Calum Hill powered his way into a four-shot lead after equalling the course record with a sublime 61 at the 2026 Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship.
The Scot was flawless on Friday morning as he rolled in 11 birdies to match the lowest score at the Royal Golf Club, set by Brandon Robinson Thompson during the first round of this event last year, to take control at 16 under.
Hill, who has two DP World Tour titles to his name, overhauled first-round leader Freddy Schott after the German backed up his opening 65 with a 67 to reach 12 under, three ahead of Frenchman Ugo Coussaud in third.
"Today was really good," Hill said. "I started off really well and then I had a few bonus putts from really long range to really go in and I just kept making birdies. It was nice.
"That’s obviously my best round in competitive golf, in tournament golf. I haven’t kept track of what I’ve shot in practice, but I think that’s up there as one of the best rounds I’ve played.
"I knew the course record was 11 under, so I knew I needed to hole my last shot (to break the course record) and it looked very good in the air. I thought it had a chance but just long, but it was nice to finish off with a birdie as well. Very happy."
The Kirkcaldy native - going out in the second group of the day - opened with a birdie before picking up three in a row from the fourth to sit at top alongside Schott, who birdied the first and third, at nine under.
Hill nudged ahead at 11 under after birdies at the ninth and tenth, with his German rival in hot pursuit after finishing his front nine by reaching double figures.
Immaculate approaches at the 13th and 14th saw Hill tap in two more birdies to briefly move three ahead but by the time Schott finished the latter hole, he had rejoined the leader at 13 under.
The 24-year-old rolled his fourth birdie at the 13th before draining a 22-foot eagle putt at the next, but that was as close as he got to the summit over the closing four holes.
Hill completed his second round with a hat-trick of birdies to catapult himself to 16 under, while Schott, two groups behind, dropped a shot at the 15th, birdied the 17th before a closing with a bogey to reach the clubhouse with a 12-under-par total.
Coussaud finished birdie-birdie as he picked up five shots and carded one bogey in his 68 to move into solo third at nine under.
He is one ahead of a logjammed chasing pack, which includes South African trio JC Ritchie, Casey Jarvis and Brandon Stone, Spanish triad Sergio Garcia, Nacho Elvira and Alejandro Del Rey, Dutchman Joost Luiten, India's Shubhankar Sharma, New Zealand's Daniel Hillier, Frenchman Julien Guerrier and Italy's Andrea Pavan.
