JORDAN SMITH'S FLAWLESS 66 GIVES 

HIM ONE-SHOT LEAD A TROPHEE 

HASSAN

Jordan Smith carded a blemish-free round of 66 at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam to lead the Trophée Hassan II by one stroke after 18 holes.

The Englishman, who started from the par-four tenth, parred his first four holes in Morocco but birdies on the 14^th, 15^th and 17^th holes saw him make the turn three under par. On the front nine he maintained his consistency, making four birdies in five holes from the third to the seventh as he signed for a seven under par score.

Smith sits one ahead of Spain’s Alejandro Cañizares and America’s Sean Crocker, who both recorded bogey-free rounds of 67 on the formidable par-73 Red Course.

One stroke further back on five under par are Matthieu Pavon and Stephen Gallacher. The Scotsman carded just the second albatross on the European Tour this season, holing out from 246 yards with his second shot, using a three iron on the par-five eighth hole.

Also in contention is the 2016 Trophée Hassan II champion Edoardo Molinari, who sits in sixth place on four under par.

Player Quotes

Jordan Smith: “The first four holes, I couldn't really hit a barn door, and just scrambled well for the first two, stuck in there and it all came together at the right time. Hit a lot of nice iron shots sort of close. Made a few nice putts.

“I hit a lot of iron shots close. I think that was key for me today. I rolled it really nice. That's probably the best I've putted for a longs time and I made -- I scrambled when I needed to, when I missed a green, I chipped on and holed the putt. It was all about momentum for me today.”

Alejandro Cañizares: “The first - I would say - 12 holes, I played great. Didn't miss many shots. It was very fun. Had a little luck on a couple coming in on 6 and 7. But yeah, overall, played great. I missed a few, but I made a couple par putts on 2, my 11th hole, and the par 5, I think it was 5. Very pleased, birdied the last, on 9, difficult hole. Very pleased.

“I think it could have been lower. I missed a short one there, but you know, couldn't complain, as I hit the pin. But I missed a three- or four-footer for birdie, and I missed a six-footer on the next. But you know, I missed a couple, but I made -- obviously I made a few, so I can't complain. Golf is like that.”

Sean Crocker: “I putted really well. I had five weeks off this last – after Kenya, and then I just went home and I just worked on my game and it seems to be paying off.

“For me that was a big key in kind of getting the season rolling in the right direction. My game wasn't far off but it was sloppy and I wasn't making putts, so those five weeks off couldn't have helped me more.”

Stephen Gallacher: “Jack was confident on it. He said -- well, it was only one club. It was just whether the ball flight -- I had to flight it in a little bit. It was 240, so trying to land it 225 and run it up the green. It just came off perfect. The perfect trajectory and got a good bounce and just thought it was going to run up to eight-foot or something like that and it went in. First one as a pro.”

Scores after Round One:66 J Smith (Eng) ,
67 S Crocker (USA) , A Cañizares (Esp) ,
68 M Pavon (Fra) , S Gallacher (Sco) ,
69 E Molinari (Ita) ,
70 M Schwab (Aut) , L Slattery (Eng) , D Papadatos (Aus) , P Larrazábal (Esp) , K Reitan (Nor) , J Senior (Eng) ,
71 J Suri (USA) , D Lipsky (USA) , R Sterne (RSA) ,
72 J McLeod (Aus) , A Chesters (Eng) , A Pavan (Ita) , K Samooja (Fin) , J Morrison (Eng) , G Migliozzi (Ita) , M Warren (Sco) , M Korhonen (Fin) , R Jacquelin (Fra) , M Kieffer (Ger) , J Campillo (Esp) , P Hanson (Swe) , Y Miyazato (Jpn) , S Soderberg (Swe) , T Lewis (Eng) ,
73 A Quiros (Esp) , D Burmester (RSA) , M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) , T Jaidee (Tha) , L Canter (Eng) , J Luiten (Ned) , R Evans (Eng) , P Dunne (Irl) , M Nixon (Eng) , A Saddier (Fra) , H Leon (Chi) , J Dantorp (Swe) , M Kinhult (Swe) , J Choi (Kor) , E Porter (Aus) , S Kim (USA) , A Dodt (Aus) , P Oriol (Esp) , L Jensen (Den) , D Horsey (Eng) , K Kitayama (USA) , T Detry (Bel) , P Waring (Eng) , V Perez (Fra) , B Hebert (Fra) , A Otaegui (Esp) ,
74 W Ormsby (Aus) , L Gagli (Ita) , F Zanotti (Par) , C Shinkwin (Eng) , O Wilson (Eng) , S Jamieson (Sco) , E Van Rooyen (RSA) , N Lemke (Swe) , J Girrbach (Sui) , M Hoey (Nir) , N Cullen (Aus) , J Winther (Den) , R Langasque (Fra) , M Siem (Ger) , J Walters (RSA) , K Koivu (Fin) , R Paratore (Ita) , J Scrivener (Aus) , A Björk (Swe) , B Evans (Eng) , G Moynihan (Irl) , A Sullivan (Eng) ,
75 T Pulkkanen (Fin) , R Gouveia (Por) , G Forrest (Sco) , A Levy (Fra) , M Kawamura (Jpn) , N Bertasio (Ita) , K Johannessen (Nor) , R McGowan (Eng) , H Park (Kor) , J Kruyswijk (RSA) , C Bezuidenhout (RSA) , J Hansen (Den) , D Lawson (Aus) , J Catlin (USA) , C Paisley (Eng) , C Blomstrand (Swe) , A Lguirati (Mar) , V Dubuisson (Fra) , J Lagergren (Swe) , D Law (Sco) , L De Jager (RSA) , F Serghini (Mar) , A Wu (Chn) , E Kofstad (Nor) ,
76 I Cantero Gutierrez (Esp) , S Manley (Wal) , R Wattel (Fra) , M Manassero (Ita) , D Drysdale (Sco) , H Tanihara (Jpn) , B Ritthammer (Ger) , D Fichardt (RSA) , A Rai (Eng) , C Wood (Eng) , R Karlsson (Swe) , C Sordet (Fra) , S Brown (Eng) ,
77 T Murray (Eng) , J Quesne (Fra) , D Howell (Eng) , N Elvira (Esp) , J Singh Brar (Eng) , R McEvoy (Eng) , M Southgate (Eng) , B Dredge (Wal) , J Wang (Kor) , H Porteous (RSA) , P Figueiredo (Por) , M Orrin (Eng) , S Kjeldsen (Den) , R Ramsay (Sco) , A Karlsson (Swe) , L Johnston (Sco) , O Raouzi (am) (Mar) ,
78 P Mejow (Ger) , O Fisher (Eng) , A Cockerill (Can) , R Macintyre (Sco) , J Geary (Nzl) , D Borda (Esp) , A Arnaus (Esp) , M Schmitt (Ger) , D Gavins (Eng) , A Connelly (Can) ,
79 S Gregory (Eng) , H Long (Ger) , J Thomson (Eng) , G Fdez-Castaño (Esp) ,
80 S Vincent (Zim) ,
81 E Toledo (Mex) , Z Lombard (RSA) , F Bergamaschi (Ita) , M Baldwin (Eng) ,
83 A Ssouadi (am) (Mar) , S Al Sharif (am) (Ksa) , S Al Kurdi (am) (Jor) ,
84 P Langfors (Swe) ,
90 A Marjan (Mar)