Italy’s Laporta sets a scorching pace in Yas Links opening round

Francesco Laporta of Italy set a hot pace on the opening day of the Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship at the Yas Links on Thursday. Image courtesy DPWT.

Italy’s Laporta sets a scorching pace in Yas Links opening round

By Rahul Banerji

Italy’s Francesco Laporta matched the lowest round of his DP World Tour career for a three-shot lead after round one of the Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship on Thursday.

Laporta had an eagle and eight birdies in his bogey-free 10 under par 62 to sit three shots clear of former world no. 1 Jon Rahm, England’s Sam Bairstow and Bernd Wiesberger of Austria, the DPWT said.

The top 70 from the Race to Dubai are in action at this week’s with the top 50 moving on to the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.

Laporta entered the week ranked 57th but will be assured of a place in Duabi if he can maintain anything like the form he showed on day one over the next three days.

The 36-year-old had four birdies and eagled the par-5 7th before picking up a further four shots on his inbound nine holes to be well clear of the chasing pack.

Perfect shape

“Today, everything was in perfect  shape,” the Italian said later. “My short game was really good, I just started to make some putts from No. 6 on.

“Long game was pretty good. I had a lot of opportunities. The course is amazing. The ball is running so good on the greens, probably the best greens of the year.

“Everything was just going like a video game, like just hitting shots straight and making some putts and just giving myself opportunities. I’m very happy about that.”

Bairstow was the last man in the field and the first man out in the morning, making the most of his opportunity by carding seven birdies in his bogey-free card.

Spain’s Rahm was playing the event for the first time and was also bogey-free as he looks to make it to Dubai next week.

“Obviously a very good score,” the former LIV Golf star said. 

“I think the highlight today was my iron game. Very good with the irons. Gave myself plenty of chances and obviously holed a few.

Lucky breaks

“I would say, though, I got away with a couple of bad swings. Had a tee shot on 3, and then up the middle of fairway, a tee shot on 11, being able to find that and have a birdie putt.

“But overall, yeah, I shot really nice today.

“I think sometimes when your expectation is a little lower than usual, where I just kept thinking, listen, if we have a bad day, we have a bad day.”

Wiesberger is currently on track for membership on the PGA Tour and he had eight birdies and one bogey to sit a shot ahead of England’s Matthew Jordan and Pole Adrian Meronk.

Defending champion Aaron Rai, fellow Englishman Tyrrell Hatton, in-form Japanese Yuto Katsuragawa, China’s Wenyi Ding, South African Shaun Norris and Norwegian Kristoffer Reitan were then a further shot back.

In the battle to win the Race to Dubai, leader Eugenio Chacarra carded a 2 under 70 while second-placed Patrick Reed recorded a 2 over 74.

Heavy price

Third-placed Rory McIlroy, who is chasing an eighth Race to Dubai title, also signed for a 70 that included a two-shot penalty on the 12th hole under Rule 8.1b(4).

According to the Tour, “McIlroy was penalised two strokes under Rule 8.1b(4) for his actions immediately before playing his fourth stroke, his second chip shot from the rough, on the 12th hole…

“Rule 8.1b(4) permits a player to ground their club lightly right in front of or behind the ball. 

“Ground the club lightly” means allowing the weight of the club to be supported by the grass on or above the ground surface and there is no penalty even if the lie is improved. 

“However, a player is not allowed to press the club on the ground.

“Having reviewed the footage, McIlroy was unable to say whether he had pressed the club on the ground or not. 

“However, given his concern over perception of the footage, he was not comfortable proceeding without penalty. He therefore chose to apply a two stroke penalty.”

Said the world no. 2 later, “They showed me a video from 12. Hit my first chip shot from down on the bottom of the hill, then get up, came back down and rolled into a divot.

Tough call

“And then as I went to sort of just get a feel for the lie, the close-up of the camera, you can see a little piece of grass around the divot sort of lies down as I put my club down behind the ball, and it doesn’t — I guess the grass doesn’t return back to its original position.

“Obviously there’s no intent. I play by the rules. I try to do everything that I can to never end up in these positions.

“But just by looking at the video, it doesn’t look very good. Obviously that wasn’t my intent. I’m just trying to get a feel for the lie. The ball is in a sort of bottom of a sandy divot. 

“I’m trying to feel if I can get a 54-degree onto the back of the ball, but in the process, this piece of grass has sort of laid down, and it doesn’t — I guess the technical term for the rule is if you press down on the piece.

“I don’t feel like I pressed down. But at the same time, I don’t want the perception of people thinking I got away with something either. So I’m happy to take a 2-shot penalty and move on and move into tomorrow.”

Also read: Past winners crowd the field at Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship