Astha Madan - © Tistan Jones / LET

The 22-year-old from Gurgaon had a buggy blank card with two birdies on the nine holes of the first leg and five on the return leg at Amelkis Golf Club in Marrakech, only to find herself one stroke behind Englishwoman Lauren Horsford .

Spain's Maria Hernandez, Ireland's Leona Maguire, Sian Evans and Dulcie Sverdloff, France's Manon Gidali and Germany's Esther Henseleit are all tied at (-4) in the race to win the right to participate in the next season of the LET.

Madan didn't even know she was bogey-free until the end of the round and thought her score would have been "About five cents a par"

It's her best score out of 18 holes and the University of Sacramento graduate, who turned pro in July, said: “I am really happy with my career. I started with the first hole and hit it close enough to birdie it. I drove a really long one on the 7th hole, 20 yards, to be precise, and then sank a few putts on the return, too. Hope to be able to compete with Aditi (Ashok) next year! "

When asked what it would mean for her to qualify for the LET, she replied: " All. This is what I came for, so it would be great to get there. "

A total of 115 players compete in five rounds. They play twice at Amelkis Golf Club and Palm Golf Ourika before playing the last round at Amelkis Golf Club on Thursday. After 90 holes, the top five players will become members of LET in category 5c, which means that they will be able to participate in most tournaments, while those occupying positions 6 to 25 will obtain membership in category 8. Players who are successful but finish in positions 26 or higher can still join the LET in category 9b.

Among the French women, at the end of the first day Emma Grechi and Mathilda Cappeliez finished 17th; Émilie Alonso 31st; Agathe Sauzon 38th; Émilie Piquot, Inès Lecudier and Anaïs Meyssonnier 61st, Marion Duvernay 90th; and finally Lara Plachetka-pohl 109th.