Patrick Reed continues his golfing desert storm to be sharing the lead on day one of the Commerial Bank Qatar Masters in Doha.
Four days after going to so close to back-to-back DP World Tour victories and Reed posted nine birdies in a seven-under 65 to be tied for the lead with also in-form Kiwi Daniel Hillier.
Reed was out in the morning half of the draw, teeing-off from the 10th and quickly highlighting his round with a starting trio of birdies and while he bogeyed the 14th, the Texan bounced back with birdies at 14, 16 and 17 to the turn at five-under.
Birdies followed for last fortnight’s Hero Dubai Desert Classic championat the first, fourth and seventh holes before only a second bogey in his round at the eighth or 17th hole of his day.
Reed’s 13th straight DP World Tour round is his eighth sub-70 for the present World No. 25.
REED’S DESERT STORM CONTINUES ….
With Texas @PReedGolf quickly putting himself into contention for a third @DPWorldTour week in succession @CBQatarMasters @DohaGolfClub
DPWT
✅ @TOURMISS @Record_Sport pic.twitter.com/zoeOCELAUP
— Fatiha (@TOURMISS) February 5, 2026
“It felt solid. It’s kind of windy this morning when we got up, it forced me to kind of get in rhythm and take the day on, just trying to trust what the wind was doing in my golf swing”, said Reed.
“It was nice. I hit the ball pretty well, especially early in the round, a lot of my birdies were just kind of kick-ins which is always nice, not having to think too much around there.
“I would have liked to capitalise on the par-fives a little bit more, and really the par-threes, even though I had a birdie, two of them are bogeys and all the bogeys came on par-threes so just tighten that up a little bit and really just get ready to go.
“The golf course, especially when it’s windy like this, it requires a lot of shot-making – you have to work the ball both ways, or flight things down, or take it up in the air.
“That’s the kind of golf I like, I like to get creative when I’m out there and really dive into the golf shot, and a golf course like this with a lot of doglegs and cross-winds, it allows you to do that. It’s just one of these places that kind of suits my eye.
“We’re definitely enjoying it a lot right now. The game feels solid, I feel like a lot of the work we’ve done in the off-season has really stuck and it’s gone pretty well.
“At this point we’re just riding the confidence, allowing ourselves to go out there and just play a little bit aggressive, attack the golf course and worst-case scenario allow my short game to bail me out”.
Hillier, who was runner-up in the Dubai Invitational and shared fourth last week in Bahrain, superbly capped his round at his final hole with the 27-year-old, eagling the par-5 ninth he was playing as his 18th.
“My game’s feeling really good so I’m just trying to ride the wave, I guess”, he said. “We did a lot of work in the last year with the Titleist boys, just playing around with some different settings – particularly with the driver, I’ve never driven it bad but I was always fighting a right ball and I think we finally got that sorted.
“Just being able to commit to that a bit more and feeling like I can put a similar swing throughout the bag, rather than get to driver and feel like I’m having to release the heck out of it to keep it on line”.
Five players share third place on six-under while there is currently 26 players within four shots of the lead.
In contrast, it was a disappointing day for former Qatar champion Chris Wood, who signed off with a five-over 77 that featured just two birdies.
Wood captured a first of three DP World Tour wins at the 2013 Qatar Masters and late last year ended a nine-year winless, capturing the second event of the wraparound 2015/26 MENA Tour.
Wood is competing in Qatar as a former champion and despite his opening round disappointment, he may find some comfort in knowing he continues to lead the MENA Tour money list at the close of the four-event Egypt Series.
You can read a full report of today’s play in Eqypt by clicking on: https://www.golfbytourmiss.com/2026/02/absent-wood-still-leads-mena-money-list-as-spaniard-salama-wins-closing-egypt-series-event/
