Out of the Rough: Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship (2025)

The DP World Tour continues on with its ‘International Swing’ for the second playing of the Bahrain Championship.

This event was added to the DP World Tour’s schedule for the first time a season ago. This year marks just the second playing of the event at the Royal GC in Bahrain.

Prior to the 2024 playing of this event, it had been 13 years since the DP World Tour had played an event in Bahrain. 

This week also marks the third consecutive week in the Middle-East (fourth if you could the Team Cup.) The Tour will play next week in Qatar before leaving the desert.

The Field

Former Masters’ Champion Patrick Reed continues his desert tour on the DP World Tour to headline this week’s field in Bahrain.

He’ll be joined by fellow LIV star David Puig who is fresh off a solo third place finish last week at the Ras Al Khaimah Championship.

South Africa’s Dylan Frittelli won the inaugural playing of this event a season ago. He’ll return this week to defend his title.

Last week’s winner, Alejandro Del Rey will be teeing it up this week as he looks to make it back-to-back victories on the DP World Tour.

Other notable names teeing it up this week include Thorbjorn Olesen, Laurie Canter, Johannes Veerman, Keita Nakajima, Jordan Smith and Matthew Jordan.

Former major champions Padraig Harrington and Jimmy Walker will also be teeing it up this week.

The Course

This week’s host venue will be the Montgomerie Course, Royal Golf Club, Kingdom of Bahrain.

It plays as a Par-72 at 7,261 yards.

Although this is just the second playing of the Bahrain Championship, this course was used for the inaugural edition of the now defunct Volvo Golf Champions event in 2011. That event was won by Paul Casey at -20, a year after then European Ryder Cup Captain Colin Montgomerie left him off the team.

Speaking of Montgomerie, he is the designer of this course as it bears his name.

This course has been carved out of the desert and features several water hazards, plenty of bunkers and generous fairways.

According to Montgomerie’s website, this course was "designed and constructed to provide a links style golf experience in the desert, with fast running fairways and open approaches into huge, firm greens which are dramatically contoured."

When played 14 years ago, this course was not well received. Most of the blame went to the  ‘funky’ greens which will play their hand in an eventual winner this week.

The final three holes can offer some dramatics down the stretch. The last three holes each ranked within the eight hardest holes on the golf course as season ago.

With the way the winds are projected for this week however, scoring will almost certainly be held in check.

The Weather

As of the time of writing this, Thursday calls for just a five-percent chance of precipitation as the rest of the week calls for a zero-percent chance. Temperatures are set at 68-degrees across all four days. Winds will certainly be a problem early on. Forecasts are currently projecting winds at 20 miles-per-hour on Thursday and 19 miles-per-hour on Friday. They’ll settle to 13 miles-per-hour across both Saturday and Sunday.

Key Stats

• Strokes Gained: Tee to Green (SG: TTG)

• Strokes Gained: Approach (SG: APP)

• Average Driving Distance

• Strokes Gained: Putting (SG: PUTT)

• Sand Saves Percentage

• Birdie or Better Percentage

• Bogey Avoidance

• Par 4 Average Scoring

Betting Card

Patrick Reed (+1600)

The former Masters Champion will be making his third consecutive start on the DP World Tour. As a member of LIV and the tour’s recent agreement with the DP World Tour, Reed is using these tournaments to compile as many Official World Golf Ranking points as possible. In doing so, he placed tenth at the Dubai Desert Classic and eighth at the Ras Al Khaimah Championship. On Tour, he is currently third in bogey avoidance, sixth in SG: PUTT, seventh in sand saves, 11th in par four average scoring, 12th in SG: TTG, 19th in SG: APP, 37th in birdie or better percentage and 125th in average driving distance. With two top tens in his last two events, he’s primed to push it late into Sunday. 

Julien Guerrier (+4000)

Guerrier played this event during its inaugural playing a season ago, placing eighth. He’s also played four times already this season, placing sixth at the Nedbank Golf Challenge, 19th at the Alfred Dunhill Championship, 21st at the Dubai Desert Classic and 50th at the Ras Al Khaimah Championship. He’s currently 20th on Tour in birdie or better percentage, 21st in SG: TTG, 33rd in SG: PUTT, 35th in sand saves, 36th in average driving distance, 40th in par four average scoring, 59th in bogey avoidance and 65th in SG: APP.

Ugo Coussaud (+6500)

Coussaud also played in this event a season ago, placing 12th. What really sparks my interest in him was his ability to navigate these aforementioned ‘funky’ greens. He gained 1.9 strokes-per-round on the greens during last year’s installment, placing him third within the field of golfers who played all four rounds. In the four tournaments he’s played this season he’s placed 43rd at the Nedbank Golf Challenge, 15th at the Alfred Dunhill Championship, 74th at the Dubai Desert Classic and 16th at the Ras Al Khaimah Championship. He is currently 13th on Tour in average driving distance, 26th in SG: PUTT, 51st in birdie or better percentage, 72nd in sand saves, 75th in par four average scoring, 85th in SG: TTG, 91st in SG: APP and 93rd in bogey avoidance.

Scott Jamieson (+8000)

With the projected high winds, targeting golfers who are good ‘wind golfers’ is a must. It’s hard to find better ‘wind golfers’ than those who grew up playing golf in Scotland. Jamieson has had some quality performances to open his season as well. He placed 42nd at the Alfred Dunhill Championship, ninth at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open, missed the cut at the Dubai Desert Classic and eighth at the Ras Al Khaimah Championship. He’s currently tenth on Tour in SG: APP, 18th in birdie or better percentage, 22nd in SG: TTG, 35th in bogey avoidance, 36th in sand saves, 53rd in SG: PUTT, 54th in par four average scoring and 60th in average driving distance. He also played this event a season ago where he placed 16th.

Ricardo Gouveia (+17000)

Gouveia has opened the season by placing 24th at the BMW Australian PGA Championship, missed the cut at the ISPS HANDA Australian Open, 14th at the Dubai Desert Classic and 36th at the Ras Al Khaimah Championship. He did play this event a season ago where he missed the cut as well. He is currently third on Tour in par four average scoring, fourth in SG: APP, 14th in birdie or better percentage, 24th in bogey avoidance, 29th in sand saves, 31st in SG: TTG, 37th in SG: PUTT and 107th in average driving distance.