Dustin Johnson shot a bogey-free 9-under-par 61 at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club and will take a three-shot lead into the weekend at the Saudi International.
The world No. 3 signed for a card comprised of seven birdies and one eagle to reach 11-under par after 36 holes.
“It was really good. Obviously you always have fun when you’re playing well, but yeah, I did a lot of the same things I did yesterday,” said Johnson.
“The greens rolled a little bit better today. I felt like I paid a lot more attention to exactly what the putts were going to do and just kind of tried to make sure I just trusted the line that I was playing and made some putts today.
“You know, drove it really well and gave myself a lot of opportunities.”
South African Zander Lombard (67) and South Korea’s Li Haotong (65) were T2 on 8-under par.
World No. 1 Justin Rose, entering off a win at Torrey Pines, shot a 72 and missed the cut at 2-over par. It was the Englishman’s first cut since The Northern Trust last fall.
Brooks Koepka, the second-ranked player in the world, shot a 70 and sits T47 at 1-under par. No. 5 Bryson DeChambeau carded a second-consecutive 68 and was 4 under (T12).
TOP 10: SAUDI INTERNATIONAL RD 2
Pos-Player-To Par (Today)
1. Dustin Johnson -11 (-9)
2. Zander Lombard -8 (-3)
2. Haotong Li -8 (-5)
4. Scott Hend -7 (-7)
4. Fabrizio Zanotti -7 (-4)
6. Richard Sterne -6 (-2)
6. Ryan Fox -6 (-3)
6. Chris Paisley -6 (-2)
6. Alexander Levy -6 (-5)
10. Ian Poulter -5 (-3)
10. Jake McLeod -5 (E)
EXIT QUESTION: DUSTIN JOHNSON
Does this course suit you? They say it suits a long hitter. Do you think it suits you?
DUSTIN JOHNSON: Yeah, I like the golf course. Keep driving it like the way I am right now — I switched to the M6 driver this week, and I really like it.
I’m driving it really well right now, so if I keep hitting it in the fairway, I’m going to really like this golf course.