Staff WriterThe Challenge de España opened at Isla Canela Links with the sort of wind that turns club selection into a small domestic argument, but Ryan van Velzen and Pedro Figueiredo emerged from Thursday’s first round with matching seven under par 64s and a share of the lead.
Both were among the early starters in Spain, which proved useful before the breeze developed a personality of its own. By the close of play, the pair had edged one clear of Ireland’s Mark Power, who sits alone in third after a tidy opening day of his own.
Behind them, Englishman Jamie Rutherford, South Africa’s Bryce Easton and Ireland’s James Sugrue share fourth place on five under par, close enough to make Friday interesting and just far enough back to spend the evening wondering where two more putts might have gone.
Van Velzen Handles The Wind And The Moment
Van Velzen began at the first and wasted little time in making his intentions known, opening with a birdie before adding three consecutive gains midway through his front nine. Out in 31, he had the scorecard looking pleasantly underfed.
The back nine brought more turbulence. The South African mixed five birdies with two bogeys coming home, which in blustery conditions is less a round of golf and more a negotiation with invisible machinery.
“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.”
That last line tells you plenty. In wind, good golf is not about heroics. It is about flight, discipline and resisting the urge to swing like you have just been insulted. Van Velzen did the mature thing. He read it, respected it and still found enough birdies to reach the top.
A Calculated Road To Mallorca Gamble
There is an added layer to Van Velzen’s week. The 25-year-old is eligible for DP World Tour starts this season and has already made eight appearances on the 2026 Race to Dubai.
Yet his current focus is not simply grabbing whatever starts appear. He is trying to build something sturdier through the HotelPlanner Tour and the Road to Mallorca, where the top 15 players earn 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.”
It is a sensible plan, and a rather brave one. Golfers are not generally famous for turning down bigger stages, but Van Velzen appears to be playing the longer game. A low one at the Challenge de España will not complete the job, but it certainly puts another brick in the wall.
Figueiredo Finds His Range At Isla Canela Links
Sharing the lead is Pedro Figueiredo, who produced eight birdies and just one bogey in his opening 64. The Portuguese player currently sits 14th on the Road to Mallorca Rankings, which makes every strong round feel a little more meaningful.
He has already recorded two top-five finishes this season, though the search for week-to-week steadiness continues. When he has made cuts, he has played well. When he has not, the weekends have been rather quieter.
“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.”
The putter clearly behaved for most of the day, aside from that three-putt at the ninth. Grainy greens can make perfectly decent putts look as though they have suddenly remembered an appointment elsewhere, but Figueiredo created enough chances to keep the round moving.
Mark Power Leads The Chase
One stroke back, Mark Power holds solo third. The Irishman has kept himself close enough to apply pressure on Friday without needing to force the issue. In early-season tournament golf, that is often the most comfortable seat in the house: visible on the leaderboard, but not yet carrying the full weight of it.
At five under par, Rutherford, Easton and Sugrue are also firmly in touch. None will feel out of range, particularly on a links-style layout where wind can turn a three-shot gap into a paper hat by lunchtime.
Friday Sets Up A Proper Test
The second round of the Challenge de España gets under way at 08:00 on Friday, and the afternoon tee times for the co-leaders give the rest of the field a morning target to chase.
Figueiredo will tee off at 14:05 alongside Frenchman Julien Quesne and Juan Salama from Spain. Van Velzen follows at 14:25 with Italy’s Ludovico Addabbo and Spaniard Antonio Hortal.
The leaderboard is tight, the wind has already had its say, and both leaders have reasons to see this week as more than just another tournament stop. Van Velzen is trying to turn good rounds into podium finishes. Figueiredo is trying to turn flashes into consistency.
At Isla Canela Links, both men made the opening move. Now comes the less glamorous bit: doing it again when everyone knows exactly where they are.
