Golf:Four birdies in his last five holes gave 40-year-old Meath man Damien McGrane a two-stroke lead at the Hassan Trophy in Morocco today. McGrane, whose only European Tour victory came by nine shots in the 2008 China Open, had a seven-under par 65 and found himself clear when England's Graeme Storm made a mess of his finish.

Also seven under with two to play, the former British amateur champion saw a chip come back to his feet on the short eighth — his 17th — and after double-bogeying there he dropped another on the last. Ireland’s Peter Lawrie also came a cropper on the final hole, a double bogey at the par four dropping him to three under.

McGrane who is two ahead of Spaniard Alejandro Canizares, began with an eagle on the long 10th, then four birdies with three bogeys before making his late charge. “I’m delighted with it,” he said. “I got off to a fast start and I made my fair share of putts. The course is generous — if you play well you have plenty of opportunities.”

Eleven shots on one hole has almost certainly ended Robert Rock’s hopes of celebrating his 25th birthday at the US Masters in a fortnight’s time. The septuple bogey came on the 424-yard fourth of the Royal Palace course in Agadir and led to Rock opening the Hassan Trophy with a five-over-par 77 — 12 strokes more than McGrane.

Rock, the conqueror of Tiger Woods and the world’s top four in Abu Dhabi two months ago, has to finish first or second to have a chance of climbing into the world’s top 50 in time for the first major of the season. But even after an eagle on the long 17th he was not even in the top 100 of the 126-strong field.

Italian 18-year-old Matteo Manassero is the other player trying to qualify for Augusta. He has to win, but a three-under 69 keeps the dream alive for him.

Rock hit three drives off the fourth tee because the first two headed into the ice-plant rough, but on finding the second he attempted to play it and did not move the ball. It needed two more whacks to find the fairway, he was short of the green in seven, chipped to 10 feet and three-putted.

Not that he was alone in running up a big number.

Former US amateur champion Peter Uihlein had a nine on the same hole in his 83, two-major winner John Daly took nine on the long first as he matched Rock’s 77 and Stephen Gallacher and James Morrison had nines on the long fifth.

Dane Soren Hansen, a member of Europe’s 2008 Ryder Cup side, got no further than the turn. He was already 13 over par by then and that included taking nine on the dreaded fourth. There were no such problems for McGrane. There were three bogeys on his card, but he had kicked off with an eagle and added eight birdies, four of them in his last five holes.

Collated first round scores
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, Irishin bold, par 72)

65 Damien McGrane

67Alejandro Canizares (Spa)

68Robert Jan Derksen (Ned), Richie Ramsay, Jorge Campillo (Spa), Phillip Price, Kenneth Ferrie, Edoardo Molinari (Ita), Graeme Storm

69Hennie Otto (Rsa), Matteo Manassero (Ita), Richard McEvoy, Peter Lawrie,Anthony Wall, Keith Horne (Rsa), Ignacio Garrido (Spa), Lorenzo Gagli (Ita)

70Francesco Molinari (Ita), Joel Sjoholm (Swe), James Kingston (Rsa), Joost Luiten (Ned), Matthew Baldwin, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa), Timothy O'Neal (USA)

71Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra), Danny Willett, Victor Dubuisson (Fra), Steven O'Hara, Felipe Aguilar (Chi), Brett Rumford (Aus), David Drysdale, Michael Jonzon (Swe), Tano Goya (Arg), Masamichi Ito (Jpn)

72Carlos Del Moral (Spa), Andrew Johnston, Gary Orr, Mikko Ilonen (Fin), Scott Jamieson, Marc Warren, Richard Bland, George Murray, Steve Webster, David Horsey, Julien Quesne (Fra), Mark Murphy, Andy Sullivan, Stephen Gallacher, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den), Rich Beem (USA), Jamie Donaldson, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par)

73Craig Lee, Garth Mulroy (Rsa), Robert Coles, Marcel Siem (Ger), Edouard Dubois (Fra), Andrew Dodt (Aus), Johan Edfors (Swe), Raphael Jacquelin (Fra), Daniel Denison, Shane Lowry,Benjamin Hebert (Fra), Marcus Fraser (Aus)

74Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind), Chris Wood, Ricardo Santos (Por), Branden Grace (Rsa), David Lynn, Peter Hedblom (Swe), Oscar Floren (Swe), Pablo Larrazabal (Spa), Thongchai Jaidee (Tha), Alexander Noren (Swe), Tetsuji Hiratsuka (Jpn), Tommy Fleetwood, Andrew Marshall, Bradley Dredge, Michael Hoey

75Christian Cevaer (Fra), Faycal Serghini (Mor), Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa), Rhys Davies, Simon Khan, Romain Wattel (Fra), Richard Finch, David Dixon, Jbe Kruger (Rsa), Richard Green (Aus), Mark Foster, Richard Sterne (Rsa)

76Jamie Moul, Younes El Hassani (Mor), Do-hoon Kim (Kor), Oliver Fisher, Niclas Fasth (Swe), Andrea Pavan (Ita), Knut Borsheim (Nor), Eduardo De La Riva (Spa), Mustapha EL Maouas (Mor), Pablo Martin (Spa)

77 Gareth Maybin,Jake Shepherd, James Morrison, John Daly (USA), Gary Boyd, Robert Rock, Federico Colombo (Ita), Markus Brier (Aut), Gregory Bourdy (Fra), Sam Little, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe)

78Jordi Garcia (Spa), Lee Slattery, Gregory Havret (Fra)

79Christian Nilsson (Swe), Peter Whiteford, Frank Adams III (USA), Oliver Wilson, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut), Paul McGinley,Thomas Levet (Fra)

81Michael Campbell (Nzl)

83Peter Uihlein (USA)

84Sam Hutsby

RTD:Soren Hansen (Den)