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Francesco Laporta carded the lowest round of his European Tour career to hit the front after day one of the 2021 Canary Islands Championship.
The Italian was a picture of consistency last week as Golf Costa Adeje hosted the first of back-to-back tournaments, but he showed he had truly found his feet in the final event of the Canary Islands Swing, posting a 62 to get to nine under par and lead by one from Spain’s Scott Fernandez.
The home contingent are well represented on the top half of the leaderboard, with Alfredo Garcia Heredia and Adri Arnaus then at seven under par alongside Joël Stalter of France, while Pep Angles is amongst ten players at six under par.
A 2015 Qualifying School graduate and two-time Challenge Tour winner, Laporta triggered the second ‘59 watch’ of the day as he got to nine under after 14 holes but parred his way in to card his best round of the 2021 Race to Dubai by five shots.
Earlier in the day Rhys Enoch of Wales had raced into the early lead, going nine under through eight holes thanks to a birdie-eagle-eagle-birdie-birdie start, before recording back to back bogeys around the turn to sign for a 65 and join the group at six under par.
Player Quotes
Francesco Laporta: "It was one of those days when everything goes in the right direction. I started thinking about 59 also when I was nine under through 14. On 17 I was putting for birdie from five metres. I was thinking 'just make this and go for eagle on the last'. I wasn't so lucky on the last hole, my drive went into the trees. But I'm still nine under so I'm pretty happy about the round.
"I saw this scores this morning with Rhys Enoch, who was eight under after eight and I knew the course would give us lots of chances to make birdies. You start to feel a bit of pressure when you start to think about a 59, but then you just need to concentrate on your game and try to do your best."
Scott Fernandez: "I just stuck to it. The moment the round changed for me was on 11, I holed a nice bunker shot, it was perfect. That kind of got me going. It was tricky on the back nine with the wind, a few shots were hard to judge with the upslope. I was just trying every time to pick a good number and hit the target. Came in with a few nice shots.
"The front nine is kind of tricky right next to the ocean, you get all the wind. But hey, we've been playing here for more than a week now. I missed the cut by one last week, had a nice practice over the weekend and worked pretty hard, got a bit of rest, nice practice rounds Monday and Tuesday. Those little things just add up."
Alfredo Garcia-Heredia: "I played the five par fives well - I made five birdies there. I played solid on the par threes, saved some good pars - on the 15th especially. I've been playing well the last few weeks and just kept doing what I have been doing.