Ryan van Velzen and Pedro Figueiredo share a one-stroke lead following the first round of the Challenge de España at Isla Canela Links.
The duo, among Thursday’s early starters in Spain, both signed for seven under par opening rounds of 64 in blustery conditions to move clear of Irishman Mark Power, who holds solo third.
Van Velzen, starting on the first, opened with a birdie before rattling off three consecutive gains midway through his front nine to head out in 31 strokes. The South African would then mix five birdies with two bogeys coming home to move to seven under par for the day.
“I played really well today,” he said. “I hit a lot of good putts and a lot of good shots. I kept it tidy with the wind picking up on the back nine.
“I holed some good putts during that stretch with a lot from ten foot and in which kept my momentum going.
“It was probably a two-club wind on the back nine today, but we just kept going, making birdies, hitting proper shots and reading the wind well.”
Van Velzen is eligible for starts on the DP World Tour this year and has made eight appearances on the 2026 Race to Dubai so far.
However, having impressed on the HotelPlanner Tour in recent weeks, the 25-year-old is committed to trying to earn promotion via the Road to Mallorca, with the top 15 players earning playing privileges on Golf’s Global Tour.
“I made a decision to try and stick to playing HotelPlanner Tour events even though I am getting in DP World Tour events, to try and cement my place and have a better job for next year,” van Velzen added.
“I’ve been solid with a lot of good rounds even though I’m not getting into the podium finishes yet, but I’ve been close. I seem to be trending in the right direction.”
Figueiredo mixed eight birdies with a bogey during his impressive opening round. The Portuguese, who currently sits 14th on the Road to Mallorca Rankings, is striving for consistency having already notched two top five finishes so far this season.
“I haven’t been super consistent yet,” he said.
“I’ve missed four cuts, but in the four tournaments where I made the cut, I played really well — a couple of top five finishes. I feel like I’m playing well, and hopefully I can get a good result this week.
“I putted well overall. I three-putted on the ninth, which was the only bogey of the day, but apart from that I had a lot of chances. I didn’t make all of them, of coureasy;ut that’s normal — the greens aren’t easy, they have a bit of grain to them. But overall, I’m very happy with the round.”
Englishman Jamie Rutherford, South Africa’s Bryce Easton and James Sugrue from Ireland share fourth position on five under par.
The second round of the Challenge de España gets under way at 08:00 on Friday with Van Velzen teeing off at 14:25 alongside Ludovico Addabbo from Italy and Spaniard Antonio Hortal. Figueiredo will tee off at 14:05 with Frenchman Julien Quesne and Juan Salama from Spain.
