Scrivener battles in Bahrain as England’s Tarren leads

England’s Callum Tarren holds a two-shot lead at the halfway stage of the Bahrain Championship, with leading Australian Jason Scrivener eight shots off the pace.

Tarren was two over par for the first four holes of his second round at Royal Golf Club on Friday, but birdied four of the next five holes and picked up three more shots on the back nine.

The resulting 67 took the world No.502 to 13 under, two shots clear of compatriot Dan Brown and Italy’s Andrea Pavan, with Spain’s Pablo Larrazabal another stroke back following a 68 which included a hole-in-one.

“I got off to a shaky start today but I knew I was playing good golf so I just stayed patient,” Tarren said.

“I misjudged the wind on one, got it riding the wind and hit it up against the fence.

“I could hit it but it was against a rock so didn’t want to risk that. I just said, ‘ride this tough start, plenty of chances out there’ and I managed to capitalise on a few good shots.

“There were a couple in the middle of the round where I hit it to two feet and a foot with nine iron and a wedge. Shame about the last [a missed birdie chance from seven feet] but I’m ready to tackle the weekend.

“I’ve got to keep the foot to the floor because the course will yield birdies to the guys behind me. I feel very relaxed this week for some reason, I don’t know why. I just feel super chilled, so hopefully that’s a good omen.”

Larrazabal made the sixth ace of his career on the second hole, his 11th of the day, as he bids to win a 10th European tour title.

“I had 164 metres straight into the wind,” Larrazabal said. “Normally I hit 177 with a six iron so we played a three-quarters, punching six iron and it never left the flag.

“It’s great to suddenly see the ball going in.”

Overnight leader Brandon Robinson-Thompson, who threatened to card the second 59 in European tour history on his way to an opening 61, struggled to a second round of 74 to fall five shots off the lead.

Scrivener, who recovered from a couple of early bogeys to shoot a second-round 70 to go with his opening 69, is on five under for the tournament while compatriot David Micheluzzi just made the cut on two under after a 73.