Horsey, Davies share Morocco lead

Englishman David Horsey carded a third round 67 to draw level with Rhys Davies at the top of the Trophee Hassan II leaderboard heading into the final round.

Davies is the defending champion in Morocco whereas Horsey is chasing only his second win on the European Tour.

Both Britons now sit on 10 under par, one shot clear of Jaco van Zyl who carded a 65, the best of anyone in the field in the third round and Horsey is anticipating a great day of competition tomorrow.

“Should be great tomorrow,” he told europeantour.com

“Rhys is a great player and the defending champion so he is going to be very tough to beat but hopefully I can play my own game and give him a run for his money.”

Another South African, George Coetzee, looked set to challenge for the lead after adding an eagle on the fifth to birdies at his first three holes, but he could not maintain his scintillating start and hit an average round which was littered five bogeys.

Horsey also got off to a good start – an eagle of the sixth was the pick of the round – but he believes he could have taken the outright lead with a better back nine.

“I got off to a great start by holing my second shot on the sixth and then birdied the seventh to really get myself into contention,” he said.

“The birdie chances dried up a little bit on the back nine but then I did manage to chip in for birdie on 15”

Davies had previously insisted that he does not feel any added pressure because he is defending his title, but admits he wants to add to his tournament win tally.

“It would mean a lot to get that second win under my belt,” he said.

“Every time I go out there I aim to win the tournament and when you’ve got a chance to compete, I really enjoy it. And I’ve got that chance tomorrow so I can’t wait.”

An eagle on the 10th means that Finn Mikko Ilonen remains in contention, currently tied on fourth with Coetzee after a round of 69, after recovering from a three over par first round.

Darren Clarke dropped out of contention after a poor third round of 81 took his overall score to four over par, leaving him no chance of troubling the leaders in tomorrow’s final round.