SECOND ROUND LEADERBOARD:
-13 R Davies (Wal) -11 L Oosthuizen (RSA), T Levet (Fra), I Garrido (Spa) -10 N Dougherty (Eng), T Aiken (RSA), J Luiten (Ned) Selected others: -5 S Dodd (Wal) -4 D Clarke (NI)

Davies hit four birdies on the back and front nine

Welshman Rhys Davies opened a two-shot lead at the halfway stage of the Hassan Trophy in Morocco after shooting a stunning eight-under-par second round.

The 24-year-old fired eight birdies on his way to a 64 on the Blue Course at the Royal Dar Es Salam Golf Club.

Louis Oosthuizen matched Davies' score to take second place on 11 under par, with Thomas Levet and Ignacio Garrido.

Overnight leader Nick Dougherty laboured to a second-round 69 to finish on 10 under with two other players.

Davies hit four birdies either side of the turn in a bogey-less round as he aims to win his maiden victory on his first year on the European Tour.

The Challenge Tour graduate finished joint-third two weeks ago at the Maybank Malaysian Open and proved his class again in Morocco with a bogey-less second round, having opened with a 68 on Thursday.

"This time last year I didn't really have any status in Europe but I managed to get a win on the Challenge Tour and everything sort of spiralled from there," said Davies.

"It's been really good the last 12 months. I am feeling very confident. You play golf to play well and to get to the top of the leaderboard.

"I think if you don't enjoy it at the top you wouldn't really want to do it."

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