Francesco Laporta set an impressive target for the afternoon wave of players at the Aviv Dubai Championship after the Italian stormed to the top of the leaderboard on 14 under following a magnificent 64 this morning at Jumeirah Golf Estates.
The 31-year-old, who is seeking a first European Tour victory, lit up the Fire course with five birdies on his opening nine holes to make the turn in 31, before adding three more coming home to sign for eight under par at the penultimate event of the season.
“I played solid the last two days, I’ve missed only one green actually,” said Laporta. “My long game is pretty good, my short game needs a bit of work especially my putting - I three-putted three times but at the end of the day I’m pretty happy about my score.
“It was windy yesterday when we started and then it came down a bit, but this morning was completely different. The ball wasn’t flying much like yesterday, maybe one club or more difference. But the conditions were perfect and the scores are just amazing.
“I think this is the result of the hard work I’ve been putting in the last three months, my game is pretty solid. I like to work hard and me and my team, are working really hard and these are the results of that.”
Meanwhile, Paul Waring shot a second round 67 to keep up his chances of retaining full European Tour playing privileges for next season. The Englishman currently sits in 198th on the Race to Dubai, knowing only a victory this week will ensure he keeps hold of his card.
“Started quite nicely, obviously made birdie down one which is always a nice way to start your day, didn’t really get into the round too well after that,” said Waring, who made double-bogey on 13 after losing his ball. “I missed a couple of chances, I think I turned two under par and then had a good little run from there.
“Then I lost a ball down 13, made seven at the par five which put me on the back foot, but from there I bounced back quite nicely and made a few birdies on the way in.
“You’re going to make the odd bad swing and sometimes they come at the wrong time, I missed it in a place you can’t miss it. I was being quite aggressive off that tee anyways, trying to take a tight left line and just pulled it a touch.
“I knew I was swinging it well anyway, it was just one bad swing at the wrong time. Into the next, a par three I hit a great little five iron in there to eight foot so I felt like I was right back on the birdie train again.
First round leader Joachim Hansen and last year’s defending champion Antoine Rozner, who enjoyed a solid first round, were amongst the players teeing off in the afternoon wave.