After finding the heart of the green on the par-5 14th from the desert and two-putting for birdie, Pádraig Harrington moved to three-under-par in the opening round of the DP World Tour’s Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship, but bogeys on the 15th and 18th holes proved costly on the way home.
The 54-year-old is making his third straight DP World Tour start following back-to-back appearances in Dubai and made the turn at two-under after birdieing both par-5s on the front side and traded a birdie on the par-4 fifth with a bogey on the par-4 sixth.
The birdie on 14 moved him inside the top 20, but he failed to get up-and-down from short of the green on 15, then three-putted from 35 feet on the last, slipping back into a share of 58th when play was suspended for darkness with 10 players still on the course.
Freddy Schott and Alejandro Del Rey opened their Championships in style, each recording a 65 to tie atop the leaderboard 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 campaign and he continued his rich vein of form in the third tournament 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,” said Del Rey. “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’ve been hitting the ball pretty well in general, but I guess out here it’s good drives where I leave myself some short shots into the green, and then putting was pretty good too. You always have to make a couple of good putts around the course and today we made them.
“I really enjoy this first Swing (of the year) 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.”
He 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 logjammed 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,” Schott said. “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.”
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.
He 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. Meanwhile, last week’s winner Patrick Reed finished further back in the field after battling the wind with an opening round 71.
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