Alvaro Quiros was delighted that his golf was starting to feel natural again after firing a 70 to take a one-shot lead into the weekend at the Trophée Hassan II.
The Spaniard had five consecutive winning seasons on the European Tour from 2007 to 2011, winning six events in that time, but had decided to concentrate on the Challenge Tour before winning last season's Rocco Forte Open - Verdura, Sicily when placed 703rd in the Official World Golf Ranking.
He is currently 435th after making just three of 19 cuts since his victory in Italy but showed all the qualities that have made him a seven-time winner on Friday.
Conditions were far windier than they had been on day one at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam but Quiros kept his head to move to seven under and lead by one from Australian Andrew Dodt, who recorded the joint-lowest round of the day with a 68.
"I would love to say that I have control of my secret but I'm not able to say," he said. "Clearly I'm recovering a little bit of natural feel in my swing and now every single day of golf I need to recover a bit of confidence.
"A lot of times when I miss a shot, it's not related straight to the swing movement, it's more related to the fact that I'm not confident that things are going to come out as I want, it's a completely different stage now. It's not going to change from one day to another but at least I have a little bit more peace in my mind with respect to the technique."
He added: "It's a very demanding shot to the green every single time. There are very small places to land the ball, it doesn't matter if you have a long iron or a short iron it is always tight.
"I'm pleased with the score."
South African Erik van Rooyen was at five under, a shot clear of Canada's Austin Connelly and Welshman Bradley Dredge.
Van Rooyen began his round with eight consecutive pars but Quiros endured a roller coaster, making three runs of birdie-bogey in his first six holes.
I'm recovering a little bit of natural feel in my swing and now every single day of golf I need to recover a bit of confidence - Alvaro Quiros
That left the door open for Van Rooyen and when he birdied the eighth and 12th, he was the solo leader by one.
Quiros holed a 25-footer on the par three 17th to join the lead and when Van Rooyen dropped a first shot of the day on the 16th, it was the 35 year old who led the way.
He used his distance to leave wedges into the 18th and first for three birdies in a row and a three-shot lead but that was cut to two when he three-putted from a long way out on the fourth, with Dodt moving into a share for second.
The two-time European Tour winner bogeyed the fourth and sixth but picked up five shots in as many holes from the eighth, birdieing the eighth, ninth and 11th and eagling the 12th. An excellent tee-shot into the par three 14th then set up another gain and the 32 year old was within one of the lead.
Quiros failed to get up and down from a bunker to drop a shot on the sixth but a bounceback birdie from 18 feet came on the seventh to hand him his advantage back.
Dredge bogeyed the third and birdied the eighth to turn in level par. He dropped a shot on the 11th but was back in a share of the lead with a birdie on the 12th before making a third bogey of the day on the 14th in a 73.
Connelly turned in 37 with a birdie on the fifth and bogeys on the sixth and eighth but bounced back on the back nine, making gains on the tenth, 13th and 16th with a single dropped shot on the 14th.
French duo Benjamin Hebert and Alexander Levy carded rounds of 70 and 69 respectively to sit at three under alongside England's Paul Waring - who also signed for a 69 - and Swede Joakim Lagergren who posted a 73.
German 2013 champion Marcel Siem, South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Dutchman Joost Luiten, China's Ashun Wu and English pair Aaron Rai and Callum Shinkwin were two under.
Ireland's Paul Dunne notched the 11th hole-in-one of the season on the 17th from 204 yards with a seven iron but last season's runner-up missed the cut at five over after a 76.
