Canary Islands 2021 R1
May 06-09
Golf Costa Adeje, Tenerife, Spain
€1,500,000
Round 2, Round 3, Round 4

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

Francesco Laporta carded the lowest round of his European Tour career to hit the front after day one of the 2021 Canary Islands Championship.

Canary Islands 2021 R1

"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 get a bit nervous every time I go very low. It's not the first time I've shot nine under on the main Tour, but in the first round you want to play well. 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."

Canary Islands 2021 R1

Laporta won twice on the European Challenge Tour and came close to a maiden European Tour win last season when he finished second at the Golf in Dubai Championship presented by DP World.

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.

"I just stuck to it," said Fernandez. "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."

Canary Islands 2021 R1

"Bogeyed the par three 14th but I knew I was playing OK, just had to keep going shot by shot, as simple as that. Drove it quite nicely on 15, had a chance there and just hit it really close to about a foot. 16 is a tough par three, gave myself a nice putt there and it went in. Then 17 I hit a really long drive there to attack the pin. It was a back pin with a little drop behind, but I had a good number and gave myself another chance. On 18 also I finished strong."

"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."

"You just know where to go, how the greens are. They are really small so you know the pics already, the fast putts, where the safe sides are. Knowing that a bit more you know when to attack and when to hold back a bit."

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.

"I played the five par fives well - I made five birdies there," said Garcia-Heredia. "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."

"I'm a much better player now. Probably when I had my European Tour card (ten years ago) I didn't deserve it, and now that I don't have a card my game is at a really nice level to be on Tour. I just need to compete more. These three tournaments (in the Canary Islands) are good for me. The next two in Spain, the Spanish Open and Valderrama are going to be great. I'm going to try to compete more during the year."

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 go on to sign for a 65 and join the group at six under par.

Canary Islands 2021 R1