Dylan Frittelli, Joel Gerbach and Jesper Svensson will share the lead heading into this weekend’s Bahrain Championship after a diabolically tough day of scoring at Royal Golf Club.
Strong winds in the Kingdom of Bahrain made for a tough day for the field, but Switzerland’s Zirbach turned his initial 65 into a 70, setting a goal of nine under par.
Sweden’s Svensson then tied for the top with a 65, the lowest round of the day, two strokes back, while Frittelli of South Africa birdied the final hole with a 68 to put the trio in first place.
Spaniard Alejandro Del Rey shot a 70 to go to eight under, ahead of French duo Julien Guerrier and Tom Vaillant, Wales’ Jamie Donaldson, Australia’s Harrison Endicott and South Africa’s Ocky Strydom. He lost by one stroke.
After two wins on the DP World Tour in 2017, Frittelli won his rookie campaign in the United States a year later and earned his PGA Tour card.
But after enduring a difficult 2023 in which he missed the cut or withdrew in 23 of his 27 starts on the PGA Tour, the 33-year-old is on track to return to the DP World Tour for players who finish inside the top 125. I chose. He is on the FedEx Cup fall points list.
“I’m very excited to be back in contention,” he said. “I’m really proud of the way I played. I kept it in the fairway, I kept it on the green. I didn’t putt very well today, but I’m hoping to fix that over the weekend.”
Svensson turned pro nearly five years ago and won the Nordic Golf League in 2020, but his big breakthrough came last year with a win in the European Challenge Tour’s B-NL Challenge Trophy. Ta.
He also made headlines with a fifth place on the Road to Mallorca, three second places and a second place in this season’s Investec South African Open Championship, his sixth start on the DP World Tour. continues to collect.
“It was tough out there,” he said. “I decided from the beginning that I was going to play pretty conservatively, and I was playing with a big goal in mind. In the first part of the round, I felt like I had a chance to go in every time I got the putter, so that was good.”
Gilbach’s road to the DP World Tour is even longer, with the 30-year-old establishing himself as a regular on the Challenge Tour since turning professional in 2015, finishing 17th at last season’s Road to Mallorca. At the end, I earned the right to participate in the tournament for the first time.
He finished 20th last week after missing the first three rounds of the season, but is relishing the chance to establish himself on the DP World Tour.
“The DP World Tour has been my goal for the past eight years, so now that I’m here I’m just enjoying it,” he said. “I played well on the Challenge Tour at the end of last year and now that I’m here I’m just enjoying it. I’m giving it my all.
“I’m satisfied. It was a tough start with two bogeys due to the wind. It was a tough early morning, but I persevered and I’m happy with the finish.”
Gerbach got off to a nightmarish bogey start on Nos. 1 and 2, but made a smart approach on the 4th, driving the par 4 and then two-putting the 113-foot 6th to level the day. Ta.
He then built up gains on the 9th and 10th with some great wedge work, but canceled it out with bogeys on the 8th and 11th, then moved his two approaches to about 10 feet for a birdie-birdie finish.
Svensson, who started at No. 10, set the tone with a great second second from the desert to tap-in range for the lead birdie.
He picked up his game after finding his way to the cart on the par-5 13th, hitting his second to 7 feet and eagle the next par-5.
With a careful approach to the 15th hole, he was at 5 under par until six shots in, and when he held a 9-foot long putt on the 17th hole, he shared the lead.
A three-putt on the 8th hole was the only blemish of the day, but he lost his way on the par-5 9th, which could be considered one of his best rounds this season.
Frittelli had a two-putt birdie on the 14th, got to just 4 feet on the 17th, but gained on a layup on the third.
He allowed a shot on the 4th, but on the 7th he pushed his tee shot to 5 feet and made an up-and-down for the closing birdie.
Del Rey extended a two-putt on the 9th, holed a 37-foot hole on the 12th, and was up and down after a missed tee shot on the 13th to join the leaders, but eventually found sand and made bogey. .
Guerrier was the only bogey-free player on the field with a 67, Donaldson and Endicott shot rounds of 68, Strydom carded a 71 and 18-hole leader Vaillant signed with a 73.
– Report from DP World Tour website
Photo: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images