Dubai’s Adri Arnaus kept up his fine form in the Saudi International as the Spaniard shot a 69 to trail surprise leader Harry Varner III by a single stroke on 12-under at King Abdullah Economic City, Jeddah.
The opening event in the Asian Tour schedule is now their flagship competition after substantial investment and is now a $5 million tournament, attracting some of the world’s top players, including Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson and Xander Schauffele at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club.
England’s Tommy Fleetwood, the two-time Abu Dhabi HSBC champion, is one stroke behind Arnaus on 10-under, while Cameron Smith — the Australian who won the PGA Tournament of Champions last month in Hawaii — is fourth on eight-under.
Defending champion Johnson sits fifth on a course he loves, having also won the event on its bow in 2019. He sits alongside Australia’s Wade Ormsby and Japan’s Ryosuke Kinoshita on seven-under.
Lurking just behind are Spain’s Pablo Larrazabal, Ryder Cup star Schauffele, England’s Steve Lewton and another American star Bubba Watson.
It was a disappointing day for Lee Westwood and Tyrrell Hatton as they are now both one-over alongside former Dubai Desert Classic winner Sergio Garcia and last month’s Abu Dhabi HSBC champion Thomas Pieters.
Arnaus was almost flawless in his 69 and will go up against Varner and the world’s best on Sunday and hope to bring the trophy home to Dubai.
“It was about just hanging in there. Really good pins today on 11, 12. So I just did a good job of just slowing down and just doing my job,” Varner, who is seeking his second career title, said.
On another windy day where scoring was tough, Varner got off to a less than perfect start, dropping a shot on the third before bouncing back with an eagle and birdie on the next two holes.
“The eagle was good. Yeah, it happened quick. It was just a good rebound. I hit a really good drive, and you’re just trying to make birdie and lucked up and hit the pin,” Varner added.
Two bogeys on the back nine threatened to hand the advantage back to Arnaus, but the 27-year-old was left to rue missed chances after mistakes on the 14th and 16th holes left Varner in sole possession of the lead.
“The velocity of the wind, yeah, it was tricky because I would say that the greens are a bit more crisper than the other days. You can tell that they are drying out, so, yeah, I think it’s a little bit tougher than yesterday,” said Arnaus.
