A day of tough scoring led to a four-way tie for the lead after the first round of the Trophée Hassan II at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam on Thursday.
Dane Lucas Bjerregaard, French duo Grégory Havret and Gary Stal and England's James Morrison all fired three under par rounds of 70 to open up a one-shot lead, with 52 players within three shots of the top of the leaderboard.
Grégory Bourdy, Clément Sordet, Alexander Levy, Trevor Fisher Jnr, Dylan Frittelli, Jaco Van Zyl, Edoardo Molinari, Pelle Edberg and Max Orrin were all at two under.
Starting on the tenth, Stal turned in 34 with birdies on the 12th, 13th and 18th, and when he also made a gain on the first he was out in front on his own.
He then bogeyed the second to drop to three under but a wonderful pitch to the par five eighth had him ahead again before a disappointing closing bogey.
Countryman Havret also started on the back nine and he had a rollercoaster of an outward half, birdieing the 11th, 12th, 15th and 18th while dropping shots on the 14th and 16th. A lone birdie on the fourth on the way back then moved him into a share of the lead.
Morrison continued his fine start to the season by also signing for an opening 70.
The Englishman has five top-25s in six events so far this season and turned in 34 from the tenth with birdies on his opener, the 12th, 15th and 18th and a bogey on the 16th. A birdie on the fifth gave him the outright lead but Morrison gave the shot back on the next.
"It's a proper, good golf course which is fantastic to play," he said. "You've got to be on your game, hit it straight, if you do get it in trouble you've got to get out of trouble well and I think had a mix of playing well today, hitting the right shots at the right time, and scrambling pretty well, too.
"I'm enjoying my golf at the moment, I'm working hard at it, everything is coming off. I'm playing well, I'm thinking smart so I'll just keep on doing it.
"It's my eighth year on Tour and I'm still enjoying playing every week."
Bjerregaard ended the 2015 season with five top tens in nine events but just one followed in 2016, although the 25 year old has shown signs of rediscovering his best form this term.
I played some of the best golf I've played in a very long time so it was really nice - Lucas Bjerregaard
He turned in 35 with three birdies and two bogeys and remained one under stood on the 12th tee before an eagle-birdie run thrust him into the lead. But he would drop two further shots while picking up a birdie on the 15th to slip back into a share.
Bjerregaard said: "I played well today, a lot of positives to take from it. Obviously it's a little hard coming from a five week break, not really sure where my game was exactly.
"I've been playing alright at home but it's a little different when you come out here so to see some of the things that I saw out there today was really nice.
"I hit four bad shots that really cost me and obviously missing a short birdie putt at 18 hurts a little bit but a lot of positives. I played some of the best golf I've played in a very long time so it was really nice."
Frenchman Levy is one of the European Tour's great entertainers and he produced a show-stopping finish to his 71 after being level par stood on the seventh tee. The three-time European Tour winner birdied the seventh and then holed his approach to the eighth for an eagle before a disappointing three-putt bogey finish.
Countryman Bourdy had also held a share of the lead but he too three-putted the last, while another Frenchman, Sordet, finished with a birdie in his round.
South African Frittelli eagled the tenth and when he also made a birdie on the 12th, he had the lead at four under but dropped shots on the 16th and 17th saw him fall back.
England's Orrin was bogey-free in his effort with birdies on the 12th and 15th, while Swede Edberg and South African Van Zyl both had a single blemish on their cards.
Another South African, Fisher Jnr, made five birdies and three bogeys in his 71.
Italian Molinari was bogey-free in his round and finished birdie-birdie on the eighth and ninth.
There were then 21 players at one under including Alejandro Cañizares, Mikko Ilonen, Pablo Larrazábal, Matteo Manassero and Robert Rock.
