Saudi International 2022 LIVE blog: Harold Varner III wins with last minute eagle

02/06/2022 by Tobias Hennig

Follow the action in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, live. Top golfers from the US and Europe are competing at the Saudi International on the Asian Tour.

Saudi International 2022 LIVE blog: Harold Varner III wins with last minute eagle

Follow the Asian Tours Saudi International 2022 in our live blog. (Photo by Oisin Keniry/Getty Images)

03 Feb

02/03 – 02/06/2022

Asian Tour: PIF Saudi International 2022

Royal Greens Golf & Country Club – Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

  • Round 4/4
  • Strokeplay
  • Prize money: 5 Mio. Dollar
  • Defending champion: Dustin Johnson

The Saudi International 2022 is underway and surprisingly many stars from the US and Europe are taking part in the $5 million event. Follow Dustin Johnson, Tommy Fleetwood, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia and all the others in our LIVE BLOG. Latest updates are posted here regularly. Refresh the page to see the latest posts.

Full Leaderboard Saudi International 2022

The tournament is controversially discussed. While many international stars are taking part in exchange for high entry fees, many media outlets are pointing out the human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia. The organisers are accused of “sport washing” to distract from the country’s bad image. The golf pros largely ignore the debate.

Read more on the debate here!

FIND ALL NEWS ON THE TOURNAMENT HERE.

Day 3 of the Saudi International 2022 LIVE

Harold Varner III wins Saudi International 2022

13:30

Harold Varner III scores even better and holes his eagle putt on the 18th hole. He wins the Saudi International 2022.

13:25

Varner shots a birdie on hole 17. If he manages to score another one on his last hole there will be a playoff between him and Bubba Watson.

13:10

Bubba Watson takes the lead with a stunning birdie-eagle finish. He is now at -12 and holds a two shot lead before Varner. Varner has still two holes to play.

12:30

Harold Varner III faced some difficulties at the 14th hole and scored a doublebogey. He falls back at -11 but remains on position number one.

Tommy Fleetwood is at -9 after another bogey on hole 14, he is one shot in front of Englishman Steve Lewton, who is at -2 for the day (-8 for the tournament) and made his way up the leaderboard.

11:50

Bubba Watson falls back at -3 for the day and the shared 4th position with Matthes Wolff at -9 overall score.

11:30

Adri Arnaus maybe can’t withstand the pressure and falls back to -11 with three bogeys in a row and a share of 2nd place with Tommy Fleetwood, two strokes behind Varner.

11:00

Frustating doublebogey for Bubba Watson makes him fall back at T5 and -9.

Adri Arnaus bogeys as well and is now again in a shared lead with Varner at -13.

10:40

Bubba Watson takes off, with five under par on the front nine he is only three strokes behind Adri Arnaus, who moves back to the top of the leaderboard with an eagle on hole 7.

Matthew Wolff is just one shot behind Watson at T4 with Tommy Fleetwood.

Dustin Johnson falls back with two consecutive bogeys on hole 8 and 9. He is now at +1 on the shared 13. rank.

10:10

With a bogey from Adri Arnaus and a Birdie from Harold Varner III the leader changes once more. Varner is now again in the lead at -13.

Defending champion Dustin Johnson is at -1 at T8 after starting strong with a birdie, followed with a bogey on the 3. hole and a second birdie on hole 4.

09:40

Adri Arnaus takes the solo lead with a birdie at the 4. hole. He is now at -13. Tommy Fleetwood scored a birdie as well and is now at -11 on third position.

09:20

Adri Arnaus has a strong start. With a birdie on the second hole he ties first place with Varner at -12.

Phil Mickelson is on a good run as well. With three birdies within seven holes he is currently at T10 with a six under par total score.

Defending champion Dustin Johnsons starts with three pars in a row and sits at ninth position with -7.

08:30

Strong start for Bubba Watson and Matthew Wolff. Watson played back to back birdies on his first two holes and is climbing the leaderboard with -8 in total. Wolff is at -2 as well and sits one shot behind Watson on T6.

08:20

This, or something like it, is how the pros prepared for the final day of the Saudi International. Xander Schauffele starts his round with a birdie.
The last flight with Fleetwood, Arnaus and Varner III is about to start the exciting last round at the Royal Greens Golf & Country Club.

14:53

And that’s it! Harold Varner III manages to birdie the 18th, Arnaus plays par and so the American goes into Sunday with a one stroke lead and a total score of -12.

But behind the leading duo lurk a number of top stars. Tommy Fleetwood (-10), Cameron Smith (-9) and Dustin Johnson (-7) will do everything they can to catch Varner III.

That’s it for today from the Saudi International! We’ll be back for them tomorrow when the title is on the line!

14:25

Defending champion Dustin Johnson finished today’s round with a birdie and is currently tied for fifth place.

14:05

And directly the next bogey for the Spaniard and thus Harold Varner III is again in the solo lead with three holes to go.

13:41

Two bogeys at the top. Both Arnaus and Varner III have to accept a stroke loss at the 14th hole and are now only two strokes ahead of the first chasers.

