World number one Dustin Johnson will take a two-shot lead into the final round as he bids to win the Saudi International for the second time in three years.
Johnson, who was also runner-up in 2020, completed a delayed second round of 64 on Saturday morning and then added a 66 to reach 13 under par, with France’s Victor Perez also shooting 66 to lie in second place on 11 under.
Ireland's Shane Lowry is six under par overall after a second three under par 67 in succession. Three birdies on the way in followed a mixed front nine for the Offaly native. Cormac Sharvin is one shot further back after a four under 66, while Graeme McDowell is three over par after a disappointing third round.
Tyrrell Hatton, who won in Abu Dhabi a fortnight ago, is two shots off the lead alongside fellow Englishman Andy Sullivan, American Tony Finau and Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen.
After completing the final four holes of round two in one under par, Johnson began the third round a shot off the lead shared by Ryan Fox and Stephen Gallacher.
Four birdies in the first 10 holes saw the Masters champion cruise into a two-shot lead and his only blemish of the week so far came when he found the water with his approach to the 13th to run up a double-bogey six.
“Felt like I played really well all day, other than 13, but I didn’t think I hit that bad a shot,” said Johnson, who birdied the 17th and 18th to give him a stroke average of 66.18 from his 11 rounds at the Greens Golf and Country Club.
“I pushed it a hair right of the flag but just came up well short of where I thought it would and ended up making six there.
“But other than that, I drove it well and hit a lot of really good iron shots in there to give myself a lot of good chances at birdie. Didn’t hole a whole lot of putts, but finishing nicely definitely helped the day out.
“I like the golf course. I think it sets up good for me. I’ve liked it since the first time I came here a couple of years ago. I feel like I’m swinging it well and giving myself all the chances tomorrow. Just need to hole a few putts.”
Perez carded four birdies in a bogey-free 66 and is relishing playing alongside Johnson in the final round as he looks to boost his chances of qualifying for a Ryder Cup debut in September.
“I think that’s as good as it gets and I’ll be very excited for the challenge,” Perez said. “I think this is all you strive for.
“I think the Tour is doing great at having some of those great players being here and playing and giving us the chance, mostly staying in Europe the last two years, of playing against those guys. It will be a great competition.”
Sergio Garcia’s 64 was the lowest round of the day and lifted the Spaniard into a seven-strong group on nine under par which also contains Viktor Hovland and Scotland’s Calum Hill.
Gallacher’s third round of 72 left him on eight under alongside Justin Rose, with Ian Poulter and US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau a shot further back.
Poulter was five under par after 10 holes before two late bogeys and said: “It’s utterly disgusting, is what it is. I’ve shot three under par and I’m fuming. It’s unbelievable.
“I could smash the living daylights out of everything right now. But that’s golf. It’s a great game. I’m trying to push to get back inside the top 50 in the world rankings.
“I put a lot of pressure on myself to perform well and I haven’t the last two weeks. I put myself in a position to perform great this week and I’m missing some chances. Just keep doing what I’m doing and maybe tomorrow they will go in.”
Collated third round scores and totals (UK unless stated, Par 70):
197 Dustin Johnson (USA) 67 64 66
199 Victor Perez (Fra) 67 66 66
200 Tyrrell Hatton 67 67 66, Tony Finau (USA) 68 65 67, Andy Sullivan 66 66 68, Soeren Kjeldsen (Den) 69 66 65
201 Viktor Hovland (Nor) 68 66 67, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 70 67 64, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 67 68 66, George Coetzee (Rsa) 66 70 65, 201 Ryan Fox (Nzl) 65 65 71, 201 David Horsey 61 71 69, 201 Calum Hill 65 68 68
202 Justin Rose 68 66 68, Laurie Canter 66 68 68, Stephen Gallacher 62 68 72, Matthew Southgate 70 67 65
203 Bryson DeChambeau (USA) 65 70 68, Kevin Na (USA) 69 63 71, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 64 68 71, Ian Poulter 67 69 67, Kurt Kitayama (USA) 67 68 68
204 Paul Casey 69 68 67, Shane Lowry (Irl) 70 67 67, Lee Westwood 67 70 67, Robert MacIntyre 71 68 65, Thomas Pieters (Bel) 65 71 68, Ashun Wu (Chn) 68 68 68, Chris Paisley 68 67 69, Fabrizio Zanotti (Pry) 66 71 67
205 Wilco Nienaber (Rsa) 71 67 67, Cormac Sharvin (Irl) 70 69 66, Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn) 66 71 68, Sean Crocker (USA) 68 72 65, Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 71 67 67
206 Tommy Fleetwood 68 65 73, Jason Kokrak (USA) 70 67 69, Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa) 68 69 69, Antoine Rozner (Fra) 67 67 72, Justin Harding (Rsa) 68 70 68, Julian Suri (USA) 69 67 70, Justin Walters (Rsa) 68 68 70, Jeff Winther (Den) 67 73 66
207 Patrick Reed (USA) 69 70 68, Rafael Cabrera (Spa) 69 69 69, Rasmus Hoejgaard (Den) 70 69 68, Marcus Kinhult (Swe) 65 68 74
207 Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 66 70 71, Phil Mickelson (USA) 68 67 72, Takumi Kanaya (Jpn) 67 71 69, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 68 72 67, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 69 70 68, Ross Fisher 69 70 68, Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) 69 70 68, Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 68 72 67, James Morrison 67 73 67
208 Joachim B. Hansen (Den) 70 70 68, Steven Brown 68 67 73, Joost Luiten (Ned) 67 66 75, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 66 74 68, Thomas Detry (Bel) 67 70 71, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 73 67 68, Dean Burmester (Rsa) 69 71 68, Jamie Donaldson 72 67 69
209 Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 69 71 69, Guido Migliozzi (Ita) 68 67 74, David Law 70 70 69, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 71 69 69, Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 69 70 70, Oliver Wilson 68 72 69
210 Abraham Ancer (Mex) 71 69 70, Danny Willett 67 72 71
213 Graeme McDowell (Irl) 70 70 73, Ross McGowan 68 72 73, Romain Langasque (Fra) 69 67 77, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 70 70 73
