Day one digest: 2021 Canary Islands Championship

Everything you need to know from day one at Golf Costa Adeje.

Laporta was low, Enoch was fast, Arnaus was happy and Garcia-Heredia was reflective on the opening day of the 2021 Canary Islands Championship.

Here is everything you need to know from Thursday on Tenerife.

Laporta goes low

After a slow start the 2021 Race to Dubai, Francesco Laporta was under par for nine of his last ten rounds arriving into this week and on day one he made that count with a seriously low one. The Italian carded the lowest round of his European Tour career with a 62 that moved him to nine under and handed him a one shot lead over local favourite Scott Fernandez. He had us all on 59 Watch at nine under after 14 holes and while he could not break that threshold as he parred his way home, he was rightly happy with his day's work. "It was one of those days when everything goes in the right direction," he said. "I started thinking about 59 also, when I was nine under through 14. On 17 I was putting for birdie from five metres. I was thinking 'just make this and go for eagle on the last'. I wasn't so lucky on the last hole, my drive went into the trees. But I'm still nine under so I'm pretty happy about the round."

Enoch gets excited after a flier

There are fast starts and there are fast starts. Two eagles in your first three holes is pretty fast. Seven under after five is bordering on ridiculous. Eight under after eight is a very, very early 59 Watch. But that wasn't good enough for Rhys Enoch. He was thinking about ten under after nine. "I think I just got a little excited," he said. "I was calm but excited on 18 because I was thinking it was a reachable par five to go ten under through nine. I wasn't getting excited or thinking about that (shooting 59). I did a really good job of just putting that in a drawer and hitting the next shot, until the 18th tee I suppose. It's always in your head but I wasn't thinking about it." Enoch signed for a 65 and is just three off the lead.

Like a fine wine..........

It has been quite a golfing journey for Alfredo Garcia-Heredia. A Qualifying School graduate in 2008 and 2010, he has played just nine European Tour events since 2012 and has a single top ten from his 68 in total. But he was right in the mix last week until a disappointing closing round and an opening 64 has him in contention again after 18 holes. "I'm a much better player now," he said. "Probably when I had my European Tour card I didn't deserve it, and now that I don't have a card my game is at a really nice level to be on Tour. I just need to compete more. These three tournaments (in the Canary Islands) are good for me. The next two in Spain, the Spanish Open and Valderrama are going to be great. I'm going to try to compete more during the year." There wouldn't be a much more popular winner this week.

Arnaus loving island life

Adri Arnaus went 66-66 last weekend over this layout and on Thursday he went lower still with a 64. With the help of two eagles, he beat the 65 he posted this time last week, and the home favourite could not hide his delight. "I couldn't be more happy after one week here already," he said. "It was pretty intense over the weekend and I was able to rest up and get ready for this week. You can't take it for granted, even if you play well the week before. We don't take as long over the shots now that we know what we have in front of us. At the end of the day, it's nice because you can rest up a bit more, you don't have to study the course. You can just go out there and enjoy this beautiful island." Adri has been tipped for a win for a long time. Could this be the week?

Getting shirty

Scott Hend never lets us down with his golfing attire.

And on Thursday Joël Stalter was getting involved too.