Bahrain Championship 2025 Tips: 175/1 shot one of six for Middle East

Fresh off the back of Alejandro Del Rey’s breakthrough victory in the Ras Al Khaimah Championship, the DP World Tour takes its tour of the Middle East to Bahrain this week, for the second staging of the Bahrain Championship at Royal Golf Club.

As always, here is Jamie Worsley's comprehensive preview and his Bahrain Championship 2025 Tips. He's picked out six players including a huge 175/1 shot.

TOURNAMENT HISTORY

The Bahrain Championship debuted on the DP World Tour last year. This represented the first time the tour had visited the Middle Eastern nation since the 2011 Volvo Golf Champions – an event that was also staged here at Royal Golf Club.

South Africa’s Dylan Frittelli was crowned champion in our first renewal, beating countryman, Zander Lombard and Sweden’s Jesper Svensson by two shots with a winning score of -13. He returns to defend this week.

THE COURSE

Royal Golf Club is Bahrain’s only recognised championship golf course. It was initially developed in the late 1990s, though went through a complete overhaul in 2009 at the hands of Colin Montgomerie and European Golf Design.

Players were very critical of the course in that 2011 Volvo Golf Champions, especially of what they deemed to be excessively-undulating greens. However, these putting surfaces and their surrounds were remodelled in 2023 prior to hosting last year’s Bahrain Championship.

This par 72 course measures in at 7302 yards and possesses 4x par 3s (146-229 yards), 10x par 4s (345-487 yards) and 4x par 5s (541-587 yards).

Royal GC is an open and exposed desert golf course, with firm, undulating ground making it somewhat linksy in style. The holes are framed by sandy waste areas and scattered palm trees, whilst a ravine (known as a wadi to locals) comes into play throughout, particularly on the front nine.

The fairways are wide, though there is an element of luck needed to find them. This is due to some severe undulations that can send seemingly good drives veering from the short grass into large, strategically placed bunkers. Whilst those potentially penal waste areas await the most wayward.

In-keeping with the rest of the course, the large greens are covered in paspalum. The majority are open-fronted, which encourages play along the ground, and they are protected by a plethora of steep run-offs and deep bunkers. Despite the softening of the contours in 2023, they were still extremely difficult to putt last year and combined with the difficulty in getting it up-and-down, it ranks as one of the toughest short-game tests on tour in recent years.

The course really comes alive on the back nine. It begins with two short and potentially drivable par 4s on holes 10 and 11, before playing the final two par 5s back-to-back on the 13^th and 14^th.

Players will want to take advantage of those scoring opportunities, as holes 15-18 are extremely tough to navigate. Water only comes into play on these final four holes and ominously threatens every tee shot and approach, which can lead to a player’s chances unravelling in an instant.

Due to high winds, Royal GC played tough in every aspect last year and resulted in just three players shooting double digits under par. With wind set to play its part again, it may be another challenging week in Bahrain.

THE WEATHER

We’ve got typically bright, warm and breezy conditions on show in the Middle East this week. The opening two rounds currently look like being the most difficult, with consistent winds of 15mph accompanied by gusts of 25mph, and although it’s forecast to die down a touch over the weekend, there should still be enough to make things interesting.

KEY STATS

• SG: Off-the-Tee/Driving Distance

Even though we’ve had just the one staging of this event, last year’s power-heavy leaderboard told us plenty about what is needed to contend here.

Dylan Frittelli was not only the third-best driver in the field on his way to victory but also ranked 3^rd in driving distance.

Runners-up, Jesper Svensson and Zander Lombard ranked 7^th and 8^th OTT respectively, whilst both are big hitters, with Svensson ranking 4^th in driving distance and Lombard 17^th.

That theme continues to the two players who finished 4^th, as Ockie Strydom and Frederic LaCroix ranked top 10 OTT and top 15 in driving distance.

• SG: Approach/Greens-in-Regulation

The majority of those main contenders produced strong all-round ball-striking performances and also excelled with their iron play.

Indeed, Dylan Frittelli ranked 2^nd in approach and 7^th in greens-in-regulation; Zander Lombard ranked top 10 in each area; Frederic LaCroix ranked 10^th in both; whilst Jesper Svensson and Ockie Strydom ranked inside the top 25 in each stat.

