George Coetzee and Tommy Fleetwood remained in contention to secure a place in the Masters as Andy Sullivan, Alexander Levy, Marcel Siem and Ross Fisher all missed out in Morocco.
Coetzee and Fleetwood need to win the Hassan Trophy at Golf du Palais Royal to book a trip to Augusta in a fortnight's time and reached halfway just one and three shots off the lead respectively.
But the quartet of Sullivan, Levy, Siem and Fisher – who required similar results – all missed the halfway cut in Agadir, with 2013 champion Siem crashing from joint sixth overnight with a second round of 79.
Spain's Rafael Cabrera-Bello, Australian Richard Green, Scotland's Richie Ramsay and Wales' Oliver Farr shared the lead on six under par, with Coetzee part of a five-strong group on five under as the top 32 players were separated by just four shots.
Fleetwood added a 71 to his opening 70 to lie three under, while Levy and Siem missed the cut by a shot and Sullivan’s chances disappeared with a nine on the par-four fourth in his 75. Fisher finished 10 over after back-to-back rounds of 77.
Sullivan has won twice on the European Tour already this season but admitted after his round that his preparation for the event had not been ideal.
“There was a lot of pressure on my shoulders to perform. I tried to take it off as much as possible but came into it with not really enough preparation.
“I hit a lot of good shots but the bad ones really hurt me. That’s golf and I am lucky to just have the opportunity to get into the Masters to be honest. If someone had said that at the start of the year I would have said ‘no chance’.
“To have the opportunity to do it was amazing but it’s golf, it comes back and bites you a lot of the time.
“I need to go away and work harder and bounce back from this, but I am not going to be too downhearted. I look back on the golf I have played this year and I have played well.”
Waterford's Kevin Phelan kept up his fine recent form with a second successive round of 70 getting him to four under and leave him just two shots off the pace.
The 24-year-old started on the 10th hole in his second round, and although he bogeyed both the 10th and 18th, he also enjoyed a red-hot streak of five birdies in six holes from the 12th to turn in three-under 33.
He carded two bogeys and a birdie over the front nine and Phelan will be looking for a big round on Saturday to get right in contention.
Former winner Michael Hoey could only manage a one-over 73 in his second round as he drifted out to one under going into the weekend.
A bogey on his final hole, the ninth, saw Damian McGrane miss the cut by s hot as he carded a one-under 71 to finish on three over. Gareth Maybin's 76 left him on six over, while Peter Lawrie was two shots further back after also signing for a 76.
