Anne-Lise Caudal and Zuzana Kamasova were locked in a tie for the lead at the halfway stage of the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco.
Caudal posted six birdies, two bogeys and a double-bogey in a round of 70 to move to five under par, while Kamasova was bogey-free after two rounds and carded four birdies for a 68 on another stifling day at Golf du Soleil in Agadir.
Both played in the easier afternoon conditions, after the morning’s howling winds had died down. They currently lead by three over Caroline Masson of Germany, who played on the other side of the draw.
Kamasova, from Slovakia, is leading a Ladies European Tour event for the first time and said: “This is a very new position for me so I’m going to try to stick to the game plan and play one shot at a time and just keep it simple.”
Her round was the lowest of the day. “It was another bogey-free round for me, which hasn’t happened for many, many years, so I was just trying to hit the fairways and hit the greens, not necessarily go for the greens and when I had the chance, I put the putts in.”
The 2008 Portugal Ladies Open champion Caudal is gunning for a second Ladies European Tour victory and she said: “Today was a bit up and down because of the wind but I made some really good pars and then I hit some good shots to make some birdies so I’m pretty happy with the score.
“My driving was better today and the second shots up and down were better yesterday. My putting is good and my chipping so I’m going to keep going with my short game. I’m leading so it’s pretty good and I’m going to try to lead tomorrow again and try to win this tournament.”
First round leader Kristie Smith was tied for the lead after 12 holes but took a quadruple bogey eight on the par-four 15th hole and shot a 78.
“It was pretty average. I didn’t play very well at all,” explained Smith. “I stayed patient all day but didn’t hole any putts and was two over through 14 holes. I had a bad hole on 15 and there’s your six over.
“I skulled a wedge back right, took a penalty and took four to get back in the hole, but there’s only five shots in it so we’ve still got two rounds to go.”
Maha Haddioui, the only Moroccan in the field, continued to impress on her home course, adding a level par 72 to her opening 74 to share 10th place on two over par.
“I putted way better today. I had like, 11 putts on the second nine, which is really good, so I’m happy about that,” said Haddioui, who hit her first golf balls on the range at the course. “I didn’t expect to see so many people following and I just loved it.”
She will hope to give her followers even more reason to cheer with her aim a top-ten finish on Sunday night.
