Manama, Feb. 1 -- Tom Vaillant put in a sublime display over the Royal Golf Club course to sign for an eight under par 64 and edge into a one-shot lead over Zander Lombard and Joel Girrbach on day one of the Bahrain Championship presented by Bapco Energies.

"It was pretty good," said the Frenchman who carded a superb five under par back nine which included back-to-back birdies to finish. "We were lucky with the conditions compared to what's predicted for tomorrow, so I just tried to take advantage of it. I tried to hit as many greens as I could and just played solidly the whole day. Tried to putt at great speed and I made some putts, it's great."

The 22-year-old has been on a meteoric rise though the golfing ranks with consecutive promo...