Saudi International R2

February 04-07
Royal Greens G&CC, King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia
$3,500,000
Round 1, Round 3, Round 4

---

---

Ryan Fox posted his second consecutive round of 65 after just beating the fading light to lead the weather-affected second round of the Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers.

“It’s been a really solid couple days of ball-striking, and I saw a few putts go in both days, which was nice. To be sitting near the top of this leaderboard is always a good thing. It’s a pretty strong field this week.”

The New Zealander was among the afternoon starters whose rounds suffered a two hour delay due to a rare bout of rain and lightning at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club, but he carded six birdies when play eventually got back underway. He dropped his only shot of the day on the last hole, but made it safely back into the impressive clubhouse on ten under par just before darkness fell.

---

“I think we got very, very lucky with the draw. Obviously, no wind yesterday morning and showers that went through with the thunderstorms, and when we came back out, it was pretty much perfect. You don’t often get two days of no wind around here, and it was nice to take advantage of that. And, you know, you get the bad side of the draw enough times, it’s nice to get the good side every now and again.

“As long as I can make my flight on Sunday to make sure I get back into New Zealand, this is what you play golf for, to be in contention. And it’s been a while since I’ve been in this position. And I’ll just go out and enjoy it on the weekend and see if I can keep playing how I’m playing. I know if I do, I’ve got a good chance on Sunday.”

Scotland’s Stephen Gallacher will resume his second round also on that mark, with the Ryder Cup player facing six more holes to play on Saturday. He posted three birdies and one bogey on his front nine and three straight pars after the turn.

England’s Andy Sullivan (66) and Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger (68) are two shots back on eight under par along with Sweden’s Marcus Kinhult and World Number One Dustin Johnson who have two and four holes remaining respectively. Johnson carded back-to-back birdies just before the suspension to keep on course to extend his impressive record in the event, having won the inaugural edition in 2019 and finished runner up 12 months ago.

Ryder Cup player Tommy Fleetwood (65) and Scotland Callum Hill (68) are in the clubhouse on seven under par, with former World Number One Justin Rose, overnight leader David Horsey and France’s Victor Perez all set to resume their rounds on Saturday also three shots off the pace.

---

Meanwhile , Norway’s Viktor Hovland once again underlined his Ryder Cup credentials in the presence of one of Europe’s legendary players, Ian Poulter, carding a four under par 66 to move to six under.

Hovland’s first Ryder Cup memory was watching Poulter’s iconic performance at Medinah in 2012 and the 23 year old played alongside the Englishman, who is on four under par, and former Masters Champion Danny Willett in the first two rounds at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club. In total, 16 groups will complete their second rounds on Saturday morning. 

“I had a very nice start, birdieing the first hole and made another one a couple holes later and just gave myself really good chances early on. So I was in very good control of my game. And then the wind starting picking up and it started raining a little bit.

---

“The course played a lot longer, and you know, it was kind of a grind on a couple holes but I kind of managed to just hit it to 20, 25 feet a lot, and you’re just going to two-putt a lot of those putts. So it was pretty solid, but need to get it a little closer tomorrow for some more birdies.

“It was awesome (playing with Ian). He’s obviously a very passionate guy, and it’s cool to see that passion come out, even though it’s not a Ryder Cup. I could just kind of picture him and even Danny Willett in kind of that environment. I’d love to maybe be in the same setting some day.”