• SG: Putting (paspalum)

Though the putter wasn’t as important as the ball-striking stats – excluding Jesper Svensson ranking 4^th – an ability to handle these hugely challenging and large paspalum surfaces would be a big plus.

CORRELATING EVENTS

I think most courses in the Middle East are worth a look this week, as is any other form on exposed, links-like venues, but there were four courses that particularly stood out as strong statistical/form comps for Royal Golf Club.

Ras Al Khaimah Championship (Al Hamra Golf Club)

First of these is Ras Al Khaimah Championship host, Al Hamra Golf Club. It ranked very closely to Royal Golf Club from a ball-striking perspective last year and possessing large paspalum greens, I wasn’t surprised to see form ties develop.

Notable correlating form:

Zander Lombard:

Bahrain (2^nd) / Ras Al Khaimah (2^nd, 3^rd)

Frederic LaCroix:

Bahrain (4^th) / Ras Al Khaimah (3^rd)

Sebastian Soderberg:

Bahrain (6^th) / Ras Al Khaimah (5^th, 9^th)

Rasmus Hojgaard:

Bahrain (8^th) / Ras Al Khaimah (2^nd, 6^th)

Julien Guerrier:

Bahrain (8^th) / Ras Al Khaimah (9^th, 13^th, 13^th)

Rikuya Hoshino:

Bahrain (12^th) / Ras Al Khaimah (6^th)

Abu Dhabi Championship (Yas Links)

Yas Links is another exposed, links-like course based in the Middle East. It has wide, undulating fairways and large paspalum greens, that showcase a similar level of difficulty to those at Royal GC.

Notable correlating form:

Sebastian Soderberg:

Bahrain (6^th) / Abu Dhabi (2^nd)

Niklas Norgaard:

Bahrain (8^th) / Abu Dhabi (10^th)

Ugo Coussaud:

Bahrain (12^th) / Abu Dhabi (6^th)

Antoine Rozner:

Bahrain (12^th) / Abu Dhabi (6^th)

Dubai Desert Classic (Emirates Golf Club)

The Dubai Desert Classic is not quite as exposed as many courses in the area. Although, it has comparably testing ball-striking numbers to those seen at Royal GC last year and can act as a helpful guide this week.

Notable correlating form:

Dylan Frittelli:

Bahrain (1^st) / Dubai (6^th, 10^th)

Aaron Cockerill:

Bahrain (6^th) / Dubai (4^th)

Niklas Norgaard:

Bahrain (8^th) / Dubai (4^th)

Rasmus Hojgaard:

Bahrain (8^th) / Dubai (9^th, 11^th)

Singapore Classic (Laguna National – Classic Course)

Laguna National’s Classic Course mirrors many aspects of Royal GC. It’s an open and exposed venue with wide, undulating fairways and large, dramatically contoured paspalum greens. In addition, it produced almost identical averages in GIR and scrambling to our host course last year.

Notable correlating form:

Jesper Svensson:

Bahrain (2^nd) / Singapore (1^st)

Zander Lombard:

Bahrain (2^nd) / Singapore (6^th)

Ockie Strydom:

Bahrain (4^th) / Singapore (1^st)

Antoine Rozner:

Bahrain (12^th) / Singapore (6^th)

THE FIELD

Thorbjorn Olesen is the top-ranked player in this week’s field at #70 and one of six from inside the world’s top 100; alongside Romain Langasque (#83), David Puig (#87), Laurie Canter (#89), Jordan Smith (#95) and Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (#100).

Among other entrants of interest are last year’s winner, Dylan Frittelli; LIV’s Patrick Reed continues his stay in the Middle East after finishing inside the top 10 in the first two events of the year; Troy Merritt takes advantage of that special PGA Tour category for players finishing in 125^th-200^th position on the FedExCup; and last week’s Ras Al Khaimah winner, Alejandro Del Rey will hope for a quickfire double in Bahrain.

Bahrain Championship Odds

SELECTIONS

Market leaders (1/4 5 places): Patrick Reed 14/1, Thorbjorn Olesen 14/1, David Puig 16/1, Johannes Veerman 20/1, Laurie Canter 20/1

This is largely the same field as last week and with that, it looks another wide open event. David Puig went well for us there and was again strongly considered here, though at almost half the price I’m happy to look elsewhere.

