Francesco Laporta (-10) has seized the lead at the South African Open after completing the first round of play on the second day at the Stellenbosch Golf Club. The 35-year-old Italian golfer, originally from Castellana Grotte, delivered an impressive scorecard of 64 strokes with seven birdies and a solitary bogey, precisely in the last tournament of the day. Laporta has three victories on the Challenge Tour but has yet to open his record on the DP World Tour. He has two runner-up finishes and fifteen top 10s. This week, however, he has a very special motivation.
Laporta is competing in this South African Open not only for himself but also for Andrea Pavan, his compatriot and peer who suffered a terrible accident last Wednesday right there in Stellenbosch, falling three floors down an elevator shaft. An accident we reported on Ten Golf with all the details from Andrea’s caddie, the Andalusian Francisco Mateo.
Andrea Pavan, operado de urgencia (y con éxito) tras un grave accidente en Sudáfrica
Pavan is just a year older than Laporta, so they have shared golf throughout their lives. In fact, Francesco was one of the first to arrive at the hospital where Andrea underwent emergency surgery on the same Wednesday, alongside Matteo Manassero and Job Sugranyes, a Spanish caddie. Nothing would delight Laporta more than winning such a prestigious tournament as the South African Open this week and dedicating it to his friend after the terrible experience he has gone through. By the way, the news Ten Golf received today is that Pavan is gradually improving after the more than seven-hour surgery he underwent on Wednesday night.
There is still a long way to go for this to happen, but at least he has created the opportunity with 36 holes to go. It should be noted that Laporta is in his element in South Africa. Not surprisingly, he was a member of the Sunshine Tour for two years, between 2013 and 2015, shortly before making the leap to the DP World Tour. He didn’t manage to win, but he did achieve very good results, such as a runner-up finish at the Zimbabwe Open in 2013. He comes from a good season in 2025, where he narrowly missed the Dubai Final, and is in good form, as evidenced by his fourth place last week at the Magical Kenya Open.
Laporta has a one-stroke lead over Englishman Nathan Kimsey (-9), two over South African Dean Burmester (-8), and three over Joe Dean (-7) and Hennie Du Plessis (-7). The latter has broken the course record with a round of 63 strokes. If no one manages to improve that result for the remainder of the tournament, he will have secured an extra prize of 100,000 dollars, courtesy of Nexo. It is the accumulated prize that no one had yet won and was reserved for the first to break a course record.
As for the Spanish players who played in the morning, Rafa Cabrera Bello (-2) has secured the cut with a very eventful round of 68 strokes. He made no less than seven birdies, which compensated for two errors in the form of a double bogey and a triple bogey. In contrast, Jorge Campillo and Manu Elvira have missed the weekend. Ernie Els will also not be part of the event, although he made a birdie on the 17th after reaching the green in one, nor will Charl Schwartzel. Patrick Reed (PAR) continues, although he is far from the lead.
