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Rabat - Four players shared the lead after the opening round of the Trophee Hassan II on Thursday but on a day of tough conditions, 52 players ended up within three shots of the top of the leaderboard.
Lucas Bjerregaard of Denmark, French duo Gregory Havret and Gary Stal and England's James Morrison all carded three-under par rounds of 70 to open up a one-shot lead.
Morrison has five top-25 finishes in six events this season and turned in 34 from the tenth with birdies on his opener, the 12th, 15th and 18th and a bogey on the 16th at the challenging Royal Golf Dar Es Salam.
A birdie on the fifth gave him the outright lead but Morrison gave the shot back on the next.
"It's a proper, good golf course which is fantastic to play," the Englishman told www.europeantour.com.
"You've got to be on your game, hit it straight, if you do get it in trouble you've got to get out of trouble well and I think had a mix of playing well today, hitting the right shots at the right time, and scrambling pretty well, too."
Gregory Bourdy, Clement Sordet, Alexander Levy, Trevor Fisher, Dylan Frittelli, Jaco Van Zyl, Edoardo Molinari, Pelle Edberg and Max Orrin were all at two under for the day.
Leading first round scores in the European Tour Trophee Hassan II at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam, Rabat, Morocco on Thursday (GBR/IRL unless stated, par 73):
70 - Lucas Bjerregaard (DEN), Gary Stal (FRA), James Morrison, Gregory Havret (FRA)
71 - Clement Sordet (FRA), Max Orrin, Jaco van Zyl (RSA), Pelle Edberg (SWE), Alexander Levy (FRA), Gregory Bourdy (FRA), Dylan Frittelli (RSA), Edoardo Molinari (ITA), Trevor Fisher jnr (RSA)
72 - Ben Evans, Mikko Ilonen (FIN), Sebastian Heisele (GER), Matteo Manassero (ITA), Scott Jamieson, Aaron Rai, Pablo Larrazabal (ESP), Robert Rock, Duncan Stewart, Jeff Winther (DEN), Alejandro Canizares (ESP), Thomas Detry (BEL), Mike Lorenzo-Vera (FRA), Anton Karlsson (SWE), Matthieu Pavon (FRA), Stuart Manley, David Drysdale, Richard S Johnson (SWE), Romain Wattel (FRA), Mark Foster, Nino Bertasio (ITA)
73 - Jens Fahrbring (SWE), Rafael Echenique (ARG), Johan Edfors (SWE), Renato Paratore (ITA), Adrien Saddier (FRA), Sebastian Soderberg (SWE), Paul Dunne, Eddie Pepperell, Nacho Elvira (ESP), Adrian Otaegui (ESP), Julien Quesne (FRA), Daniel Brooks, David Howell, David Horsey, Ashley Chesters, Jens Dantorp (SWE), Victor Dubuisson (FRA), Jordan Smith
74 - Richard Bland, Richie Ramsay, Matthew Nixon, Paul Waring, Damien
Perrier (FRA), Daniel Im (USA), Jorge Campillo (ESP), Mikko Korhonen
(FIN), Raphael Jacquelin (FRA), Lee Slattery, Anthony Wall, Ricardo
Gonzalez (ARG), Laurie Canter, Chris Hanson
