Kaiyuree Moodley was in a share of first place on eight-under-par after the second round on Tuesday of the Ladies European Tour’s Final Qualifier of Lalla Aicha Q-School at Royal Golf Marrakech and Al Maaden Golf Marrakech.
The amateur South African shared the top spot in the 90-hole marathon with Daniela Darquea of Ecuador at eight-under-par, a stroke ahead of five other players on seven-under.
Moodley had a great second day firing a round of six-under 67 at the par-73 Al Maaden to join Darquea at the top of the leaderboard. The 23-year-old only dropped two shots in her second round making eight birdies to card her score of eight-under.
“It was a great day overall and it was nice to finish on back-to-back birdies,” said Moodley. “I was striking the ball well and I hit the majority of the greens today, which was better than yesterday.
“I was up-and-downing a lot yesterday. Today, I just think I struggled with my lag-putting, and in terms of speed, plus distance control. This made it really tough for two of my putts and hence the two bogeys. However, after I started focusing on speed and not really the line, things started dropping, so it was good.
“Al Maaden and Royal are both great courses. Royal is obviously very tree-lined, which is different from Samanah where I qualified for this, and Samanah is similar to Al Maaden, which is nice. I think they’re both fair tests if you’re driving the ball well and if you’re hitting greens, the scores can be really low.”
The Ecuadorian rolled in a birdie on the fifth at Al Maaden, dropped a shot on the sixth, but made it up with two further birdies on 14 and 16 later in the round. However, after finding the water on the last, Darquea ended the day with a bogey to sign for a score of one-under 72 and be co-leader after 36 holes.
The other South African in the field, Danielle du Toit, signed for a one-under 71 on Royal Golf Marrakech, and, at two-under, was in a share of 34th.
After the fourth round, there is a cut, with the top 65 and ties progressing to the final day. The final round will be played on Al Maaden Golf. The goal for both Moodley and Du Toit is to finish inside the top 20 to ensure full status in the LET next year.
