There is a strong French contingent at the higher echelons of the leaderboard after the second round of the Saudi International powered by SBIA.
Alexander Levy leads the way at six under in a tie for fifth at the Royal Greens Golf & Country Club, with Victor Perez just two shots further back while Victor Dubuisson and Romain Langasque are at three under.
Levy produced a contender for shot of the tournament when he holed out from the fairway for a stunning eagle two at the sixth during his five-under-par 65 in the second round.
The World Number 100 is the highest ranked in the Official World Golf Rankings from the four French players, but he can make amends for last week's missed cut at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic with a strong performance in King Abdullah Economic City.
Levy currently sits five shots behind leader Dustin Johnson in Saudi Arabia.
Victor Dubuisson was part of the successful European Team in the 2014 Ryder Cup at Gleneagles, but has struggled to hit that form in recent years and injury restricted him to just one tournament in the whole of the 2018 season - at the Open de España.
Dubuisson was on the sidelines for seven months as he recovered from surgery on a ruptured eardrum, however, the 28 year old made his first cut in Dubai last week - his first since the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai in 2017.
And the World Number 333 ensured he played back-to-back weekends as six birdies and just one dropped shot in the second round helped him climb up to three under for the tournament in the Kingdom.
Victor Perez has had a brilliant start to the 2019 European Tour season after earning his card by finishing in third place in the 2018 Challenge Tour Rankings.
He came tied for third in the season-opening Honma Hong Kong Open presented by Amundi and has not missed a cut in his next four events, finishing 14th, T42, T54 and T29.
The 26 year old has ensured he will make it six weekends in a row to begin his European Tour career and could take advantage of calmer conditions at the start of his third round to move into contention.
Langasque has capitalised on a sponsor invite in Saudi Arabia to play over the weekend in a world-class field.
Four of the world's top players made an appearance at the Royal Greens Golf & Country Club, with World Number One Justin Rose, World Number Two and four-time European Tour winner Brooks Koepka and World Number Johnson making their mark.
But that has fazed Langasque, who regained his European Tour card this year after finishing fifth at the Final Qualifying Stage Lumine, as the Frenchman goes from strength to strength alongside the elite.
He finished six shots behind home favourite Louis Oosthuizen to claim outright second at the South African Open by the City of Johannesburg in December and has finished in the top 25 in his other three appearances this season.