13:08

Fleetwood runs hot! With back-to-back birdies on holes 12 and 13, the Englishman is now knocking at the top of the leaderboard. He is still two shots behind the leading duo, but with five holes to go, it looks like Fleetwood will be in a good position for tomorrow.

12:50

The two players in the last flight don’t give each other anything today! While Varner III has to accept a bogey on the 11th, Arnaus plays the first two holes of the back nine birdie and already both are back on top at -12, with seven holes to go.

12:20

Half time on Moving Day! The top players start their back nine. Harold Varner III is now two strokes ahead of the first pursuers Adri Arnaus and  three strokes in front of Cam Smith.

11:59

That’s what we call good content: Range session with Bubba Watson, you gotta love it!

11:50

What an up and down. Cam Smith corrects his bogey on the sixth with a birdie on the eighth and moves past Arnaus into second place. The Spaniard Arnaus had to accept his second bogey at the eight and falls back.

There is also a lot happening on the places behind. Tommy Fleetwood seems to have found his momentum. The Englishman is now in a strong fourth place.

11:36

While Harold Varner III and Adri Arnaus are back at the top of the leaderboard, we have already collected the first pictures of the day for you! Click here!

11:07

The first players are already back in the clubhouse. By now, the best round of the day is played by Paul Casey (64/-6). The Englishman shows a top performance on the back nine, plays five birdies and sits on a shared 16th place.

11:05

Not bad at all!

10:52

Harold Varner III strikes back! After a bumpy start, the American seems to have caught himself and plays an eagle on the fourth hole. With this he passes Arnaus/Smith again and is now in the solo lead.

10:34

Cameron Smith moved to the top of the leaderboard. After three holes, the Australian is at -1 and also benefits from the slips of Arnaus and Varner III, who are both one over par after three holes. Slowly, the Moving Day is really starting to move!

10:13

Henrik Stenson also gets off to a good start. The Swede plays three consecutive birdies at the holes 4, 5 and 6 and catapults himself to the shared tenth place.

The two leaders Adri Arnaus and Harold Varner start the moving day with a par.

9:22

What a start from Ian Poulter. The Englishman seems to have set his sights high for today and plays the first six holes three under par. At the moment that means a shared 20th place for Poulter.

Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson are now also on the course and both played a birdie on the first hole!

8:50

The last two players on the moving day are on their way. Who can make up places today, who can keep the connection to the top group? Now in the live ticker!

05.02.2022 – Moving Day

Tommy Fleetwood is at 5 after second at the PIF Saudi International

15:10

The second round of the Saudi International 2022 is finished. The cut was made at four over par and 75 players are going into the weekend.

14:40

Dustin Johnson finishes the second round with a par. This puts him in 14th place overall at -4. In good company with Phil Mickelson and Tyrrell Hatton.

14:10

Patrick Reed finishes his round with two consecutive birdies to move to -1 for the day and -5 for the tournament. He sits at the 9. rank.

14:00

Dustin Johnson and Matteo Manassero take steps back and up the leaderboard by scoring a birdie each. Johnson moved to the 14. rank and Manassero is back at 9. position.

13:40
Xander Schauffele manages a very good finish. On hole 17 and 18 he plays a bogey each and climbs up to the shared ninth rank.
Meanwhile, Matteo Manassero continues to go downhill. He adds two more bogeys on the second nine to the two bogeys on the first nine. He is currently on his 15th hole.
Dutsin Johnson takes another bogey. Currently only the 16th rank for him.
13:00
Adri Arnaus catches up with Harold Varner III! With a birdie at the 17 he raises his score today to 4-under-par and draws level with the leader.

12:40
Only three holes left for Adri Arnaus. He is just one stroke behind leader Harold Varner III and still has a chance to take the lead.

12:30
Matteo Manassero currently falls back to 6th place. With two bogeys and no birdie, his front nine did not go as desired. Maybe he can now turn the tide on his second nine.
11:40
The wind is picking up, not making it easier for the players of the afternoon session.


11:20
Adri Arnaus making a move. The Spaniard is currently the only player on the course to get closer to Harold Varner III. He is two shots off the lead. Meanwhile “DJ” drops a shot at the 8 hole and falls back to 5 under.
10:40
Tommy Fleetwood has finished his second round at -7. The Englishman stays in contention three shots behind the current leader.
10:17
Harold Varner III sets the new club house target at 10 under par. After an opening 64 (-6) he posts a 66 (-4) on day 2 of the Saudi International 2022.


09:50
Over night leader Matteo Manassero kicks off his second round with a par on hole 10. Can he remain on top of the leaderboard? The Italian felt pretty comfortable after the first round, stating: “It was one of those days in which everything was going my way. I was playing really solid, giving myself a lot of birdie chances, a lot of really short ones, as well. So just got the round going and just felt comfortable. That’s the right word, I guess.”

08:45
Fan favorite Phil Mickelson hitting “bombs” in his unique style.


07:56
Earlier today it was announced that Bryson DeChambeau has withdrawn from the Saudi International 2022 due to an injury of his left wrist and hip. The US Open winner has mentioned problems with his left wrist continously over the last couple of weeks.
07:32

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