Trophee Hassan II: Edoardo Molinari a winner again

Day four leaders

-9 Molinari, Dunne (Molinari won at 1st extra hole)
-8 Waring
-6 Dubuisson, Jensen
-5 Brooks, Hanson

Day four report

Italy's Edoardo Molinari claimed his first European Tour title since 2010 by beating Ireland's Paul Dunne in a play-off for the Trophee Hassan II at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam in Morocco.

Molinari stormed into contention with two eagles in the last seven holes to set the clubhouse target of nine under par, which Dunne was able to match with a birdie on the last.

The players returned to the 18th for sudden death and a scrappy par was good enough to give Molinari the win after Dunne found trouble off the tee and failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker.

Molinari's previous victories both came in 2010 and the second, in the final qualifying event for the Ryder Cup, persuaded European captain Colin Montgomerie to give the former US Amateur champion a wild card for Celtic Manor.

A serious wrist injury meant Molinari played just 14 events in 2013 and, although he finished 40th on the money list the following year, he had to regain his playing rights via the qualifying school in 2015 and 2016.

"It's fantastic," Molinari told Sky Sports. "It's been a while. I've been through some very hard times in the last few years and to get this I'm very very pleased.

"Last time I made a big putt on 17 and this time I made a big putt on 18 so it looks like I always want to keep it to the last few holes."

After starting the day four shots off the lead, Molinari covered the front nine in level par before following a birdie on the 11th with an eagle on the par-five 12th after a brilliant approach from 250 yards.

The 36-year-old's chance looked to have gone when he bogeyed the 16th after finding two bunkers on the tough par four, but he birdied the 17th from close range and holed from 20 feet for another eagle on the last in a superb 68.

Dunne held a two-shot lead overnight and was three clear after recovering from a bogey on the first with birdies on the second and fifth, but bogeyed the sixth and was never able to shake off the chasing pack.

The 24-year-old, who shared the 54-hole lead in the 2015 Open at St Andrews while still an amateur, carded two more birdies on the back nine but immediately followed each with a bogey.

Another dropped shot on the 16th left him needing to birdie one of the final two holes to catch Molinari and a superb chip from the edge of the 18th green set up a tap-in for a closing 72.

Dunne, whose runner-up finish is his best performance to date on the European Tour, said: "I felt like there were just so many shots that slipped away from me.

"It's just one of those days. I felt like I was really close to shooting four or five under and stuck with one under in the end.

"I'm happy with my form and looking forward to next week. I'm just a bit disappointed not to come out with the result we wanted but it's a step in the right direction."

England's Paul Waring finished a shot outside the play-off in third after carding four birdies and one bogey in a closing 70, with France's Victor Dubuisson and Denmark's Lasse Jensen two strokes further back in fourth.

Day four collated scores and totals
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 73):

(a) denotes amateurs)

283 Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 71 74 70 68 (won at first extra hole), Paul Dunne 73 69 69 72,

284 Paul Waring 74 71 69 70

286 Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 73 71 72 70, Lasse Jensen (Den) 75 69 70 72

287 Chris Hanson 74 70 72 71, Daniel Brooks 73 71 73 70

288 Jordan Smith 73 75 70 70, Ashley Chesters 73 74 72 69, Carlos Pigem (Spa) 75 72 69 72, Renato Paratore (Ita) 73 74 66 75, Trevor Fisher Jnr (Rsa) 71 70 74 73

289 Jens Fahrbring (Swe) 73 75 74 67, Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 72 73 72 72, Joost Luiten (Ned) 75 72 71 71, Haydn Porteous (Rsa) 77 70 74 68, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 72 73 69 75, James Morrison 70 72 79 68

290 Ricardo Gouveia (Por) 75 69 73 73, Joel Stalter (Fra) 76 72 71 71, Sebastian Heisele (Ger) 72 73 73 72, Jorge Campillo (Spa) 74 69 74 73, David Drysdale 72 76 71 71, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 75 68 78 69, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 71 72 72 75, Gregory Havret (Fra) 70 70 75 75

291 Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 70 71 74 76, Duncan Stewart 72 72 74 73, Romain Wattel (Fra) 72 76 73 70, Max Orrin 71 76 75 69, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 71 73 75 72, Chris Paisley 76 72 71 72, Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 75 73 71 72

292 Richard Bland 74 73 75 70, Mike Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 72 72 72 76, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 72 73 75 72, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 71 75 74 72, Gary Stal (Fra) 70 75 75 72, Aaron Rai 72 75 72 73, Anthony Wall 74 73 70 75, Laurie Canter 74 73 74 71, Alexander Levy (Fra) 71 75 74 72, Jeff Winther (Den) 72 74 73 73, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 71 71 73 77, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 75 71 76 70

