Dustin Johnson toys with the chasing pack as he takes two-shot lead into final round of...

[ASFN Admin]

If you did not know Dustin Johnson as an uncomplicated soul, you might have been forgiven for suspecting he was toying with the field on an enthralling third day of the Saudi International. The mighty American marched clear, leaving them thinking they were playing for second, before tantalisingly allowing the pack to close back up... and then marching clear again. The upshot is that on 13-under, Johnson is two clear of his nearest pursuer - France’s Victor Perez - at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club, and as the world No 1 that is an imposing advantage. Yet his chasers will have the 13th to offer some encouragement. When he stood on the tee of that 492-yard par four, the 2019 champion looked unstoppable. He was four-under for the round and had yet to drop a shot in his 48 holes of the tournament thus far. It had been nonchalant progress, only paused when a drive on the 10th during his second round downed a volunteer when hitting him on the full between his shoulder blades. Fortunately, the marshal was uninjured and Johnson had been unsighted and only marginally offline so could not have been expected to shout fore. So disaster averted and the dancefloor was all DJ’s. Yet golf has a way of bringing even the comets to earth and Johnson found the water with his second. Granted, he had “fatted” a three iron with his second shot on the par-five fourth, but he put that down to an errant camera click, went on to make his par and there had otherwise been no sign of an impending lapse in concentration. Suddenly the scoreboard clicked up a double-bogey six for the front-runner and the likes of Tyrrell Hatton - in on 10-under, alongside Tony Finau, Andy Sullivan and Soren Kjeldsen after a 66 - believed they had been chucked a lifeline. At this stage, even Justin Rose on eight-under - following a 68 - thought he was back in with a squeak. “All is not lost, DJ has given us a few back there and I’m right in the chasing pack,” he said. “I just wish I could have sneaked a couple more out of it towards the end. I’d be in a great position then.” Rose was soon proven prophetic in his wish. Because Johnson went on a “sneaking” mission himself and with birdies on the 17th and 18th he snaffled back the daylight at the top. The stumble had been but a mirage in a desert for his stalkers. “You know, I only missed it by a hair on 13th, so I wasn’t about to let that bother me,” Johnson said after a 66. “But that’s just me. I do get frustrated out there, but I do not let in linger. That 13th is a tough par four, and although some of the guys say it is really a par five, we've always played it like that. And it doesn't really matter what the par is. It's a golf hole and you try to get it in as quickly as you can.” It is this indefatigability that helps mark out Johnson so easily as the best player in the world at the moment. Perez will likely need to reproduce his own third-round 66 to have a chance of silverware that would go so far to guaranteeing his Ryder Cup debut in September. “This pairing is as good as it gets for me,” Perez said. “This is all you strive for.”

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