Brandon Robinson Thompson started early and benefitted from milder weather conditions at the Royal GC. He broke a new course record with an 11-under par 61 featuring two eagles at the par-5s 3rd and 9th as well as a bogey at the 18th to take a three-shot lead at the Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship.
“I think it’s my lowest round as a professional, let alone on the DP World Tour,” said the English rookie.
“It has to be up there with a Sunday to close out a HotelPlanner Tour event last year. I know it’s the first round but 61, that has to be first or second, surely.
“I didn’t really picture it this morning when it was raining and there were forecasts of super-strong winds. Very happy to get off to the start I did. Little bit of a sour taste in my mouth, but I holed my fair share.”
Fellow Englishman and early starter Callum Tarren carded a bogey-free 64 to take solo second place at 8-under.
Scotland’s Richie Ramsay closed with a 66 and is tied in third place at 6-under alongside Finland’s Tapio Pulkkanen, France’s Martin Couvra and Spain’s Pablo Larrazábal.
Related: Stoke by Nayland Golf Resort
| Pos. | Player | To Par | R1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ROBINSON THOMPSON, Brandon | -11 | 61 |
| 2 | TARREN, Callum | -8 | 64 |
| 3 | PULKKANEN, Tapio | -6 | 66 |
| | RAMSAY, Richie | -6 | 66 |
| | COUVRA, Martin | -6 | 66 |
| | LARRAZÁBAL, Pablo | -6 | 66 |
| 7 | LAGERGREN, Joakim | -5 | 67 |
| | FISHER, Ross | -5 | 67 |
| | CABRERA BELLO, Rafa | -5 | 67 |
| 10 | KOBORI, Kazuma | -4 | 68 |
| LINDELL, Oliver | -4 | 68 | |
| | GREEN, Gavin | -4 | 68 |
| | BROWN, Daniel | -4 | 68 |
| | COLSAERTS, Nicolas | -4 | 68 |
| | LANGASQUE, Romain | -4 | 68 |
| | CANTER, Laurie | -4 | 68 |
| | SENIOR, Jack | -4 | 68 |
| | SIEM, Marcel | -4 | 68 |
| | PINEAU, Pierre | -4 | 68 |
| | DING, Wenyi | -4 | 68 |
| | JORDAN, Matthew | -4 | 68 |
| | PAVAN, Andrea | -4 | 68 |
| 23 | SCRIVENER, Jason | -3 | 69 |
| | GOUVEIA, Ricardo | -3 | 69 |
| | ELVIRA, Manuel | -3 | 69 |
| SHAUN, Corey | -3 | 69 | |
| | SCHWAB, Matthias | -3 | 69 |
| | SCHNEIDER, Marcel | -3 | 69 |
| | LINDBERG, Mikael | -3 | 69 |
| | MICHELUZZI, David | -3 | 69 |
| | DUMONT DE CHASSART, Adrien | -3 | 69 |
| | SYME, Connor | -3 | 69 |
| | SÖDERBERG, Sebastian | -3 | 69 |
| | PUIG, David | -3 | 69 |
| 35 | JIN, Zihao | -2 | 70 |
| | AHLAWAT, Veer | -2 | 70 |
| | DANTORP, Jens | -2 | 70 |
| | JAMIESON, Scott | -2 | 70 |
| | BRADBURY, Dan | -2 | 70 |
| | COETZEE, George | -2 | 70 |
| | FRITTELLI, Dylan | -2 | 70 |
| | HILLIER, Daniel | -2 | 70 |
| | NEERGAARD-PETERSEN, Rasmus | -2 | 70 |
| | KATSURAGAWA, Yuto | -2 | 70 |
| | CAMPILLO, Jorge | -2 | 70 |
| | KIM, MK | -2 | 70 |
| | LAPORTA, Francesco | -2 | 70 |
| | REITAN, Kristoffer | -2 | 70 |
| | WIESBERGER, Bernd | -2 | 70 |
