To pick up his first career DP World Tour victory Sunday at the Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship, Freddy Schott didn’t even need to finish the hole.
Schott’s winning shot? A chip from a gnarly lie that just found its way onto the putting surface, still leaving the 24-year-old German 12 feet or so for par.
With Schott’s playoff opponent, Calum Hill, lying six, Schott was conceded the putt and, by virtue, the title.
“I could have done it the regular way, that would have also been fine,” Schott said afterward. “But to do it this way feels even more special, so I’m just glad it happened this way.”
Hill led Schott and Patrick Reed, last week’s Hero Dubai Desert Classic winner who closed in 5-under 67, by one stroke when he found the green at Royal Golf Club’s par-4 18th hole. The only problem is Hill still had 95 feet left. His birdie putt only got him to within 27 feet of the cup, and his closing bogey knocked Hill (71) back to 17 under along with Reed and Schott (69).
Reed was eliminated on the first extra spin down No. 18, catching the lip while trying to escape a fairway bunker and eventually carding bogey.
Hill traded pars with Schott before snap-hooking his drive on the second playoff hole, also No. 18, out of bounds, just on the other side of a wire fence. It got worse, though, for the Scot, who then shanked his fourth shot off a large videoboard and into the water. If it wasn’t over before then, then it definitely was after Schott found the green in three.
The moment Freddy Schott became a winner on Tour 🙌
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) February 1, 2026
He beat Calum Hill on the second play-off hole as the Scotsman conceded after going out of bounds off the tee and then into the water with his fourth shot. #BahrainGolfChamps pic.twitter.com/GhZCRaRR6v
As a teen, Schott caddied briefly for six-time DPWT winner Marcel Siem before turning pro in 2021. He won on the Challenge Tour in 2022 and later graduated to the DPWT later that year. But entering this season, his best Race to Dubai finish was No. 102, in 2024-25.
Reed, who earlier in the week announced he would not be resigning with LIV Golf and would instead commit full-time to the DPWT, remained No. 2 in the Race to Dubai after his P-2.
Current LIV player Sergio Garcia tied Daniel Hillier for fourth at 16 under, a shot out of the playoff.Freddy Schott defeats Calum Hill, Patrick Reed in wild Bahrain playoff