---

Pos.	Player	To Par	Hole	Today	R1	R2	Total
T1	Ryan Fox	-10	F	-5	65	65	130
T1	Stephen Gallacher	-10	12	-2	62		62
T3	Andy Sullivan	-8	F	-4	66	66	132
T3	Bernd Wiesberger	-8	F	-2	64	68	132
T3	Marcus Kinhult	-8	16	-3	65		65
T3	Dustin Johnson	-8	14	-5	67		67
T7	Tommy Fleetwood	-7	F	-5	68	65	133
T7	Calum Hill	-7	F	-2	65	68	133
T7	Justin Rose	-7	15	-5	68		68
T7	Victor Perez	-7	13	-4	67		67
T7	David Horsey	-7	12	2	61		61
T12	Laurie Canter	-6	F	-2	66	68	134
T12	Viktor Hovland	-6	F	-4	68	66	134
T12	Antoine Rozner	-6	F	-3	67	67	134
T12	Tony Finau	-6	16	-4	68		68
T12	Tyrrell Hatton	-6	14	-3	67		67
T12	Joost Luiten	-6	14	-3	67		67
T12	Kevin Na	-6	13	-5	69		69
T19	Phil Mickelson	-5	F	-3	68	67	135
T19	Guido Migliozzi	-5	F	-3	68	67	135
T19	Chris Paisley	-5	F	-3	68	67	135
T19	Steven Brown	-5	14	-3	68		68
T19	Martin Kaymer	-5	13	-2	67		67
T24	George Coetzee	-4	F	E	66	70	136
T24	Romain Langasque	-4	F	-3	69	67	136
T24	Thomas Pieters	-4	F	1	65	71	136
T24	Ian Poulter	-4	F	-1	67	69	136
T24	Julian Suri	-4	F	-3	69	67	136
T24	Sergio Garcia	-4	17	-4	70		70
T24	Kurt Kitayama	-4	16	-1	67		67
T24	Bryson DeChambeau	-4	14	1	65		65
T24	Lee Westwood	-4	14	-1	67		67
T24	Ashun Wu	-4	14	-2	68		68
T24	Mikko Korhonen	-4	12	E	66		66
T24	Thomas Detry	-4	11	-1	67		67
T36	Christiaan Bezuidenhout	-3	F	-1	68	69	137
T36	Paul Casey	-3	F	-2	69	68	137
T36	Masahiro Kawamura	-3	F	1	66	71	137
T36	Jason Kokrak	-3	F	-3	70	67	137
T36	Matthew Southgate	-3	F	-3	70	67	137
T36	Shane Lowry	-3	17	-3	70		70
T36	Justin Walters	-3	13	-1	68		68
T36	Joachim B. Hansen	-3	12	-3	70		70
T36	Jhonattan Vegas	-3	12	1	66		66
T36	Søren Kjeldsen	-3	11	-2	69		69
T46	Rafa Cabrera Bello	-2	F	-1	69	69	138
T46	Justin Harding	-2	F	E	68	70	138
T46	Takumi Kanaya	-2	F	1	67	71	138
T46	Wilco Nienaber	-2	F	-3	71	67	138
T46	Fabrizio Zanotti	-2	13	2	66		66
T46	Ross McGowan	-2	11	E	68		68
T52	Jamie Donaldson	-1	F	-3	72	67	139
T52	Ross Fisher	-1	F	E	69	70	139
T52	Rasmus Højgaard	-1	F	-1	70	69	139
T52	Jazz Janewattananond	-1	F	E	69	70	139
T52	Michael Lorenzo-Vera	-1	F	E	69	70	139
T52	Robert MacIntyre	-1	F	-2	71	68	139
T52	Patrick Reed	-1	F	E	69	70	139
T52	Cormac Sharvin	-1	F	-1	70	69	139
T52	Danny Willett	-1	F	2	67	72	139
T52	Brandon Stone	-1	13	-1	70		70
T52	Julien Guerrier	-1	11	-1	70		70
T63	Abraham Ancer	E	F	-1	71	69	140
T63	Kiradech Aphibarnrat	E	F	-3	73	67	140
T63	Dean Burmester	E	F	1	69	71	140
T63	Sean Crocker	E	F	2	68	72	140
T63	Victor Dubuisson	E	F	-1	71	69	140
T63	Pablo Larrazabal	E	F	1	69	71	140
