Francesco Laporta dominates day one in Abu Dhabi

Francesco Laporta matched the lowest round of his DP World Tour career to storm into a three-shot lead after round one of the Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship.

The Italian carded an eagle and eight birdies in a bogey-free 62 to get to ten under at Yas Links, three shots clear of former world number one Jon Rahm, Englishman Sam Bairstow and Austria's Bernd Wiesberger.

In the battle to win the Race to Dubai, leader Eugenio Chacarra and third-placed Rory McIlroy carded rounds of 70, with second-placed Patrick Reed recording a 74.

The top 70 available players from the Race to Dubai Rankings Delivered by DP World are teeing it up in this week's first Play-Off event, with the top 50 then moving on to the season-ending DP World Tour Championship.

Laporta entered the week ranked 57th but will be assured of a place in Dubai if he can maintain anything like the form he showed on day one over the weekend.

"Everything was just going like a video game, like just hitting shots straight and making some putts and just giving myself opportunities," the 36-year-old said. "I'm very happy about that.

"Actually, I was struggling a bit in the last few days. So I had a lot of time on the range yesterday and I spent a lot of time on the greens, just understanding how to work around the lines and the spin because the greens, like they're pure, but they're also quick. So now it works."

Bairstow was the last man in the field and the first man out in the morning, making the most of his opportunity by carding seven birdies in a bogey-free effort.

Spaniard Rahm was playing the event for the first time and was also bogey-free as he looks to make it to Dubai next week.

Wiesberger is currently on track for dual membership with the PGA TOUR and he carded eight birdies and a single bogey to sit a shot ahead of England's Matthew Jordan and Pole Adrian Meronk.

Defending champion Aaron Rai, fellow Englishman Tyrrell Hatton, in-form Japanese Yuto Katsuragawa, China's Wenyi Ding, South African Shaun Norris and Norwegian Kristoffer Reitan were then a further shot back.

Round one is in the books 📚 #AbuDhabiChamps #RolexSeries #ALDAR pic.twitter.com/bI1C5PGrCA

— Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship (@ADGolfChamps) November 5, 2026