Scotland’s Calum Hill surged into a commanding four-shot lead after equalling the course record with a flawless 11-birdie 61 at the Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship on Friday.
Hill was in complete control during the morning wave at Royal Golf Club, matching the tournament record set by Brandon Robinson Thompson in the opening round last year to reach 16 under at the halfway stage.
The two-time DP World Tour winner moved clear of Germany’s Freddy Schott, who followed his opening 65 with a 67 to sit on 12 under, while France’s Ugo Coussaud occupied third on nine under.
“Today was really good,” Hill said. “I started well and then had a few bonus putts from long range drop in, and I just kept making birdies. It was nice.
“That’s obviously my best round in competitive golf. I knew the course record was 11 under, so I knew I had to hole the last putt to break it. It looked good in the air but just went long, so it was nice to finish with a birdie. Very happy.”
Starting in the second group of the day, Hill birdied the opening hole and added three more from the fourth to draw level with Schott at nine under. Further birdies at the 9th and 10th nudged him clear before clinical approaches at the 13th and 14th set up tap-in birdies to briefly extend his advantage.
Schott kept the pressure on with a birdie at the 13th and a 22-foot eagle at the 14th to close within touching distance, but Hill finished strongly with three closing birdies to stretch his lead to four.
Schott dropped a shot at the 15th, recovered with a birdie at the 17th, and closed with a bogey to remain second.
Coussaud climbed into solo third after a closing birdie-birdie finish in his second-round 68.
One shot further back is a large chasing group that includes South Africans JC Ritchie, Casey Jarvis and Brandon Stone, Spain’s Sergio Garcia, Nacho Elvira and Alejandro Del Rey, Dutchman Joost Luiten, India’s Shubhankar Sharma, New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier, France’s Julien Guerrier and Italy’s Andrea Pavan.
<span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span><span style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" data-mce-type="bookmark" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span><span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span><span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span><span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span><span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span><span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span><span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span>
– Report from DP World Tour website
Photo: Jan Kruger/Getty Images
Article Link: Hill races clear with course-record in Bahrain