Instead, I’m going to go back in on another player who was among the selections in Ras Al Khaimah, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen. Though disappointing, he was excellent the week before and I’m keen to take the chance on him bouncing back in Bahrain.

1.75 pts Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen each-way (1/5 - 8 Places) @ 30/1 

Neergaard-Petersen started poorly in Ras Al Khaimah and never recovered, ultimately missing the cut by five shots. However, that was his first missed cut in nine DP World Tour starts, over which he’s recorded six top-20 finishes and came right off the back of a superb 10^th-place finish in the Dubai Desert Classic, where he was among the best ball-strikers in the field. Therefore, I’m happy to dismiss last week’s showing as a minor blip.

The Dane is among the very best tee-to-green players in this field, ranking 5^th and has particularly excelled off-the-tee, ranking 8^th; able to marry power with a good level of accuracy. He’s also 16^th in approach and ranks inside the top 20 in greens-in-regulation from the latter part of 2024 up to now.

Neergaard-Petersen makes his debut in Bahrain but that strong performance in Dubai bodes well. He also enjoyed plenty of success in the Middle East on the Challenge Tour last year, with a victory in the UAE Challenge one of three at that lower level. That just adds to the confidence that he can respond to last week’s poor display by contending this week.

1.25 pts Sam Bairstow each-way (1/5 - 8 Places) @ 45/1

Sam Bairstow enjoyed a promising first year on the DPWT in 2024, which suggested he was capable of making an impact at this level. Having started this year positively, I’m taking him to make his breakthrough at Royal Golf Club, where he performed well last year.

The former #7 amateur recorded 12 top-25 finishes last season, going closest when finishing runner-up to Dan Bradbury in the Open de France. He started this season with a 77^th-place finish in Dubai, though was looking much more solid than that until an 8-over 80 dropped him down the leaderboard in round four.

There appeared to be some hangover from that in his opening round in Ras Al Khaimah, as a 4-over 76 in round one had him sat in 113^th place. However, he followed that with a 65 and after signing off the event with a 67 in round four, he shot up inside the top 20 into a 16^th-place finish.

The driver and short game looked especially good there, whilst it was also encouraging to see him find something in approach at the end. The putter was his key asset last year, as he ranked 20^th on the DPWT, whilst he’s also a solid and lengthy ball-striker.

As a former runner-up in the Amateur Championship, Bairstow has plenty of links pedigree and that would’ve almost certainly helped him on debut here last year, as he entered the final round in 4^th place before eventually finishing 23^rd. He then went on to finish 3^rd in the correlating Singapore Classic and possessing top-25 finishes in each start at the Ras Al Khaimah Championship, he has form in many of the right places.

1.25 pts Ugo Coussaud each-way (1/5 - 8 Places) @ 45/1

Ugo Coussaud was also among last week’s selections at Al Hamra GC, though he performed much better than Neergaard-Petersen, finishing 16^th. He improved across all areas of his tee-to-green game there compared to the season-opener in Dubai and as a player very much at home on this type of course, he looks worth another shot this week.

Coussaud recorded nine top-25 finishes in his first full season on the DPWT last year, four of which resulted in top 10s. The best of those efforts came in Qatar, where he finished 2^nd to Rikuya Hoshino by a shot and it’s worth noting that his second-best result of the year also came in the Middle East, when 6^th in Abu Dhabi.

He finished down the field in 74^th on his first start of 2025 in Dubai, where his putter appeared to be the only club firing. However, he improved in every area from tee-to-green last week, ranking 9^th overall, helping him to a 16^th-place finish.

The Frenchman was particularly strong with the driver, which came as no surprise as it’s one of the areas he excels most in, with the big hitter ranking 33^rd in this field. Although, it’s with the putter that he has looked strongest in the last year, ranking 18^th.

Coussaud transferred that putting ability to these paspalum greens last year, ranking 3^rd on his way to a 12^th-place finish. He also putted similar surfaces well in Qatar and Abu Dhabi later in the year and having never missed a cut in seven starts at the comp courses mentioned above, as well as finishing 2^nd in the UAE on the Challenge Tour in 2023, he looks ideally suited to this brand of golf.

