Italy’s Francesco Laporta leads the Road to Mallorca after taking the first round lead in the Challenge Tour Grand Final with a three-under par 68. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

FRANCESCO Laporta began the Challenge Tour Grand Final occupying the second position on the Road to Mallorca rankings… but now the Italian is projected to become Challenge Tour No. 1 by Sunday, after taking the first-round lead.

Laporta carded five birdies against only two bogeys to sign for a three -under par 68, which was one shot better than his nearest rivals on the difficult Club de Golf Alcanada layout.

“It was a tough round today,” said Laporta. “The wind came up this morning, then went down and then it came up again during the last couple of holes.

“I played solid and only missed a couple of putts on the first two holes, but after that the putter worked better.

“I’m pretty happy about my round and we’ll just have to see what happens in the next few days.

“The No. 1 spot is in my mind, for sure. I came here to fight for the first spot and I will fight all week for that.

“It’s a good start and hopefully I have another one tomorrow.”

Laporta’s strong start continues an impressive run of form for the 29-year-old, who recently finished as the low-Italian at the European Tour’s Italian Open, a Rolex Series event, before winning the Hainan Open the following week.

Laporta holds a one-stroke advantage over home-favourite Sebastian Garcia-Rodriguez and Welshman Rhys Enoch, who each carded rounds of 70.

Now the Challenge Tour Grand Final is under way, the projected Road to Mallorca rankings come into focus – with the leading 15 players on the season-long points race earning European Tour cards at the end of the week.

While Garcia-Rodriguez began the tournament positioned 13^th on the order of merit, Enoch teed it up outside of the coveted cut off in 25th.

But the winner of the D+D Real Slovakia Challenge in July, who currently sits in a two-way tie for second place, is now projected to climb inside the magic number – and finish the year in 13^th.

Enoch, who hailed from Cornwall, but now lives in Cardiff, said: “It was very tricky. I don’t think we realised how tricky it was going to be.

“I think the wind was quite calm earlier and I thought the scoring was going to be low.

“It’s just easy to drop shots, really, really easy. I did that really well today – keeping the bogeys off the card – with only one drop,” said a happy Enoch.

“So it was just about patience and missing in the right spots, especially with how sloped the greens are.

“The wind on the front nine was all over the place. I’m really pleased.

“There are plenty of different outcomes, but I’m focused on winning really.

“Second would probably be enough if I’m on my own, but then I’m relying on a lot of other people.

“I’ve just got to try and win because that takes care of it, so that’s my aim,” added Enoch, who became a father when Carter was born in August.

Oliver Farr, who came into the Grand Final holding the 15^th and final European Tour card, overcame a triple bogey and a double bogey to finish his round in a tie for 11^th place on one-over.

That is currently enough for the Welshman – who grew up playing golf at Kidderminster’s Cleobury Golf Club – to hold onto the final graduation spot, having lost his European Tour card in 2015 and 2018.

Farr, who is attached to Hereford’s Burghill GC, said: “There were two bad holes but 16 pretty good ones and looking at the scoring today, to only have two holes where I dropped shots today is pretty good.

“Obviously I dropped a lot of shots on those holes. It was a challenging day on the greens, but I felt like I handled them pretty well, and hopefully we can make amend for these errors tomorrow.

“Playing the practice round it was one of the first weeks where I haven’t been able to feel what a good score was,” said Farr, who played less events this season to spend more time with his family – after becoming a father for the second time in April, and following a bereavement in his family since.

“Sometimes you can sense what a good score is. People were asking me and I didn’t know. I thought the set-up was fair,” added 31-year-old Farr, winner of the Lalla Aicha Challenge Tour, in Morocco, in early October.

“There were some tough pins and that’s probably why the scoring is down, but I’m only a few shots behind and it’s early days yet, so hopefully I can push up.”

Challenge Tour Grand Final debutant Garcia-Rodriguez was happy to be playing on the Balearic island.

Sebastian said: “The golf course is amazing. The greens are very difficult.

“The key for me today was the second shot. My strategy on the tee box was to hit a lot of drivers, which set me up nicely.

“In general I’m so happy. It’s my first time playing in the Challenge Tour Grand Final and this start has made me so happy.

“I don’t feel any additional pressure. It’s the next tournament. It’s the same – the same balls, the same clubs, the same tees,” Garcia-Rodriguez added.

“The conditions are probably the best we’ve had the entire year in terms of difficulty. It’s so hard and it feels similar to the European Tour.

