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RABAT: England's Nick Dougherty held a one-shot lead after the first round of the Trophee Hassan II in Morocco on Thursday.
The 27-year-old Liverpudlian shot a 66 on the par 73 Red course, helped by an eagle and five birdies.
He leads Ireland's Peter Lawrie, Scot Stephen Gallacher, Italian Francesco Molinari, India's S S P Chowrasia, Argentina's Ricardo Gonzalez and Paraguay's Fabrizio Zanotti.
All of that group bar Chowrasia were playing on the much shorter par 72 Blue course.
Dubliner Paul McGinley, playing his first tournament since a sixth knee operation in November, managed only a three over 76 on the Red.
"I'm lacking that competitive edge," said the man who holed Europe's winning put at The Ryder Cup in 2002.
"The knee is absolutely fine. I didn't feel it at all, and although it's a bit swollen now, it's not giving me any pain. My round got away from me at the eighth and ninth when I missed a two foot putt and then hit one in the water.
"I played much better than my score suggests but my putting was terrible."
Dougherty, a three-time European Tour winner, was pleased to be back in the limelight after dropping from a high of 46th in the world just over two years ago to 120th in the official rankings.
"I've been struggling so much I'm just trying to build some confidence and hit as many good shots as I can," he said.
"Thomas Bjorn gave me quite a bit of help yesterday (Wednesday) on the range, which meant the world to me obviously, but it's a work in progress.
"Anything under par I would have been happy with, so I was delighted with that. I think seven under is a really, really good score round there.
"I putted fabulously and I'm delighted with my short game in general, but it's the long game that's concerning me. I've been battling with that for a long time now."
The 104-strong field switch courses for the second round as the pro-am format continues before the top 65 professionals go through to the closing 36 holes on the Red. - AFP/de
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