American Peter Uihlein took another step towards securing The International Series Rankings today after finishing in a share of the halfway lead for the PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers at Riyadh Golf Club.
He is in front with fellow LIV Golf stars Cam Smith from Australia and Chilean Joaquin Niemann, as well as fellow American Logan McAllister.
Uihlein won the International Series Qatar last week to take over at the top of the rankings for the first time this year and is clearly still on point - shooting a six-under-par 65 today to move to 11-under.
Smith shot 64, Niemann 66 and McAllister 63 – which is a new course record.
Englishman Tyrell Hatton, another LIV Golf alumni, is a stroke further back also after a 63, along with compatriot Steve Lewton (65), Australia’s Travis Smyth (66) and American Jason Kokrak (68).
First-round leaders Chang Wei-lun from Chinese-Taipei and Thailand’s Sadom Kaewkanjana fell away with rounds of 73 and are five under.
The cream rose to the top today in the season-ending event on the Asian Tour and The International Series.
Uihlein, also a winner at the International Series England in August, uncharacteristically dropped his only two shows on two of the par fives, normally bread and butter for the big hitter, but he chipped in for a birdie on 16 to catch the leaders.
“Proud of the way I handled those situations, and yeah, I feel good,” said the 35-year-old.
“Obviously, there's so many points available and there's two more days. Anything can happen. Just going to kind of keep trying to do what I'm doing, what I've been doing and hopefully it keeps going.”
A thousand points will go to the winner this week meaning the rankings race is wide open. The winner will earn a place on the LIV Golf League next year.
“It would be awesome [to win the rankings]. It's a goal to try to win The International Series Rankings. It would be nice to accomplish that goal. I feel like I played pretty solid most of the events out here. I had a couple hiccups but for the most part been pretty solid. It would be nice to finish it off, for sure.”
Smith is looking for his first victory over 72 holes since his win at the Australian PGA Championship at the end of 2022 and is well placed to achieve that heading into the next two rounds.
Having spent the last two weeks in Australia – where he missed out on a fourth Australian PGA title, finishing second – he arrived here jet-lagged and welcomed this morning’s calm conditions.
“Just played really solid,” said the 2022 Open champion.
“I didn't really do too much wrong. Bogey-free game was nice. It was just really quite an easy round of golf, which is obviously nice.
“It was nice getting out there this morning and no wind. With a bit of jet lag, being off early I think it kind of actually worked out in our favour.”
He did win twice on the LIV Golf League last year individually and has been runner-up on three occasions this season – including a play-off defeat in Hong Kong.
Added the Australian, who plays for Rippers GC on LIV Golf: “A win would be great. I think also just being in contention on Sunday would also be great. I'm sorry, on Saturday. We started on Wednesday here.”
Niemann is also psyched for victory this week.
He said: “I've been playing great. I feel like I've been missing that Sunday round the last couple tournaments that I've played. I've been having a chance to win all of those weeks, but I just didn't have that good Sunday.
“Right now, my form has been the best, a really good first two rounds. There's still a lot of golf to play, and I'm looking forward to that.”
With the course having been lengthened this week and a number of changes made, McAllister and Hatton’s round set a new course record. American MJ Maguire also shot 63.
Defending champion Abraham Ancer from Mexico signed for 68 and is six under.
American John Catlin, who wrapped up the Asian Tour Order of Merit title last week in Qatar, is in second place on the rankings and has given himself an outside chance of overtaking Uihlein.
He came in with a 69 having rallied after looking like missing the cut at one point.
The International Series is the most prized pathway in golf. It consists of 10 elite tournaments sanctioned by the Asian Tour and offers the year-long Rankings leader promotion to the LIV Golf League
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