O'Neal two clear

American Tim O’Neal played solid during second round of Palmeraie Open PGP. He signed for an 67-five-under-par card to lead by two strokes over Scotland’s Walker Cup player Ross Kellett. At -8, there are other big names to challenge the two men. England’s Jack Senior, 2011 Walker Cup player as well, France’s Rookie Sebastien Gros, member of the National Team Winner at The Amateur Team Championship in 2011 and last but not least, 2010 Alps Tour winner, Italian’s Matteo Delpodio.

O’Neal did not cross the Atlantic for vacation. He honoured his host, the Hassan II Golf Trophy Association by proving his hight level of game. But the American is not the kind of man to talk big. He shown a cautious behaviour and explained that his goal was to play as solid for the last round as he did during 36 holes. It been a while since he lift a trophy and he knows that guys below will chase him tomorrow. Scotland’s Ross Kellett could be one of them. The 24 year old men from Motherwell shot 68 today and only dropped one shot, the second in 36 holes. Delpodio did the same kind of card. He made his one and only bogey of the day on his last hole, the 9^th; His safe tee shot -3 wood- ended in the bunker and he did not holed to saved the par. Delpodio’s last win was in October 2010 in France where he grabbed his third trophy of the season during Masters13.

The Moroccan were 17 in the field this week. The cut felt at level par and unfortunalty many of them staid on the wrong side. But the focus is worth being done on the best Moroccan player, one of the promising new talent of Atlas Pro Tour, Abdelkader El Hali. After a poor score yesterday with a card of 74 he fired 68 to come back at 22^nd position. Fellows Faycal Serghini and amateur Mustapha El Maouass made the cut too.

By Agathe Séron
At Palmeraie Golf Club