Everything you need to know from day two in Bahrain.
There was a tie at the top, Donaldson rolled back the years, we almost had the biggest of birds and the wind was playing havoc in round two of the Bahrain Championship presented by Bapco Energies.
Here is everything you need to know from Friday at Royal Golf Club.
Trio tied at the top
Dylan Frittelli, Joel Girrbach and Jesper Svensson will share the lead heading into the weekend after a day of devilishly tough scoring. High, gusting winds in the Kingdom of Bahrain made for a difficult day for the field and Swiss Girrbach set the target at nine under as he followed his opening 65 with a 70. Swede Svensson then joined him at the summit with a 65 that was the lowest round of the day by two shots before South African Frittelli birdied his final hole in a 68 to make it a trio at the top. Spaniard Alejandro del Rey was at eight under after a 70, one shot clear of French duo Julien Guerrier and Tom Vaillant, Welshman Jamie Donaldson, Australian Harrison Endycott and South Africa's Ockie Strydom.
Donaldson makes it count
Donaldson was delighted to utilise all of his experience as he carded a brilliant 68 to put himself right into contention heading into the weekend. The 48-year-old Welshman is this week playing his 493rd DP World Tour event 23 years after his first, having in between won three times and hit the vital shot to secure the Ryder Cup for Europe in 2014. While high winds were the challenge on day two, Donaldson has seen everything this game has got to throw at him and was happy to be able to put all that to use. “You’ve got to be patient every week, depending on what happens," he said. "Whether it’s calm or windy, you’ve got to be patient because you never know what’s coming in golf. You’ve got to give yourself every opportunity to hit the best shot you can. I managed to do that today and maybe these older years helped a little bit.”
Inches from an albatross
What a shot - take a bow Sebastian Söderberg.
Wind? What wind?
With conditions being treacherous, ball control through the air was key on Friday and Vaillant gave a stunning example on the fifth. Look at the trees, look at his clothes - how do you do that?!
Joy for Julien
132 players teed it up at Royal Golf Club and only one of them was bogey-free - Guerrier. "I'm really happy," he said. "It's great news. Today I played really good. I didn't hole any putts from two metres and out so it was really solid. You never know what's happening (in the wind), you just try to focus because you know that one shot you miss is going to cost a lot. I just tried to keep my mind on my game and make no mistakes."
Desert golf
There are always some adventurous lies to be found when playing in the desert.
But this from Masahiro Kawamura takes some beating. Fancy playing this shot?