293 Sebastien Gros (Fra) 77 70 76 70, Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 75 73 73 72

294 Anton Karlsson (Swe) 72 73 74 75, Matteo Manassero (Ita) 72 74 72 76, Adrien Saddier (Fra) 73 73 75 73, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 74 71 71 78, Dean Burmester (Rsa) 78 70 70 76, Sebastian Soderberg (Swe) 73 73 75 73, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 72 76 75 71, Mark Foster 72 74 75 73

295 Julien Guerrier (Fra) 76 71 76 72, Adrian Otaegui (Spa) 73 72 73 77, Steven Tiley 75 72 72 76, Johan Edfors (Swe) 73 71 80 71

296 Matthew Nixon 74 73 72 77, Daniel Im (USA) 74 73 74 75, Tom Lewis 75 68 75 78, (a) Ayoub Lguirati (Mar) 76 71 77 72, Lee Slattery 74 72 73 77

298 Matthew Southgate 75 73 75 75

301 Marcus Armitage 76 70 76 79, Damien Perrier (Fra) 74 74 76 77, Jens Dantorp (Swe) 73 74 79 75

302 Richard S Johnson (Swe) 72 76 74 80

304 Rafael Echenique (Arg) 73 74 79 78

306 Ben Evans 72 75 79 80

Day three report

Ireland's Paul Dunne will take a two-shot lead into the final round of the Trophee Hassan II in Rabat as he seeks to win a first European Tour title.

Dunne, who shared the 54-hole lead in the 2015 Open at St Andrews while still an amateur, carded six birdies and a double bogey in a second consecutive 69 to finish eight under par at Royal Dar Es Salam.

Italy's Renato Paratore is Dunne's nearest challenger after surging through the field courtesy of eight birdies and a solitary bogey, the 20-year-old completing a course-record 66 before the last group had teed off.

England's Paul Waring, Spain's Pablo Larrazabal and Denmark's Lasse Jensen are a shot further back on five under, with halfway leader Gregory Havret part of a six-strong group on four under.

Dunne began the day two shots off the lead, but found himself three clear of the chasing pack after five birdies in his first 12 holes.

The 24-year-old then double-bogeyed the 13th after his approach plugged in a greenside bunker, but steadied the ship with four pars before holing from 25 feet for a birdie on the 18th.

"I've been playing well recently and haven't played a tournament in four weeks with the break we had, so it felt like it took me a while to get going with my swing," said Dunne, whose sixth place finish in the Tshwane Open in March was the best of his career to date.

"But today it was a much easier round than the last couple of days. I didn't putt as well as I did yesterday, but I hit the ball a lot better so am really pleased."

Dunne carded a closing 78 to finish 30th in the 2015 Open and asked if he had learnt from that experience, he added on Sky Sports 4: "I think St Andrews is different. It's such a big amphitheatre around it, there's thousands and thousands of people there and it's a big atmosphere.

"I wasn't expecting to be leading and it was a bit of a bonus. I think now if I play well I kind of expect to be up there with a chance so it's different.

"I'm not going to say I'm going to win tomorrow, but I feel like I'm more ready to win than I was then. I feel like it's something I should do rather than make the end to a great story.

"If I break 70 again I think it's going to be hard for someone to catch me so I'm just going to try to do that."

Day three leaders

-8 Dunne
-6 Paratore
-5 Jensen, Waring, Larrazabal

Day two report

France's Gregory Havret shot a second straight round of 70 and moved one stroke clear at the Trophee Hassan II's halfway point despite finishing with back-to-back bogeys.

Havret had shared the lead with three others after the opening 18 in Morocco and he was the only one of that quartet able to go that low again at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam, though he dropped shots at 17 and 18 to ensure his lead is narrow.

Denmark's Lucas Bjerregaard, one of the joint leaders after the first round, and Trevor Fisher Jnr are one back while Irishman Paul Dunne, England's James Morrison and Havret's fellow countryman Gregory Bourdy are two off the lead.

Dunne was one of six to break 70 with a four-under-par 69 that was kick-started with a run of eagle-birdie-birdie after the turn.

However, consecutive bogeys at 16 and 17 kept him from joining Havret at the top of the leaderboard.

Tom Lewis is in the group at three under having responded to Thursday's 75 with a 68 that was only matched among the field by Benjamin Hebert, who is also three off Havret following a bogey-free second round.

Havret, whose last European Tour success came nine years ago, starts the weekend as the man to catch, a prospect that would look all the more difficult had he not finished on such a low note.

"It's always a bit of a shame to finish like this - bogey, bogey," he told the European Tour's website.

"It's obviously not the best but the rest was pretty good. This course is tough so you can't avoid mistakes all day long.

"So far, so good. I'm quite happy with the way it's been. I know more than anybody probably that the road is still long."

