Laporta soon moved past that with birdies on the tenth and 12th. A bogey on the 13th was followed by a double on the 14th but he then made three birdies in four holes to turn in 35 and take the lead.
Another gain on the second opened up a two-shot lead and he then missed birdie chances in a run of five pars before a missed short par putt on the eighth saw him drop to six under.
"It's going to be exciting at the weekend," he said. "It should be a great experience and I'm looking forward to it.
"It was just a really solid display and I enjoyed it."
Earlier, back-to-back birdies on the 14th and 15th saw Virto Astudillo hit the top of the leaderboard early but he gave those shots back with bogeys on the first and the third. He then bounced back with a long putt for birdie on the fifth and another gain on the seventh handed him a 70.
Scrivener ground out a round of 71 with three birdies and two bogeys as he goes in the hunt for a first European Tour title, with just two previous winners in the top ten.
Wang turned in 34 and then kick-started his round with a monster birdie putt on the 11th as he picked up three shots in four holes before a bogey-birdie finish in his 68.
American Daniel Im, and South African Zander Lombard were then at four under, a single shot clear of Englishman Gary King and France's Adrien Saddier.
Im also recorded a 69 with four birdies, while Lombard had got to seven under in his round before he dropped three shots in his last three holes and had to settle for a 70.
Saddier opened with an eagle on the tenth but could not maintain that pace in a 72, while King had four birdies in a round of 70.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Nacho Elvira, Scott Henry, José-Filipe Lima, Kristopher Mueck, Jack Senior and Joshua White were then all at two under, with just 24 players under par.
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