Saudi International Leaderboard
Kevin Na and Dustin Johnson were starting to seperate themselves from the pack until the 13th hole, both at -11 when DJ made his first mistake for a double bogey six, while Na made bogey then followed that with a double and suddenly the chasing pack filled with great names were right back in contention.
In fact there were18 players with 3 shots of each other with a breezy sunny day ahead on Sunday at this Saudi International, and it is truly an International field.
In the clubhouse at -10, Swede Soren Kjeldsen, England's Tyrrell Hatton and the lanky American Tony Finau. Right behind at -9 Spain's Sergio Garcia, South African George Coetzee, Germany's Martin Kaymer, Norway's Victor Hovland, England's David Horsey, and Calum Hill from Scotland.
However the big American world #1 rallied with late birdies at 17 and 18 to ease out in front by 2 shots with a -4 66, -13 total with Frenchman Victor Perez closing with a 66 of his own in second at -11, and that's they'll be in the final pair when play starts tomorrow morning.
Johnson won the first event here in 2019 and was second last year so he loves this Royal Greens G&CC. He hadn't made a bogey in 53 holes until he found the water at #13.
The prize fund here is only $3.5m US with just under $600,000 to the winner compared to $7m and $1.3m on the PGA Tour at Phoenix, however it's one of golf's not so little secrets that the top players travelling to Saudi receive as much appearance money as they would if they won playing in the US.
Bryan Angus
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