Day two leaders

-6 Havret
-5 Fisher Jr, Bjerregaard
-4 Morrison, Bourdy, Dunne 

All players below missed the cut:

149 Robert Dinwiddie 76 73, Garrick Porteous 76 73, Thomas Linard (Fra) 77 72, Brandon Stone (Rsa) 75 74, Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 74 75, Florian Fritsch (Ger) 76 73, Robert Rock 72 77, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 78 71, Eddie Pepperell 73 76, Thomas Detry (Bel) 72 77, Nacho Elvira (Spa) 73 76, Michael Hoey 76 73, Julien Quesne (Fra) 73 76, David Howell 73 76, Clement Sordet (Fra) 71 78, Andrew Marshall 75 74, Nino Bertasio (Ita) 72 77

150 Richie Ramsay 74 76, Erik Compton (USA) 75 75, Callum Shinkwin 76 74, Marcel Siem (Ger) 75 75, Johan Carlsson (Swe) 75 75, Scott Jamieson 72 78, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 74 76, Jeunghun Wang (Kor) 77 73, Eduardo De La Riva (Spa) 77 73, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 76 74

151 Pontus Widegren (Swe) 75 76, Faycal Serghini (Mar) 76 75, Younes El Hassani (Mar) 77 74, Alexander Bjork (Swe) 80 71, David Horsey 73 78, Romain Langasque (Fra) 77 74, Richard Green (Aus) 77 74, Jamie Rutherford 78 73

152 Thomas Bjorn (Den) 77 75, Nathan Kimsey 80 72, Jamie Donaldson 77 75, Stuart Manley 72 80

153 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 77 76, Ahmed Marjan (Mar) 77 76, Stephen Gallacher 78 75, Nathan Holman (Aus) 78 75, Zander Lombard (Rsa) 76 77, Reinier Saxton (Ned) 76 77, Bernd Ritthammer (Ger) 77 76, Alexander Knappe (Ger) 75 78, Oliver Fisher 77 76

154 Gary King 76 78, Richard McEvoy 75 79, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 77 77, Paul Maddy 77 77, Ayoub Id-Omar (a) (Mar) 78 76, Pep Angles (Spa) 79 75, Simon Dyson 79 75, Yassine Touhami (Mar) 82 72, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 77 77, James Heath 77 77, Justin Walters (Rsa) 75 79

155 Sam Walker 78 77, Hennie Otto (Rsa) 75 80, Scott Henry 79 76

156 Craig Hinton 78 78

157 Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 78 79, Dylan Boshart (Ned) 77 80, Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 80 77, Jaco Ahlers (Rsa) 81 76, Richard Finch 81 76, Y.E. Yang (Kor) 79 78

159 Abdelhaq Sabi (Mar) 80 79

160 Mike Weir (Can) 81 79, Santiago Luna (Spa) 82 78

Day one report

England's James Morrison was part of a four-way tie for the lead as the top 52 players were separated by just three shots after the opening round of the Trophee Hassan II.

Morrison carded five birdies and two bogeys on the Red Course at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam to join Denmark's Lucas Bjerregaard and the French pair of Gregory Havret and Gary Stal on three under par.

Three more French players - Alexander Levy, Clement Sordet and Gregory Bourdy - were among a large group on two under, with Scotland's Scott Jamieson, David Drysdale and Duncan Stewart another stroke back.

Havret, who finished runner-up to Graeme McDowell in the 2010 US Open, said: "It's good to play under par, anything in the red here is very good on a very tough course, so I'm happy.

"This course always plays hard and since the changes a few years ago it's even harder. When the wind is changing it's not easy to find the right club.

"It's in perfect condition, the course is just in great shape and we always enjoy it here. It's definitely a test of golf. I think it's one of the toughest all season."

Levy has not played since finishing fourth in Malaysia in the middle of February, but showed few ill effects as he carded four birdies and an eagle in his 71.

"I've had eight weeks off, I've practised a lot and changed coach so it's nice to come back out to play a tournament," Levy said. "It's exciting to bring all that hard work over the last eight weeks back out on the golf course."

Defending champion Jeunghun Wang, who missed the cut on his Masters debut last week, faces a battle to avoid another early exit after struggling to a four-over-par 77.

And former Masters champion Mike Weir, who has not made a cut since November 2014, fared even worse with six bogeys and a double bogey in an 81.

The Canadian left-hander, who defeated Len Mattiace in a play-off at Augusta National in 2003, has been as high as fourth in the world, but is currently ranked 1,895th.

Day one leaders

-3 Bjerregaard, Stal, Morrison, Havret
-2 Sordet, Orrin, Van Zyl, Edberg, Levy, Bourdy, Frittelli, Molinari, Fisher Jnr