Nuria Iturrios from Spain will take a one-shot lead into the weekend at the Lalla Meryem Cup after carding a two-under-par 71 over the Blue Course on a windy day at Golf Dar Es Salam in Morocco.
Iturrios, 23, from Palma de Mallorca, made three birdies on the front nine and missed a short putt at the par-3 13th to sit at seven-under-par.
The 2016 event champion is a stroke ahead of the first round leader Lina Boqvist, with Eleanor Givens, Camilla Lennarth, Diksha Dagar and Noemi Jimenez Martin four strokes further back.
The shot of the day belonged to Norwegian Mariell Bruun, who made a fantastic hole-in-one on the sixth using a 7-iron.
Germany’s Laura Fuenfstueck sits in seventh position on one-under-par, while Hannah Burke, Maria Hernandez and Order of Merit leader Marianne Skarpnord, who holed her second shot for eagle on the seventh, are tied for eighth on level par.
Ireland’s @leona_maguire on the way to a 2nd round 71 (-2) @TH2CLM #LallaMeryemCup pic.twitter.com/JvYzJnVB6D
— Ladies European Tour (@LETgolf) April 26, 2019
Ireland’s Leona Maguire holed her third shot for eagle on the par-5 11th in a round of two-under-par 71 to share 11th with Christine Wolf and Carly Booth on one-over after 36 holes.
Maguire said: "I didn’t see it go in. I was behind a tree on 11 and had to cut a little wedge around it. I hit a nice shot which went up over the slope and all the guys were clapping up around the green. None of us saw it go in but I got up there and it was in the hole, so it was a nice bonus to start the day.
"It’s not an easy golf course and you don’t have to do a lot wrong to rack up quite a few bogeys. I didn’t play the par 5s well yesterday so I was trying to play them better today.
"I did that for the most part and the eagle obviously helped. Some of the pin positions are not easy if you’re on the wrong side of the slopes and the greens are really firm, especially downwind. I seemed to put myself in a few better spots today and still threw away a few shots but it was nice to be under par today.
"Anything can happen on this golf course. You can get on a run. I got on a run and birdied holes one, two and four. You can pick up shots quickly and you can drop shots quickly: it’s that kind of golf course.
"I don’t think it’s a course where you can go chasing a score. I think you could end up getting burnt quickly. I’ll try to put in two more solid under par rounds and see where it leaves me."
Leona's sister Lisa missed the cut after struggling to an 86.
