Three Indian golfers make cut in International Series Morocco; Bubba Watson joins Pavit on top

Indian golfers Ajeetesh Sandhu, Gaganjeet Bhullar and Karandeep Kochhar made the cut at the halfway stage of the US$2 million International Series Morocco presented by Visit Morocco at the Royal Golf Dar Es Salam in Rabat, Morocco.Ajeetesh Sandhu played a bogey-free 3-under 70 in the second round to be the top Indian in the mix. He is now 4-under and T-25 overall, while Bhullar slipped to T-47 after four bogeys in the second round. The 11-time winner on the Asian Tour also hit five birdies on the second day but ended up with 1-over on the challenging layout.Karandeep Kochhar finished at T-47 with 1-under in the second round.Meanwhile, two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson joined Thailand’s Pavit Tangkamolprasert on top of the leaderboard.

The 47-year-old American put up a masterclass of shot-shaping and putting to overcome the challenges of the Royal Golf Dar Es Salam’s Red Course. A seven-under par 66 – the lowest round of the day – helped him catch Pavit, who closed with a three-under par 70 to tie at 11-under 135 total.Captain of the RangeGoats GC in LIV Golf, Watson hit 15 of the 18 fairways and made eight birdies against a solitary bogey. The leading duo was one ahead of Korea’s Younghan Song (69, -10).

It was an exciting leaderboard shaping up in the Moroccan capital as Australia’s Travis Smyth (70), International Series Japan champion and the current Asian Tour Order of Merit leader, moved to a tie for fourth place in the clubhouse at nine-under par alongside defending champion Scott Vincent of Zimbabwe (67) and the in-form Taichi Kho of Hong Kong (69).The Thai duo of Jazz Janewattananond (67), champion of the inaugural International Series Morocco, and Suteepat Prateeptienchai (69) were tied at eight-under.Watson, who last won on the PGA Tour at the Travelers Championship in June 2018, has shown glimpses of his old form lately, and Friday was vintage Bubba. His ball-striking was good, but his putting was even more solid as he went around the course in just 26 putts.“Today was good. I made a few putts and just kept the round going. Waking up that early, you never really know how your body is going to feel, but I got into the right positions physically and gave myself chances,” said Watson.Pavit did not have the best start as two bogeys in the first eight holes left him one-over par, but just like the opening round, when he made four birdies in his last four holes, he managed to pick up strokes on the 17th and 18th holes for his three-under-par 70. Mehdi El Fakori was the only Moroccan player to make the cut with rounds of 74 and 70.International Series Morocco presented by Visit Morocco is the third leg of the elevated events on the Asian Tour and is being played in Morocco for the fourth time.