T63	David Law	E	F	E	70	70	140
T63	Graeme McDowell	E	F	E	70	70	140
T63	James Morrison	E	F	3	67	73	140
T63	Wade Ormsby	E	F	-1	71	69	140
T63	Matthias Schwab	E	F	2	68	72	140
T63	Oliver Wilson	E	F	2	68	72	140
T63	Jeff Winther	E	F	3	67	73	140
T63	Chris Wood	E	16	-3	73		73
T63	Maximilian Kieffer	E	12	-1	71		71
T63	Matthieu Pavon	E	11	2	68		68
T79	Scott Hend	1	F	E	71	70	141
T79	Lucas Herbert	1	F	1	70	71	141
T79	Haotong Li	1	F	6	65	76	141
T79	David Lipsky	1	F	1	70	71	141
T79	Edoardo Molinari	1	F	-2	73	68	141
T79	Kalle Samooja	1	F	2	69	72	141
T79	Joel Stalter	1	F	2	69	72	141
T79	Min Woo Lee	1	15	2	69		69
T79	Matt Wallace	1	15	-2	73		73
T79	Francesco Laporta	1	13	1	70		70
T79	Jorge Campillo	1	12	2	69		69
T79	Shubhankar Sharma	1	12	2	69		69
T79	Jordan Smith	1	12	E	71		71
T79	Richard Sterne	1	12	2	69		69
T79	Haydn Porteous	1	11	1	70		70
T79	Harry Hall	1	10	1	70		70
T95	Garrick Higgo	2	F	2	70	72	142
T95	Ignacio Elvira Mijares	2	13	1	71		71
T95	Shergo Al Kurdi (a)	2	11	3	69		69
T95	David Howell	2	11	1	71		71
T99	Adri Arnaus	3	F	4	69	74	143
T99	Alexander Björk	3	F	1	72	71	143
T99	John Catlin	3	F	4	69	74	143
T99	Gavin Kyle Green	3	F	2	71	72	143
T99	Miguel Angel Jiménez	3	F	1	72	71	143
T99	Andrew Johnston	3	F	3	70	73	143
T99	Zander Lombard	3	F	1	72	71	143
T99	Adrian Otaegui	3	F	5	68	75	143
T99	Aaron Rai	3	F	4	69	74	143
T99	Jason Scrivener	3	F	-2	75	68	143
T99	Kristoffer Broberg	3	16	3	70		70
T110	Grant Forrest	4	F	5	69	75	144
T110	Scott Jamieson	4	F	E	74	70	144
T110	Alexander Levy	4	F	3	71	73	144
T110	Richie Ramsay	4	F	1	73	71	144
T110	Paul Waring	4	F	3	71	73	144
T110	Benjamin Hebert	4	16	3	71		71
T116	Nino Bertasio	5	F	E	75	70	145
T116	Thomas Bjørn	5	F	1	74	71	145
T116	David Drysdale	5	F	5	70	75	145
T116	Ernie Els	5	F	1	74	71	145
T116	Alvaro Quiros	5	11	4	71		71
T121	Ashley Chesters	6	F	6	70	76	146
T121	Lorenzo Gagli	6	F	5	71	75	146
T121	Eduard Rousaud (a)	6	F	4	72	74	146
T121	Henrik Stenson	6	F	4	72	74	146
T121	Paul Dunne	6	10	3	73		73
T126	Othman Almulla	7	F	6	71	76	147
T126	Renato Paratore	7	F	5	72	75	147
T126	Tapio Pulkkanen	7	F	4	73	74	147
T126	Sami Valimaki	7	F	4	73	74	147
T126	Sebastian Soderberg	7	11	4	73		73
T131	Oliver Fisher	8	F	6	72	76	148
T131	Jayden Schaper	8	F	4	74	74	148
133	Richard McEvoy	11	F	8	73	78	151
T134	Andrea Pavan	13	F	9	74	79	153
T134	Marc Warren	13	F	9	74	79	153
T136	Saud Al Sharif	18	F	8	80	78	158
T136	Faisal Salhab (a)	18	F	11	77	81	158
DISQ	Raphael Jacquelin	6	16	E	76		76