Italy’s Francesco Laporta reeled off five birdies in succession to close out a stunning 9-under-par second round and take a one-shot lead into the weekend at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship presented by EGA.
The World No.124, who won twice on the Challenge Tour last year to top the rankings and earn his European Tour card for 2020, went out in 33 and came home in 30 to finish clear of the Ryder Cup pair Matt Fitzpatrick and Rafa Cabrera Bello on 10-under-par.
“I played solid for 18 holes,” smiled Laporta. “My putting was solid, my driver, my irons. I gave myself a lot of opportunity for birdies and when I had the opportunities, I took them. It felts like every time I was putting for birdie, I made it. It was a great day.”
Fitzpatrick carded another bogey-free round as he followed a 68 with a 67 and he held the outright lead for most of the afternoon until he was joined late on by surges from Cabrera Bello and then overtaken by Laporta.
Last year was the first season in the young Englishman’s career that he didn’t claim a victory on the European Tour but his consistency was there with four runner-up finishes and he was in contention to win The Race to Dubai at the DP World Tour Championship.
“For the first week of the year, to have no bogeys – I couldn’t ask for a better start,” said Fitzpatrick. “I’ve just played really disciplined golf and it’s worked out well so far.”
A win this week would make him the youngest Englishman to earn six titles on the European Tour and would mark his first Rolex Series title.
A pair of former Dubai Desert Classic champions in Haotong Li and Sergio Garcia sit two strokes back alongside first round leader Renato Paratore on 8-under-par.
England’s Lee Westwood followed a 69 with a 68 to lie on 7-under alongside former Oman Open winner Kurt Kitayama, American debutant Patrick Cantlay and South African Louis Oosthuizen.
Meanwhile local amateur Josh Hill followed yesterday’s 74 with a 76 for a 36-hole score of 6-over-par to miss out on the weekend’s action.
The 15-year-old Dubai-born Englishman outscored European Tour winners Chris Wood, Ashun Wu and Aaron Rai and will now head off to practise ahead of next week’s Dubai Desert Classic while World No.16 Bryson DeChambeau and defending champion Shane Lowry also missed the cut.
Other leading lights who failed to progress include Ryder Cup star Ian Poulter, Eddie Pepperell, Danny Willett, Padraig Harrington, Viktor Hovland and former Abu Dhabi winners Robert Rock, Pablo Larrazabal and Jamie Donaldson.
UAE’s young amateur Ahmed Skaik also missed the cut with a two-round total of 25-over-par.
