Calum Hill shot a career-best 61 to equal the course record and lead the way on day two of the Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship.
The Scot fired 11 birdies – including five in his closing six holes – in a flawless performance to reach 16 under and set a daunting clubhouse target for the later starters on Friday.
On his 140th start on the DP World Tour, he just fell short of claiming the $70,000 NEXO Course Record Award on offer for the first player this week to lower the mark set by Brandon Robinson Thompson last year.
Despite that, there was no taking the smile off his face as he reflected on a day golfer’s wish for.
“Today was really good," he said. "I started off really well and then had a few bonus putts from really long range on the last couple of holes and kept making birdies. It was really nice.
“That’s obviously my best round in tournament golf. I haven’t kept track of what I’ve shot in practice but that’s up there with one of the best rounds I’ve played.
"I knew the course record was 11 under. I knew that I needed to hole my last shot. It looked very good in the air. I thought it had a chance but [it was] just long. Nice to finish off with a birdie [still], very happy."
Calum Hill ties the course record at Royal Golf Club with his lowest career round 61 (-11) 🙌#BahrainGolfChamps pic.twitter.com/t7iLhcURlO
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) January 30, 2026
Having opened with a five-under-par 67 on Thursday to sit two adrift of the first-round leaders, Hill kickstarted his day with an immediate birdie after a fine approach at the first.
A run of three birdies in a row followed from the fourth through to the sixth, before he made further gains at the ninth and tenth to reach 11 under as he continued to find fairways and greens with aplomb.
The scoring continued at the back-to-back par-five 13th and 14th, before he holed two long-range putts – both measuring over 30 feet – at the 16th and 17th before closing out his day in style from five feet.
Hill is going in search of his third DP World Tour title and second in as many seasons this week, after adding the 2025 Joburg Open to his breakthough win at the Cazoo Classic in 2021, and is understandably feeling confident about his chances.
Asked to assess his strategy now heading into the weekend, he said: “Yesterday felt equally as good, I just made a few little errors and had a few bonus putts go in today and took out what I did wrong yesterday.
“As long as I can keep learning from what I’ve done, hopefully I’ve still got some good rounds left in me.”
