Francesco Laporta maintained his position at the summit of the leaderboard at the Challenge de Madrid with a one under par 69 to reach seven under par at the competition’s halfway stage.
The Italian followed up a sublime six under par 64 with a solid second round, dropping just one shot over 18 holes on the European Challenge Tour.
The 25 year old, who was twice a winner of the Italian Amateur Championship, sits one shot ahead of his nearest rivals in the Spanish capital.
And the Bari-based player is hoping to build on a successful start to his first Challenge Tour event of the season at the picturesque Real Club de Golf La Herrería over the weekend.
“I am very happy with how it went today,” he said. “I didn’t hit it very well off the tee but my recovery was good and my short game was really strong. I made four or five really good up and downs and I was excellent around the greens.
“I didn’t play too well on the front nine – I three putted on the par three 7th– but I was consistent over the back nine. My putting was good again today, I made some really crucial par putts from around six or seven feet, which bodes well for the weekend.
“The course was a bit tougher today as it was playing longer and there were some tough pins so it was not easy to put the ball close to the hole. The greens were also a lot faster than yesterday.
“But I feel that I can still score as there was hardly any wind, I just have to make sure I am dead straight off the tee.
“Over the weekend I will just continue to do what I have done well over the past two days and will try to carry on playing my best golf.”
One shot adrift on Laporta is Sweden’s Sebastian Soderberg, the winner of the Barclays Kenya Open in the first event on the 2016 Road to Oman, who is one of three players in contention on six under par.
Amateur Champion Romain Langasque, who finished tied for fifth place in his professional debut at the Red Sea Egyptian Challenge Presented by Hassan Allam Properties last week, is two behind Laporta alongside Scotland’s Duncan Stewart whose four under par 66 was one of the rounds of the day.
Pedro Oriol finished as the highest placed Spaniard in his nation’s capital on four under par while his fellow countryman Eduardo Larrañga battled for a par 70 to reach one over par – the cut line for the weekend.
