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By Kent Gray
Dustin Johnson will take a three-stroke lead into moving day at the inaugural Saudi International after getting his skates on a day early at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club, while world No.1 Justin Rose is contemplating a rare weekend off.

Johnson, the 34-year-old world No.3, rolled in seven birdies and an eagle in a course record 61 on Friday, eclipsing the mark of 63 established by Belgian Thomas Pieters on the opening day of the $3.5 million European Tour event

The American will start Saturday’s third round in King Abdullah Economic City on -11 with his nearest challengers – South African Zander Lombard and China’s Li Haotong – at -8.

Rose missed his first cut since August 2017, ending a stretch of 36 events where he’s played all four rounds. The Englishman arrived in KAEC fresh from victory at the Farmers Insurance Open on the PGA Tour but a double bogey on 17 proved costly as he signed for a 72 to finish +2, missing the weekend by two strokes.

“The mistakes I made I felt were due to trying to chase the cut, and that doesn’t happen if I had putted a bit better the first day,” said Rose, whose last early exit from a regular European Tour event was in Hong Kong in December 2011.

“I actually played really nicely day one. Today I felt not as good, but I think the mistakes were more because I was behind the eight-ball trying to get into the tournament.”

Former Open champion Henrik Stenson also missed the level par cut by two, meaning he’s a concerning 0-3 in the Desert Swing after also missing out in Adu Dhabi and Dubai.

There was also deep Friday frustration for Dubai amateur Rayhan Thomas who backed up and opening 67 with a 77 to miss the cut by four.

Johnson had an outside shot of joining Oliver Fisher in the European Tour history books but his shot at a 59 was stalled by pars on his two final holes.

“I mean, I was trying to go birdie-birdie, but I never really thought about it,” Johnson said. “I wasn’t even thinking it was a par-70. I was just trying to keep getting my score lower and lower.

“It was really good. Obviously you always have fun when you’re playing well, but I did a lot of the same things I did yesterday. 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, I drove it really well and gave myself a lot of opportunities.”

New Desert Classic champion Bryson DeChambeau is at -4 after back-to-back 68s, new European Tour life member Patrick Reed is -2 and world No.2 Brooks Koepka -1.