Freddy Schott claimed the first DP World Tour title of his career thanks to a play-off victory at the Bahrain Championship.
The 24-year-old German found himself neck-and-neck with Scotland’s Calum Hill and America’s Patrick Reed, who won last week’s Dubai Desert Classic, heading into the closing stages of the tournament following a topsy-turvy final round at Royal Golf Club which saw the lead exchanged on multiple occasions. But it was Hill who had the advantage heading into the last after both Schott and Reed dropped shots at the 17th. However, Hill could only close with a bogey as Reed carded a 67 and Schott a 69 to force a play-off.
The trio arrived at the first play-off hole which saw Hill and Schott make par but Reed found the bunker and failed to recover to rule himself out of the running. The next play-off hole saw things go wayward for Hill as his tee shot flew out of bounds and then swiftly after he found water. This left Schott to calmly take advantage as the Scot conceded to the German to conclude the play-off and give Schott his first victory on his 91st start on the circuit.
“It’s just amazing. I haven’t realised anything at all yet. I’m just extremely happy, surprised. I don’t know what’s happening right now!” said Schott.
“I just stayed in the moment and hit the shots as best as I could. I’m speechless. I could have done it the regular way but doing it this way is even more special.”
Victory means that he climbs into the top 10 of the Race to Dubai Rankings and jumps inside the top 200 on the Official World Golf Rankings.
What is the next event?
The next event on the DP World Tour schedule is the Qatar Masters taking place between 5-8 February at Doha GC in Qatar.