| | BAIRSTOW, Sam | -2 | 70 |
| 35 | ARMITAGE, Marcus | -2 | 70 |
| 52 | GUMBERG, Jordan | -1 | 71 |
| | KINHULT, Marcus | -1 | 71 |
| | KRUYSWIJK, Jacques | -1 | 71 |
| | GERMISHUYS, Deon | -1 | 71 |
| | GAVINS, Daniel | -1 | 71 |
| | BJERREGAARD, Lucas | -1 | 71 |
| | MIGLIOZZI, Guido | -1 | 71 |
| | DE JAGER, Louis | -1 | 71 |
| | WU, Brandon | -1 | 71 |
| | REED, Patrick | -1 | 71 |
| | WALKER, Jimmy | -1 | 71 |
| | KO, Jeong weon | -1 | 71 |
| | COCKERILL, Aaron | -1 | 71 |
| | SULLIVAN, Andy | -1 | 71 |
| | LUITEN, Joost | -1 | 71 |
| | HARRINGTON, Padraig | -1 | 71 |
| | PURCELL, Conor | -1 | 71 |
| 69 | WILSON, Andrew | Par | 72 |
| | JARVIS, Casey | Par | 72 |
| | OTAEGUI, Adrian | Par | 72 |
| | FITZPATRICK, Alex | Par | 72 |
| | FERGUSON, Ewen | Par | 72 |
| | PARRY, John | Par | 72 |
| | MANSELL, Richard | Par | 72 |
| | FORSSTRÖM, Simon | Par | 72 |
| | CROCKER, Sean | Par | 72 |
| | CLEMENTS, Todd | Par | 72 |
| | COUSSAUD, Ugo | Par | 72 |
| | SHINKWIN, Callum | Par | 72 |
| | MOSCATEL, Joel | Par | 72 |
| 82 | OLESEN, Jacob Skov | +1 | 73 |
| | SYED, Aadam (AM) | +1 | 73 |
| | GIRRBACH, Joel | +1 | 73 |
| | GARCIA-HEREDIA, Alfredo | +1 | 73 |
| | SLOMAN, Tom | +1 | 73 |
| | ELVIRA, Nacho | +1 | 73 |
| | FORREST, Grant | +1 | 73 |
| | LI, Haotong | +1 | 73 |
| | MERRITT, Troy | +1 | 73 |
| | JOHNSTON, Ryggs | +1 | 73 |
| | CANTERO, Ivan | +1 | 73 |
| | VAILLANT, Tom | +1 | 73 |
| | SCHMIDT, Ben | +1 | 73 |
| | DEAN, Joe | +1 | 73 |
| 96 | HEBERT, Benjamin | +2 | 74 |
| | ZANOTTI, Fabrizio | +2 | 74 |
| | VON DELLINGSHAUSEN, Nicolai | +2 | 74 |
| | RAVETTO, David | +2 | 74 |
| | AYORA, Angel | +2 | 74 |
| PAUL, Yannik | +2 | 74 | |
| | GUERRIER, Julien | +2 | 74 |
| | VEERMAN, Johannes | +2 | 74 |
| | HIDALGO, Angel | +2 | 74 |
| | WHITNELL, Dale | +2 | 74 |
| 106 | ALKAABI, Khalifa (AM) | +3 | 75 |
| | WINTHER, Jeff | +3 | 75 |
| | SCHAPER, Jayden | +3 | 75 |
| | APHIBARNRAT, Kiradech | +3 | 75 |
| | VAN VELZEN, Ryan | +3 | 75 |
| | DE BRUYN, Jannik | +3 | 75 |
| | STONE, Brandon | +3 | 75 |
| | KARLSSON, Robert | +3 | 75 |
| | OLESEN, Thorbjørn | +3 | 75 |
| | SMITH, Jordan | +3 | 75 |
| | WILLIAMS, Robin | +3 | 75 |
| 117 | BROWN, Hamish | +4 | 76 |
| | NAKAJIMA, Keita | +4 | 76 |
| | GALE, Daniel | +4 | 76 |
| | SOUTHGATE, Matthew | +4 | 76 |
| | DEL REY, Alejandro | +4 | 76 |
| 122 | FICHARDT, Darren | +5 | 77 |
| | VAN DRIEL, Darius | +5 | 77 |
| | STERNE, Richard | +5 | 77 |
| 125 | AIKEN, Thomas | +6 | 78 |
| | BALDWIN, Matthew | +6 | 78 |
| 127 | KIEFFER, Maximilian | +7 | 79 |
| | LORENZO-VERA, Mike | +7 | 79 |
| | LEVY, Alexander | +7 | 79 |
| 130 | ALKOWARI, Ali (AM) | +18 | 90 |
| DISQ | LE FALHER, Yaseen (AM) | +15 | - |
| RETD | TRAINER, Martin | +8 | - |
Simon Bale
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