GOLF – ALEJANDRO Del Rey and Freddy Schott and Alejandro Del Rey opened their title bids in the 2026 Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship in style yesterday, each recording a 65 to tie atop the leaderboard after the first round at Royal Golf Club.
Spaniard Del Rey has yet to miss a cut on what is his fifth start of the 2026 DP World Tour and he continued his rich vein of form in the third event of the International Swing.
Del Rey, who earlier this week celebrated the one-year anniversary of his maiden title at this level at the Ras Al Khaimah Championship, set the initial clubhouse target thanks to five birdies on the front nine and two more on his way home.
“It was nice, a quick start,” he said. “I took advantage of the morning, that it was a little bit calmer with the wind. I’m very happy with the round.
“I feel like the course is a little bit softer than last year and you know that it’s gettable, you know that it’s the morning and calm you have to take advantage of it. You go out with that mentality, okay, you just have to get it going pretty quick.
“I really enjoy this first Swing here in the desert. I’ve always enjoyed it. I’ve had my highs and my lows, but I’ve always felt very comfortable out here and the course, I feel like it suits me well. I really enjoy my time here in January especially.”
Del Rey was later joined by Germany’s Schott, who ended his roller coaster round with a closing birdie-eagle to share the lead at seven-under, ahead of a log-jammed leaderboard which saw 28 players sit within four shots.
Schott, starting on the back nine, had powered his way into the chasing pack following an outrageous start of six birdies from his opening seven holes. The 24-year-old slipped back with a double bogey at the first before bouncing back with a birdie at the fourth. He dropped another shot at the seventh, but holed putts from 17 and 13 feet at the eighth and ninth, respectively, for a birdie-eagle finish and a share of the lead.
“It was really good, especially the start,” said Schott. “It started off well and finished well, so I’m very pleased.
“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.”
Defending champion Laurie Canter reinforced his love of desert golf, carding a 66. He offset a bogey on the seventh with a birdie on the ninth, the Englishman’s 18th hole, to finish in a share for third.
“I think going out and shooting six-under in the first round was great,” said Canter. “This golf course is always the same, you play on the flat card and then you see birdie chances, and then the wind gets up and everybody’s trying to tackle how it plays. I dug in there to finish and then a nice birdie on nine, my 18.
“I think I just like desert golf. It’s an advantage to drive the ball well. Usually hitting the ball high and soft is useful. I’ve always putted well on these greens the times I’ve played here, so it’s probably a combination of all that – just feeling comfy, good weather, good food. You can’t beat desert golf.
“I think it’s important to start strong, it’s going to be a long week. I think scoring is going to be the same all week – if you can go out and chase a score in the morning for sure, and then as the wind gets up it becomes much more difficult, so I do think it’s important to play good in that morning wave and hopefully continue to hit the ball good tomorrow afternoon and push on this weekend and give it a go and take the trophy home again.”
Canter was joined by New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier, Sweden’s Niklas Lemke, Germany’s Nicolai Von Dellingshausen, and India’s Shubhankar Sharma at six-under par.
“It was a fun day today,” said Hillier. “It was a bit of a scrappy start on that front nine, but I made a nice little par save on 18, which was my ninth hole, and the hole got a little bit bigger on the back nine which was nice.
“I didn’t really do anything different. I think I just tried to keep hitting it in the right spots and stayed patient – I think that’s the big thing out here with the breeze getting up a little bit. You can get caught out pretty easily, so you just stay patient and keep hitting it in the right spots.”
Meanwhile, last week’s winner at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, Patrick Reed, finished further back in the field after battling the wind with an opening round 71.
“It’s a frustrating day, going out there and only shooting one-under par, especially when I felt like I hit the ball pretty well,” admitted Reed. “This golf course, when it gets windy, it gets tricky.”
Ten players will return to finish their first round today morning at 7.15am after play was suspended last night due to darkness at 5.25pm.
&uuid=(email))