Callum Shinkwin is among the early front-runners at Trophee Hassan II after making another encouraging start on the European Tour.

The Bushey golfer shot a two-under-par opening round of 70 to sit in a share of ninth place at the time of writing, two shots off the lead in Morocco, with the afternoon groups still to complete their opening 18 holes.

The 24-year-old, who was also among the pace-setters through the first two rounds of last week’s Open de Espana before finishing in a tie for 28th, went out in an even-par score of 36 after birdies on the par four first and par five eighth were offset by bogeys at the par four fourth and sixth holes.

But an eagle three at the 12th ensured the Moor Park professional was set to remain in a prominent position in the leaderboard going into the second round, with only 35 players in the field under par at the time of writing.

Moor Park club-mate Matt Wallace was among the afternoon starters but was struggling at six-over after 13 holes.