“My game plan has been the same for the entire year. At the start of this year I told myself I would just take it shot-by-shot.

“I played 10 tournaments on the Alps Tour at the start of the year after losing my Challenge Tour status two years ago, and this wasn’t even in my mind in January of this year.

“So for me I’m just so happy to be here.”

The second round of the Challenge Tour Grand Final begins on Friday at 7.30am GMT with Laporta, Garcia-Rodriguez and Enoch set to go at 10.05am.

•For live scoring at Club de Golf Alcanada click here.

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Dutchman Wil Besseling is hoping for a late run at the Challenge Tour Grand Final, at Mallorca’s lub de Golf Alcanada. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

WIL Besseling goes into the Challenge Tour Grand Final with a real chance of earning a European Tour card at the end of the week.

Such an outcome would complete a drastic change in fortunes for the player ranked No. 18 on the Road to Mallorca going into the season’s climax on the Spanish island.

The Dutchman was the first man to miss out on a spot in the season-finale in 2018, finishing 46th in the rankings.

And, prior to the event, Besseling was just 359 points behind last-man-in Antoine Rozner.

However, bolstered by a tie for third place at the Hainan Open, Besseling will tee it up at Club de Golf Alcanada, Mallorca, just two places outside the all-important top 15 with success on Sunday at the forefront of his mind.

“Being here and being in the Grand Final is nice,” said Besseling. “The Challenge Tour has done a good job in finding this place and having the Grand Final here.

“I’ve been playing decent over the last two months. I feel my game has grown and mentally I’m getting stronger so hopefully I can do well this week.

“Obviously I need a good finish here to get my card, but I’m feeling confident to actually do it, so hopefully on Sunday I’ll be able to get my card,” Besseling added.

“It’s a new course for everyone so it’s hard to think about scores, so I’m not thinking about that.

“You need to do everything well to actually win this event because everyone is playing well and everyone’s got a chance to win this week.”

The 33-year-old Dutchman was in contention for his first European Challenge Tour win in 11 years in Hainan.

But after finding the water on the penultimate hole he carded a double-bogey, that forced him to settle for a share of third place.

A tied 46th place finish in the Foshan Open ended a strong two weeks for the man from The Netherlands – during which he more than halved his Road to Mallorca ranking.

Besseling said” “I was 40th going into China so missing out again did go through my mind. But I felt good going into those events.

“The last few months have been going well so I was happy to be in contention in the first week in China in Hainan.

“I actually expected a bit more in the second week. I wanted to be in a similar position to the week before – but that’s golf I guess.

“I was pretty pleased with how I played in China and it gave me a chance to get my card this week. It’s been good and hopefully I can get the job done.”

The Challenge Tour Grand Final is the 24th and final event on the Road to Mallorca, where the top 45 players compete for one of 15 European Tour cards on offer.

Such is the breakdown of prize money this week in Mallorca, any player will graduate to the European Tour with a victory – giving everyone in the field a shot at glory.

There are nine English and three Scots in the field. Gleneagles’ two-time winner Calum Hill heads the money list while Hampshire’s Richard Bland will be hoping for a repeat of his Challenge Tour Grand Final win in Bordeaux, in 2001 – still the 46-year-old’s only victory of his professional career.

Bland, who is ranked third, is one of three English players inside the top 15 before play commences.

The likes of Cheshire’s Matthew Jordan (10th), and Lancashire’s Jack Senior (7th), who have a win each on the Challenge Tour in 2019, are hoping to maintain their place in the top 15 to ensure graduation.

Meanwhile Wiltshire’s Ben Stow (17th) will be hoping to move up at least two places to gatecrash the party.

Oliver Farr (15th) and Rhys Enoch (25th) will fly the flag for Wales this week, while Cormac Sharvin is Northern Ireland’s sole representative in Mallorca, sitting pretty currently in ninth place.

Playing privileges on the top tier is not the only prize on offer this week, as the battle to be crowned Challenge Tour No. 1 reaches its conclusion.

Italy’s Francesco Laporta, who is currently second, hopes to make up the 5,277 points to overtake Hill at top – and prevent any charge from Bland, who is another 1,712 points behind.

The Challenge Tour Grand Final will begin at 7.30am GMT with France’s Ugo Coussaud, Somerset’s Laurie Canter and Spaniard Carlos Pigem playing in the first group out, with Besseling set to go off at 9.09am.

•For live scoring click here.

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