Staff WriterIf the desert had a volume knob, Thursday at the Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship turned it up to “lively” and then snapped it clean off. Alejandro Del Rey and Freddy Schott strode into the clubhouse at Royal Golf Club with identical 65s, tying for the first-round lead at seven-under and leaving the rest of the DP World Tour field squinting into the sun, checking the leaderboard, and wondering who ordered the early fireworks.
Del Rey, still wearing the quiet confidence of a man who hasn’t missed a cut in five starts this season, played the opening day like he’d seen the script. The Spaniard—who this week marked the one-year anniversary of his maiden DP World Tour title at the Ras Al Khaimah Championship—set the initial target with five birdies on the front nine, then added two more coming home to post the first serious number in the third event of the International Swing.
He didn’t stay alone for long.
Germany’s Schott delivered the kind of round that makes coaches age and spectators grin. Starting on the back nine, the 24-year-old ripped off six birdies in his first seven holes—an outrageous opening burst that suggested he’d mistaken Round 1 for the Sunday back nine. Then the golf course reminded him, politely but firmly, that it also has teeth.
A double bogey at the first and another dropped shot at the seventh tugged him back into the pack—before he slammed the door with a birdie-eagle finish, holing putts from 17 and 13 feet at the eighth and ninth respectively to rejoin Del Rey at the summit.
And the chase is thick. After day one of the Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship, 28 players sit within four shots, which is another way of saying: nobody’s relaxing, and everyone’s got a pulse.
Canter back in his natural habitat as Reed wrestles the wind
Defending champion Laurie Canter reinforced his fondness for desert golf with a 66, a score that reads like a gentle warning rather than a full-throated statement. He offset a bogey on the seventh with a birdie on the ninth—his 18th—to finish tied for third at six-under.
Canter shares that spot with New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier, Sweden’s Niklas Lemke, Germany’s Nicolai Von Dellingshausen and India’s Shubhankar Sharma, all perched one shot off the lead and close enough to smell it.
Last week’s winner Patrick Reed, meanwhile, found the wind less of a breeze and more of a negotiation. He opened with a 71, leaving himself work to do if he’s to turn a recent win into a two-week strut.
Darkness halts play: 10 players to finish Friday morning
The desert does many things well—sunshine, scenery, suspense—but it doesn’t extend daylight on request. Play was suspended due to darkness at 17:25 local time, with ten players set to return to complete their opening rounds on Friday at 07:15.
What Freddy Schott said
Freddy Schott: It was really good, especially the start. It started off well and finished well, so I’m very pleased.
We started the round nicely with driving the green on 10 and got it going with a long putt on 12 and then used both par 5s. We hit a good shot in on 15 and 16, so it was really good.
I just tried to stay focused. We were still up there, so I just tried to pull it together again and hit my comfortable shots. For me personally, it was a little fairway-finder fade and that got me back in it quite quick.
Coming out of the bunker there on nine, it was a really good shot in and a good putt to finish.
