Mena Golf Tour: Stephen Dodd sets the pace into final day of Royal Golf D'Anfa Open

The joint overnight leader holed six birdies in Mohammedia to stay at the top of the leaderboard ahead of Zane Scotland and Fredrik Quicker.

Stephen Dodd tees off at the Royal Golf D'Anfa Open.

Stephen Dodd maintained his grip on the top of the leaderboard going into today's final round of the Royal Golf D'Anfa Open in Mohammedia.

Dodd, joint leader overnight with Dale Marmion, mixed six birdies with three bogeys to card a 3-under 69 to move to five-under for the competition, putting him three shots clear of chasing of Zane Scotland and Fredrik Quicker.

"I struck the ball well, but made a couple of silly mistakes out there and that resulted in disappointing bogeys," said Dodd afterwards.

"Though the weather was fine, the wind - about one-and-a-half club - was a factor and it wasn't easy to score.

"It always feels nice to go into the final round with a little bit of advantage, but still there are 18 holes to play and anything can happen,."

Home pairing Amin Joudar and Abdelhak Sabi recorded the day's the best score with 5-under 67s to close the gap on the leaders while amateur compatriot Channane Addelali hit the MENA Golf Tour's first albatross, holing the fifth from 152m out.

The talented amateur earned the distinction of scoring the very first albatross on the MENA Golf Tour, achieving the feat, also called double eagle, on the 433-metre, par-5th, when he holed his seven iron from 152 metres.

With the weather clearing up with bright sunshine throughout the day, the experienced Dodd held centre-stage with another solid effort.

Scotland, who won last week's tour opener in Rabat, admitted to an up-and-down round.

"You never know what tomorrow holds, but I try and concentrate of my game and see what happens. I am not putting any undue pressure on me. Whatever is to happen will happen," said Scotland, the winner of the tour's opening event in Rabat last week.

Overnight leader Marmion signed off with a 2-over 74 to slip to sixth place while Scotland's Duncan Stewart followed his first-round 73 with a 70 to share the third place with England's Daniel Wardrop.

Morocco's Ahmed Marjan carded back-to-back 73 to keep alive his hopes of winning the amateur division.

"My game is in good shape and I am learning with every round," he said.

"It will be great if I can shoot an under par score in the final round."

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