Florian Praegant produced a solid birdie-birdie finish to maintain his two-shot lead going into the final round of the inaugural El Jadida Championship by HLO in Morocco.

Playing in the day’s very first group, the in-form Austrian took advantage of slightly more receptive conditions and returned a neat three-under 69 to reach seven-under for the tournament, setting himself up nicely for his maiden title on

England’s Andrew Marshall backed up his opening 70 with a 69 to occupy second on five under, a good five shots clear of a three-man group which included Morocco’s Faycal Serghini fired a tidy 69.

Austrian Florian Paegant just one round away from victory in the MENA Tour’s El Jadida Championship in Morocco.

Serghini’s round represented a positive step forward following a three-over showing in the opening round. At level-par, he now leads the MENA Division for professionals by three shots from his compatriot Younes El Hassani who carded a 70 after dropping an early shot at the par-4, third.

“Played very steady, tee to green. On the whole, it was a pretty good round in windy conditions,” said Serghini. “I had a plenty of scoring opportunities out there, but tough luck on the greens undermined my efforts.

“On this course, accuracy off the tee holds the key. Also, you need to putt well because the greens are a bit firm,” he added.

Jamal Allali, also of Morocco, led the amateur division after back-to-back 75s, two shots ahead of Yassine Touhami, who stumbled to an 80 in the second round.

It was Praegant who put himself in the box seat with another fine performance. “I am very happy with a 69. I hit some very good shots out there,” he said.

“My short game really kept me going as I made some good up-and-down pars and also holed some long putts, which was good,” said Praegant, who finished second in last year’s Dubai Creek Open.

“The conditions were a bit different. It wasn’t that windy except for a couple of holes coming down the stretch and it helped. Finishing strongly with two birdies in a row was the certainly the highpoint of my round,” said the 32-year-Austrlian.

“You never know what tomorrow holds, but the thinking is to stay focused on every shot and see what happens,” added Praegant, who has made just one bogey (at the par-3, 16th) in his first 36 holes.

Elsewhere, England’s Zane Scotland, who won the MENA Golf Tour season-opener in Mohammedia last week, carded a level-par 72 to move to four-over par while James Allan, playing his second event since turning professional a week ago.”