Burmester, Surratt lead after Rd. 3 of PIF Saudi International

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Stinger GC's Dean Burmester made a big charge in Round 3 of the PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment, shooting a 7-under 64 to enter the final round tied with Legion XIII's Caleb Surratt at 17-under par.

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Burmester was able to catch Surratt by playing a flawless round, which included seven birdies and no bogeys. Surratt, who led after each of the first two rounds, will try to close out the week with a win after a 3-under 68 in Round 3.

They will have to hold off several LIV Golf players who make up the top seven spots on the leaderboard. They include Fireballs GC's Josele Ballester (solo third, 5-under 66), who is one shot off the lead, and Cleeks Golf Club's Richard Bland and Adrian Meronk, who are tied for fourth and just four shots off the lead. Also tied for fourth is 2025 LIV Golf Wild Card player Anthony Kim (2-under 69), who is playing his best golf since returning to the pro game.

HyFlyers GC's Cameron Tringale is tied for seventh and five shots back after a 6-under 65.

At the conclusion of the week, two career-changing tickets to the 2026 LIV Golf League will be awarded to the first- and second-ranked players in The International Series’ season-long standings, not including players already on LIV Golf.

The US$5million event is the most lucrative of the season on the Asian Tour and the final event of the year on The International Series.

Surratt was beaten by Torque GC Captain Joaquin Niemann on the second hole of a sudden death playoff 12 months ago, which also featured Ripper GC Captain Cameron Smith. Surratt could have won it in regulation play but made bogey on the last after finding water off the tee.

He will look to banish that memory tomorrow and secure his first title in the professional game.

“It was good,” Surratt, 21, said. “You're not going to have your best stuff all the time. I came out of the gates, I really didn't hit many bad shots early. I hit a few, but not starting off my best. I was very proud of the fight the rest of the day. ... I think it would have been real easy to continue to bleed and shoot 2- or 3-over today, take myself out of the golf tournament, but didn't do that. I'm very proud of that.”

He made bogeys on the first and fourth, before getting back on track with a birdie on the ninth. Four birdies on the back nine restored his confidence and lead.

When asked if he sees tomorrow as a chance to redeem himself after last year, he said: “Definitely. It would be nice to get some redemption, but regardless, I've done really well to put myself in the position I am in. I fought really hard and worked really hard to get to that. Almost no matter what happens, it feels like I could leave now because this week has already been a win with so many positives.”

Burmester shot 63 in Round 2 and nearly matched that on Friday. One the biggest hitters at this event, he reached the par-4 18th, which measures 396 yards, from the tee.

“I hit one yesterday," Burmester said. "That's kind of how I knew I could get there and make sure I was comfortable being able to roll into that left pin. You kind of want to keep it up to the middle of the green. I went from there and hit it pretty hard, probably as hard as I've ever hit a tee shot.”

He finished second in a long driving competition in South Africa a week ago and the experience has put him in a good stead this week.

“I learned a few things from the long drive champion in South Africa,” Burmester said. “It was quite cool to kind of put that to good use. It’s more about like hip mobility and rotation and how he creates his speed without feeling like you have to hit it that hard. It was quite interesting to see the dynamic and the way that they do it. I'm sure Bryson DeChambeau knows all about this stuff because he did it. For me to learn something like that was cool.”

Burmester won LIV Golf Chicago in August for his second league win and has continued to shine.

The International Series Rankings will be decided during the final round on Saturday, with the leading two players securing places on next year’s LIV Golf League.

Rankings leader Scott Vincent from Zimbabwe put himself in a strong position to finish the year on top after returning his third 67.

He is in a tie for seventh, five shots behind the leaders.

“Today was fun,” said Vincent. “I had a lot more fun today than the past couple days. Yeah, looking forward to tomorrow's challenge and just trying to enjoy it. Try and enjoy it as much as possible. Golf has been great so far. So just trying to build on that and keep going.

“Just trying to not make it bigger than it needs to be and just play my game, play golf. Yeah, like I mentioned, just try and enjoy this experience and this moment because it's only going to help me no matter how it goes.”

He won the inaugural Rankings in 2022 and played on LIV Golf for the next two years before losing his status at the end of 2024. A good round tomorrow will pave the way for a remarkable return.

Filipino Miguel Tabuena came in with a 67 and is one shot back. He is third on the Rankings and needs a top-six finish tomorrow to grab second place ahead of Japan’s Yosuke Asaji, who missed the cut.

Kim, Thailand’s Danthai Boonma, and Hong Kong’s Taichi Kho have outside chances to win one of those places on LIV tomorrow but need to win.

Danthai carded a 67 and is tied with Vincent, while Kho carded a 68 and is seven off the lead.

(Photo courtesy of Asian Tour)