Dubai: World No. 1 Dustin Johnson birdied the final hole when the second round resumed Saturday to move to within one shot of the leaders at the halfway stage of the Saudi International.
The 36-year-old American, who won the inaugural edition of the tournament in 2019 and was runner-up last year, shot a six-under par 64 to tally nine-under par 131.
- Saudi International: Dustin Johnson isn’t scared of being the world's No 1 golfer
- Saudi International: Bryson DeChambeau finally has answers about mysterious illness
- Saudi International: ‘You have to really be mentally strong,’ says Patrick Reed
- Saudi International: Phil Mickelson fired up for tilt at title
New Zealand’s Ryan Fox (65) and Scotland’s Stephen Gallacher (68) shared the lead at 10-under par 130, while four players were tied for fourth at eight-under par. That group included overnight leader David Horsey of England (71), Andy Sullivan (66), Austrian Bernd Wiesberger (68) and American Kevin Na, who shot 63, the lowest card of the second round.
The second round was suspended on Friday due to failing light after a thunderstorm had caused a two-hour stoppage in the afternoon.
Johnson, as well as Fox and Gallacher, who played early Thursday and late Friday, benefited from the unusual weather conditions and the usual post-noon wind.
“Definitely did not think we were going to get two days of rain,” said Johnson who is bogey-free in the tournament so far. “Obviously, we got pretty lucky with the weather, especially yesterday afternoon. It really calmed down late in the day. Then this morning it was raining during the warm up and then after the first hole, kind of quit. Hopefully, it will be nice for the rest of the day.”
The cut was applied at even-par and 76 players advanced to the moneymaking rounds.
Leaderboard
-11 Stephen Gallacher (SCO) 62 68
-11 Ryan Fox (NZL) 65 65
-10 Dustin Johnson (USA) 67 64
-9 Kevin Na (USA) 69 63
-9 Bernd Wiesberger (AUT) 64 68
-9 Andy Sullivan (ENG) 66 66
-9 David Horsey (ENG) 61 71
-8 Tommy Fleetwood (ENG) 68 65
-8 Tony Finau (USA) 68 65
-8 Victor Perez (FRA) 67 66
-8 Marcus Kinhult (SWE) 65 68
-8 Joost Luiten (NED) 67 66
-8 Calum Hill (SCO) 65 68
