Calum Hill suffers sore one after last-hole bogey then play-off defeat in Bahrain

Hill started the closing circuit at Royal Golf Club with a two-shot lead and, helped by almost holing his approach at the par-4 first, the 31-year-old arrived on the sixth hole with a three-shot cushion.

He then fell two shots behind Schott with eight holes to play before former Masters champion Reed and fellow Green Jacket winner Sergio Garcia both shared the lead at different stages on the back nine.

Hill made back-to-back birdies at the 12th and 13th to get his title challenge back on course and, in a tense finish, the Crook of Devon-based player then made a brilliant up and down from through the green at the par-4 17th and was back in the lead as Schott failed to do likewise.

In the match ahead, Reed, who was bidding to make it back-to-back wins on the DP World Tour after his victory in the Hero Dubai Desert Classic last Sunday, saw his 18-foot birdie attempt agonisingly slip past the edge of the hole.

That left Hill, who’d equalled the course record with a stunning 11-under-par 61 in the second round on Friday, needing a par to win and he passed his first test with flying colours by safely finding the fairway with a 3-wood.

But, after leaving himself in an almost impossible position at the front left of the green with his approach and having to putt off the green to have a chance of getting it close to the hole, he was faced with a 27-footer to claim victory and missed on the left.

That left him to sign for a one-under-par 71, finishing on 17 under, which matched Reed’s total after his closing 67 while German Schott made it a three-way play-off by making a great two-putt par at the last to card a 69.

Reed, who was playing in his first event since announcing that he’d left the LIV Golf League, dropped out of the shoot-out after catching the face of a bunker with his second shot at the first extra hole before Hill endured all sorts of horrors as he tackled the 18th again with Schott.

A pulled tee shot ended up out of bounds before he then hit a full-blooded shank with his fourth shot, leaving 24-year-old Schott to land his breakthrough victory as a concession was granted by referee Simon Higginbottom after Hill had taken six shots and Schott had a putt for par and was going to make a 5 at worst.

“It’s just amazing,” declared the winner, who picked up a cheque for $467,500. “I am extremely happy and surprised. Whenever there was a little bit of backfire, I just tried to stay in the moment. I could have done it the regular way, which would also have been fine. But to do it this way is even more special.”

Like Hill, Grant Forrest was left licking some wounds after the 32-year-old dug deep to get himself in the mix as well coming down the stretch only for a double–bogey at the last to leave him having to settle for a share of seventh spot on 14 under when a top-three finish was in his sights standing on the tee.