1 pt Joe Dean each-way (1/5 - 8 Places) @ 60/1

Having struggled to make an impact in the early years of his pro career, Joe Dean finally made his mark on the DPWT in 2024. He’s shown no signs of slowing that down at the beginning of this year, and as a lengthy and generally reliable ball-striker, he was an attractive price to contend in Bahrain.

Dean finished 2^nd in Kenya on his second start of last year and never really looked back. He recorded four further top-5 finishes over the rest of the year, including another runner-up finish in the KLM Open and also hit the top 25 in The Open.

He played solid enough on his first start of this year in Dubai, finishing 68^th, but he upgraded that performance massively last week, gaining strokes right across his game to finish 5^th in the Ras Al Khaimah Championship.

The Englishman doesn’t have any glaring weaknesses, though he’s been at his strongest with the driver, ranking 21^st over the last 12 months. It was also a positive to see him putt the paspalum greens well in Ras Al Khaimah and looking like continuing the promising approach play he displayed at the end of last year, he has all of the relevant areas of his game ticking for this week’s test.

Dean’s effort last week should serve him well here and with his liking for links/links-like courses evident from last year’s Open Championship top 25, he has every chance of being in the mix again.

1 pt David Ravetto each-way (1/5 - 8 Places) @ 90/1

David Ravetto has looked good at the beginning of this year and now arrives at a course that should suit his strong-driving game. After earning his breakthrough win on the tour last year, he looks a big price to become a two-time DPWT champion this week.

2024 was a landmark year for Ravetto. He claimed his first pro victory in February, winning the Dimension Data Pro-Am on the Challenge Tour, and then followed up on that six-months later on the DPWT, producing an impressive performance to win the Czech Masters by four strokes.

He struggled to find consistency following that, recording just two further top 40s but he began this year solidly, finishing 45^th in the Dubai Desert Classic, bookending his week with rounds of 68 and 67. This continued into last week’s Ras Al Khaimah Championship, where he finished 13^th.

The driver is his biggest weapon, ranking top 15 in driving distance and top 30 off-the-tee last season. However, he’s shown positive signs in all areas at the start of this season, ranking 9^th in greens-in-regulation last week and he also looked sharp with the short game.

Ravetto didn’t play here last year, though top-25 finishes in both visits to Singapore, along with his performance at Al Hamra represents some tidy comp form. In addition, there were also some eye-catching names at the top of that Czech Masters leaderboard in 2024, as Jesper Svensson and Fredric LaCroix each finished top 3 – both of whom hit the top 5 in Bahrain last year.

1 pt Joel Moscatel each-way (1/5 - 8 Places) @ 175/1

I’m going to finish with tour rookie, Joel Moscatel. The big-hitting Spaniard enjoyed a good start to the year in Ras Al Khaimah and no doubt encouraged by compatriot, Alejandro Del Rey’s win, he can earn himself a first DPWT title in the Middle East.

Moscatel turned pro in 2021 after a steady amateur career that saw him hit the top 90 in the rankings. He mixed his time between the Challenge Tour and Alps Tour over the first couple of years, performing well, though he really burst into life last year, recording two victories on the Challenge Tour to earn that automatic promotion to the DPWT this season.

He showed some ability at this level at the end of 2023, finishing 7^th in the Aussie PGA Championship and again hit the top 20 when getting a rare DPWT start in Kenya last year. That form didn’t translate immediately to his rookie season, missing his first two cuts, though he did finish 2024 by making the weekend in the Alfred Dunhill Championship and Mauritius Open. He then showed no signs of rustiness on his 2025 debut in Ras Al Khaimah, shooting three rounds in the 60s to finish 16^th.

Moscatel has shown quality across all areas of his game, but it’s the driver that appears to be his biggest weapon, ranking 18^th off-the-tee and 6^th in driving distance at this early point of the season. That can see him do some damage here and with strong form in this part of the world on offer from the Challenge Tour, where he’s twice finished inside the top 10 in the UAE, along with that year-opening performance in Ras Al Khaimah, there are plenty of reasons to be positive about his chances at Royal Golf Club.

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