Good day in Saudi for Dustin Johnson and Liam Johnston

Dustin Johnson enjoyed a round of 61. Picture: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images

Almost as impressive, though, was the effort from Liam Johnston. One of the four Scottish newcomers on the circuit this season, the 25-year-old from Dumfries carded a 66. That left him sitting just outside the top 10 in the $3.25 million event. He’s seven shots off the lead but just four off second spot.

Admittedly in the calmer morning conditions – a wind that really strengthened in the afternoon meant an early exit for world No 1 Justin Rose along with 2016 Open champion Henrik Stenson – Johnson’s record-breaking round looked as though it had been made on a different course to the one being tackled by the other 131 players in the field.

Birdies at the tenth, 11th, 15th and 18th took him out in 31. He then moved up a gear. A birdie at the second was followed by an eagle-3 at the fourth, where he rolled in a 20-footer. Back-to-back birdies at the sixth and seventh thereafter saw him equal the lowest round of his career. “I’ve played quite a few good ones, so I wouldn’t say it was the best round, but it was a really good one,” said the world No 3 after moving to 11-under. “I drove it really well and gave myself a lot of opportunities.” Like many others, he’d strugged on the grainy putting surfaces in the first round but sussed them out at the second time of asking.

“The greens rolled a little bit better today,” he added. “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 trusted the line and made some putts today.”

Johnson wasn’t firing on all cylinders when he failed to get in the mix in Abu Dhabi a fortnight ago. Putting TaylorMade’s M6 driver in the bag for the first time has made a big difference here so far. The 2017 US Open champion is hoping his game is warming up nicely for the Masters in just over two months’ time. “I definitely feel my swing is getting better and hopefully it is going to keep getting better as I’ve got a big stretch coming up. I’m playing at Pebble Beach (AT&T Pro-Am), LA (Genesis Open) and Mexico (WGC) – all tournaments I like,” he declared.

In contrast, Rose is not playing again until the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in early March. Johnson can’t take the top spot from here, but it could well be all change by then. “The world No 1 is cool and I’m really enjoying it, but I’m not playing golf tournaments because I’m chasing points,” declared Rose. “It’s a byproduct of playing well. My goal is to win more and to win major championships this year.”

China’s Haotong Li and Zander Lombard of South Africa are Johnson’s closest challengers. Li is clearly made of stern stuff, having bounced back manfully from the two-shot penalty last Sunday that cost him around £80,000 in Dubai.

Johnston ended a run of four missed cuts in a row by vindicating his upbeat mood following an opening 70. Five birdies, including three on the trot early on, left him in a good position heading into the weekend, where the only other Scot standing is Bob MacIntyre (on one-under).

“I knew it was close,” said Johnston, smiling. “Us golfers can tell when our game is getting there even though you might not have scoring as well as you’d like. I’m happy with four under today and a lot to build on heading into weekend, so I’m looking forward to it.”

As is MacIntyre, who has now made the cut in five of his six starts so far as a 22-year-old rookie. “I played great today,” said the left-hander from Oban. “I hit so many good putts that didn’t go in. It’s like riding against a wave at the moment on the greens – but it’s going to turn, I know it will.”

Tough days at the office for Scott Jamieson and Richie Ramsay saw them bow out along with Stephen Gallacher, David Drysdale, David Law and Grant Forrest.