Coltart turns on the heat in Morocco

Andrew Coltart shook off the rust of a five-week lay-off to shoot a first round 67 in the Moroccan Open in Marrakesh yesterday. The 29-year-old's five-under-par effort left him three shots off the lead at Golf D'Amelkis on a day of extremely low scoring in perfect conditions.

Coltart's only bogey of the day on the seventh, his 16th, halted his progress and he three-putted the par-five ninth to miss out on a closing birdie and leave him only partially satisfied with his day's work. "It was pretty disappointing towards the end," Coltart said. "I played really nicely through 15 holes but didn't manage to convert my chances."

The clubhouse lead was held by Paraguay's Pedro Martinez who established a new course record with an eight-under-par 64. The 36-year-old, a former professional footballer in his native country, had six birdies and an eagle. Sweden's Fredrik Jacobson was in second place on seven under par after a round that contained two eagles, one of which was a hole-in-one on the third.

Scores

(x) denotes amateurs

64 PR Martinez (Par)

65 F Jacobson (Swe)

66 S Delagrange (Fra), T Levet (Fra), J Dahlstrom (Fra), R Drummond, (x) A Scott (Aus), J Spence, V Phillips, M Lundberg (Swe), B Nelson (USA)

67 I Giner (Spa), B Dredge, M Pilkington, R Jacquelin (Fra), J Skold (Swe), A Coltart, E Boult (Nzl)

68 M Eliasson (Swe), J Wade (Aus), R Gonzalez (Arg), B Pettersson (Swe), E Canonica (Ita), I Pyman, M Olander (Swe), D Higgins, D Terblanche (Rsa), M Mackenzie, D Smyth, S Rowe (USA), I Garrido (Spa), C Hanell (Swe), S Kjeldsen (Den), P Mitchell, S Luna (Spa), K Eriksson (Swe), S Wakefield