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Joaquin Niemann will take a two-stroke lead into the final round of LIV Golf Jeddah as he looks to continue his hot streak dating back to this past winter. The young Chilean utilized six birdies across his final 12 holes to separate himself from the pack as he stands at 13 under after two days of play. 

Charl Schwartzel is Niemann's closest pursuer at 11 under, while Jason Kokrak and Louis Oosthuizen sit three back at 10 under. World No. 3 Jon Rahm and Abraham Ancer are among those to round out the top five at 9 under.

"It was a great day," said Niemann. "Way better day than yesterday. The way I started I was obviously playing great. I started with seven pars in a row, and I didn't get off to a hot start like I did yesterday, and I kept playing better and better during the day. I really take positive the way I played at the end of the last couple holes today."

Niemann will go for his third trophy in his last six starts Sunday at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club; he was victorious at the DP World Tour's Australian Open and LIV Golf's season opener at Mayakoba. He has since added a quality result on the Asian Tour and received a special invitation into the 2024 Masters due to his success on the international stage.

"My goal is to win this week," said Niemann. "I know there's a lot of golf to play tomorrow. There's a lot of shots that I've got to hit tomorrow, and I've got to be confident doing those. I'm still a long, long way away from the position where I want to be. I just go from there, and hopefully tomorrow have a great day, too, see my shots, stay calm, and just do the same. I know it sounds easy to just keep doing the same, but it's just the same."

Meanwhile, at the other end of the leaderboard, Anthony Kim followed up his opening 76 with another. Beginning his second round with three bogeys and a double bogey across his first four holes, the American went on to steady the ship. Kim exchanged a birdie on the accessible par-4 1st with another double bogey on the par-3 3rd before carding 11 straight pars to end his round. The 38-year-old remains in a distant last place at 12 over and nine strokes behind his closest competitor.