Patrick Reed (-7) continues to impress. The American golfer has extended his extraordinary form with another great round of golf at the opening of the Qatar Masters. He carded a 65 and has already positioned himself at the top of the leaderboard. He took the lead swiftly with a round that included no less than nine birdies.
His main goal is to return to the PGA Tour via the Race to Dubai, and at this rate, he might have settled the matter before the Masters. What LIV didn’t need is for Brooks Koepka to win the Phoenix Open this week… Reed is tied for first place with another player heading to the American circuit: Daniel Hillier (-7). A spectacular display week after week from the New Zealand player, who narrowly missed out on the PGA Tour last year.
Reed’s first five birdies today at the Doha Golf Club were with putts that didn’t reach a metre in distance. Imagine his level of golf from tee to green, especially with the second and third shots. More or less the same as he’s been doing since the start of 2026. He began at the Dubai Invitational with a week that was more or less a warm-up, followed by victory at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, and last week he lost in a playoff at the Bahrain Championship.
Interestingly, today was his 13th round of the year. At this stage of his career, bad luck isn’t going to stop Patrick Reed. On the contrary, he delivered the best card of all. He shot 65 to seal an impressive average of 68.84 over the last three weeks and a day. Of those thirteen rounds, eight have been under 70 strokes. The average is even better, obviously, over the last three weeks, excluding the Dubai Invitational. In these last nine rounds, he averages 67.77.
We all know how golf is, how it can be. At some point, he might run out of steam, unless we’re witnessing the latest reincarnation of Scottie Scheffler. Meanwhile, Reed keeps playing and playing well. It would be interesting if he broke into the world top 5 precisely by playing on the DP World Tour. At first glance, it seems an impossible scenario, but at the pace he’s going, who knows.
Reed and Hillier have already set a very high pace in Qatar. One stroke behind are Marcus Kinhult (-6), Oliver Lindell (-6), and Jacob Skov Olesen (-6). A bit further back, three strokes behind, are the Japanese Kota Kaneko (-4), the Swede Adam Blomme (-4), and the Italian Guido Migliozzi (-4).
The performance of the Armada hasn’t been spectacular. The best is Rafa Cabrera Bello (-2), who finished his round with three birdies in the last seven holes. A good recovery that allows him to be well-positioned, just two strokes from the provisional top 10. Pablo Larrazábal (-1) and Jorge Campillo (-1) also played under par, which is not a disaster, while Nacho Elvira (+2) has left himself work to do tomorrow to make the cut.
