(Reuters) – American Patrick Reed carded a superb eight-under-par 64 in the second round to take a two-shot lead over Matthew Fitzpatrick at the European Tour’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai on Friday.
After an opening round of 70 on Thursday that left him three shots behind overnight leader Victor Perez, 2018 Masters winner Reed turned up the heat with five birdies on the front nine before adding further gains on four holes after the turn.
The only blemish on Reed’s card was a bogey on the par-four 12th hole at the Jumeirah Golf estates’ Earth Course but the 30-year-old said he was pleased with his effort having gone 10-under for the tournament heading into the weekend.
Reed is looking to become the first American to win the European Tour’s Race to Dubai title.
“Any time you shoot eight under you’re always happy. I feel like today I got off to a little better start than yesterday and the putter was working a little bit,” Reed said.
“Yesterday I felt like I did a lot of things pretty well, just putts weren’t really falling, was kind of burning a couple edges, a couple iron shots weren’t as close as they needed to be, and today I tightened it up.
“I was able to hit the ball a little closer, give myself more opportunities and seeing the lines a little better today.”
England’s Fitzpatrick was eight-under overall after a second successive round of 68 while his compatriots Tyrrell Hatton and Laurie Canter were tied-third, three shots behind the leader.
Fellow Englishmen Tommy Fleetwood and Lee Westwood were tied-fifth at six-under alongside two others. Perez dropped to tied-14th after a disappointing round of 74.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Toby Davis)
