Rabat (AFP) - Four players shared the lead after the opening round of the Trophee Hassan II on Thursday but on a day of tough conditions, 52 players ended up within three shots of the top of the leaderboard.

Lucas Bjerregaard of Denmark, French duo Gregory Havret and Gary Stal, and England's James Morrison all carded three-under par rounds of 70 to open up a one-shot lead.

Morrison has five top-25 finishes in six events 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 at the challenging Royal Golf Dar Es Salam.

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," the Englishman told www.europeantour.com.

"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."

Gregory Bourdy, Clement Sordet, Alexander Levy, Trevor Fisher, Dylan Frittelli, Jaco Van Zyl, Edoardo Molinari, Pelle Edberg and Max Orrin were all at two under for the day.