Francesco Laporta (born 10 October 1990) is an Italian

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

who plays on the

European Tour The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fift ...

. He won two tournaments on the

2019 Challenge Tour The 2019 Challenge Tour was a series of professional golf tournaments collectively known as the Challenge Tour. The Challenge Tour is Europe's official developmental tour and is organised by the PGA European Tour. It was introduced in 1986 and wa ...

Amateur career

Laporta started playing as a 13-year old at the San Domenico Golf in

Brindisi Brindisi ( , ) ; la, Brundisium; grc, Βρεντέσιον, translit=Brentésion; cms, Brunda), group=pron is a city in the region of Apulia in southern Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. Histo ...

and developed his amateur career in Italy and South Africa. After playing in a few professional tournaments in the Alps Tour as an amateur, he turned professional in 2013 on the

Sunshine Tour The Sunshine Tour is a men's professional golf tour based in Southern and East Africa. For much of its early history it was known either as the South African Tour or Sunshine Circuit; through sponsorship deals, it has also been known as the Vod ...

Professional career

Between 2013 and 2015 Laporta played full time in the Sunshine Tour, reaching his best career professional finish with a tie for second at the 2013

Zimbabwe Open The Zimbabwe Open is a professional golf tournament held in Zimbabwe, currently played on the Sunshine Tour. History The tournament was first played in 1984 and from 1985 to 1992 was part of the Safari Circuit, a collection of events in Africa ...

where he also set a course record. At the end of 2015, Laporta earned his 2016 European Tour card at the

Qualifying School In professional golf, the term qualifying school is used for the annual qualifying tournaments for leading golf tours such as the U.S.-based PGA and LPGA Tours and the European Tour. A fixed number of players in the event win membership of the ...

. Laporta's best result in the 2016 European Tour season came at the

Trophée Hassan II The Hassan II Golf Trophy is a golf tournament in Morocco hosted by Prince Moulay Rachid. The tournament was founded by, and is now named for, his father, Hassan II, who served as King of Morocco. The tournament was originally staged as an invita ...

where finished T-22, after leading the competition after two rounds. He lost his card at the end of the season after finishing 189th in the Order of Merit. From 2017 to 2019 Laporta has played on the

Challenge Tour The Challenge Tour is the second-tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European Tour and, as with on the main European Tour and the European Senior Tour, some of the events are played outside Europe. History The ...

. He finished 48 in the Order of Merit in

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and 52nd in

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

. His best finish in those two seasons was to be tied for third place in the 2017

Barclays Kenya Open The Kenya Open, titled as the Magical Kenya Open for sponsorship reasons, is a professional golf tournament in Kenya founded in 1967. History The Kenya Open was an associate event on the Far East Circuit in 1967 and 1968, after which it became a ...

. Laporta started 2019 well when he was runner-up in the opening event of the season, the Turkish Airlines Challenge, losing in a sudden-death playoff to

Connor Syme Connor David Syme (born 11 July 1995) is a Scottish professional golfer. He won the 2019 Turkish Airlines Challenge on the Challenge Tour. Amateur career Syme won the 2016 Australian Amateur championship. He was also medalist at the 2016 Amateu ...

. In October he finished tied for 7th place in the Italian Open to earn his biggest prize. The following week he won the Hainan Open, finishing a stroke ahead of

Robin Roussel Robin Roussel (born 26 August 1993) is a French professional golfer who plays on the European Tour. In May 2019, he won the Hauts de France – Pas de Calais Golf Openon the Challenge Tour. Professional career As an amateur, Roussel reached the ...

, a result that guaranteed him promotion to the

for 2020. In November 2019 he won the

Challenge Tour Grand Final The Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final is the season-ending tour championship on the Challenge Tour. The field currently consists of the top 45 players on the Challenge Tour rankings vying for fifteen European Tour cards. It has been played annually ...

, taking the

Order of Merit The Order of Merit (french: link=no, Ordre du Mérite) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by K ...

title.

Professional wins (3)

Challenge Tour wins (2)

¹Co-sanctioned by the

China Tour The China Tour is a China-based men's professional golf tours, professional golf tour run by the China Golf Association. An earlier tour, the Omega China Tour, ran from 2004 to 2009. From 2014 to 2016 the tour was organised with the PGA Tour Chin ...

Challenge Tour playoff record (0–1)

Italian Pro Tour wins (1)

Team appearances

Amateur *

European Amateur Team Championship The European Amateur Team Championship is a European amateur team golf championship for men organised by the European Golf Association which was introduced in 1959. The championship was played in odd-numbered years from 1959 to 2007 and has been ...

(representing Italy):

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Professional *

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

(representing Italy):

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Laporta, Francesco Italian male golfers European Tour golfers Sportspeople from the Metropolitan City of Bari 1990 births Living people