American David Lipsky carded a second-day 70 and shares the clubhouse lead on 5-under par heading into halftime of the Trophee Hassan II.

Heavy winds made scoring difficult at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam, as Lipsky was just one of 22 players (of 152) to shoot in the red on Friday. He finished with two bogeys offset by five birdies, including two straight before the turn and another pair at the mid mark of the final set.

Lipsky’s 3-under par for the day moved him to the top of the board, alongside compatriot Sean Crocker, who carded a 74.

Crocker began the day one off the pace but tumbled down the leaderboard after reeling off four early bogeys on Nos. 2, 3, 4, and 6. He bounced back, though, with birdies on No. 7 and 8.

The duo were one clear of a foursome, which included overnight leader Jordan Smith, who struggled in the afternoon winds en route to a 76 – 10 shots worse than his opening round score – to fall back to 4-under par. A third American, Julian Suri (71), along with Englishman Lee Slattery (72) and Aussie Dimitrios Papadatos (72) were the others in the T3 group.

Jorge Campillo (71) and Alejandro Canizares (76) were two back on 5 under. The Spaniards were tied for seventh with Kristoffer Reitan (73) of Norway and Austria’s Matthias Schwab (73).

Top-5 Leaders: Round Two

Pos-Player-To Par (Rd 2)
1. David Lipsky -5 (-3)
1. Sean Crocker -5 (+1)
3. Julian Suri -4 (-2)
3. Lee Slattery -4 (-1)
3. Kristoffer Reitan -4 (-1)
3. Jordan Smith -4 (+3)