Francesco Laporta was happy to see the hard work paying off as he fired a bogey free 64 to head into the weekend just one shot off the lead at the 2021 AVIV Dubai Championship.
The Italian finished in a tie for second over the Fire Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates at last season's inaugural event and his 66-64 start in 2021 means he is 37 under for six rounds played.
While that result was his only top ten on the 2020 Race to Dubai, the 31-year-old has four this term and is happy to have his game on an upward trajectory.
“I think this is the result of the hard work I’ve been putting in the last three months, my game is pretty solid," he said. "I like to work hard and me and my team, are working really hard and these are the results of that.”
Laporta made the most of the par five 13th and then rattled off five birdies in a row from the 15th to catapult himself up the leaderboard on day two.
He holed a 15 footer at the fifth and then spun a wonderful shot back to two feet on the next to establish a two shot lead before he was leapfrogged by defending champion Antoine Rozner.
“I played solid the last two days, I’ve missed only one green actually," he said. "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."
Laporta won the Road to Mallorca in 2019, replacing Joachim B. Hansen as the European Challenge Tour Number One, and the Dane was alongside him at 14 under in Dubai.
I like to work hard and me and my team, are working really hard and these are the results of that
Hansen followed up his opening 63 with a 67 as he stayed bogey free for the week, and was enjoying being at the right end of the leaderboard just ten days short of the anniversary of his first European Tour win at the Joburg Open.
“It was steady," he said. "I hit a lot of greens, a lot of fairways which gave me a lot of opportunities.
"Unfortunately I missed a lot more than I did yesterday but I still think I left some out there, I played very similar golf to yesterday but five under is a good score.
“The shaping - I feel like I can shape it right to left or left to right quite easily on this course.
"The wind is a bit different from yesterday when we played it, a bit of a different course today, but I like playing here. It’s a while since I’ve been up there so I’m just enjoying it.”
