George Coetzee staged a superb fightback to keep his hopes of qualifying for the Masters alive in the Hassan Trophy at Golf du Palais Royal.
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Coetzee needs to win in Agadir to book a trip to Augusta National for the year’s first major championship in a fortnight’s time, but found himself six shots off the lead after a front nine of 39 yesterday.
However, the South African carded five birdies and one bogey on the back nine to card a 71 and finish six under par, which proved enough to lie just one shot off the lead as the leaders stumbled on the closing stretch.
Scottish pair Richie Ramsay and Andrew McArthur share the lead with France’s Romain Wattel on seven under, with Coetzee part of a seven-strong group which includes former champion David Horsey, Ireland’s Kevin Phelan and Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo.
Coetzee, who won the Tshwane Open on his home course in Pretoria a fortnight ago, said: “I am quite happy. I’m quite surprised the guys haven’t gone lower.
“I’ve been battling away the last couple of days but happy to be in the mix. I made some silly errors, mental errors, but I feel like I am still in a good space so (I’m) happy with the comeback today and hopefully (it) puts me in good stead for tomorrow.
“I’ve got a bit of mental game plan going at the moment and when you make mistakes you focus on doing the mental stuff correct and it kind of takes care of itself.
“The big change came yesterday on the fifth. I hit it left and was going to hack it when my caddie said there’s three par fives on the back nine, let’s take our punishment, take a drop and work from there. That kept reminding me about the back nine so it always keeps you in a good frame of mind.”
England’s Tommy Fleetwood also needs to win to qualify for the Masters, but is five shots off the lead after struggling to a 73 which included a triple-bogey eight on the fifth.