Patrick Reed produced a flawless second-round performance to take the clubhouse lead at the 37th Hero Dubai Desert Classic, firing a bogey-free six-under-par 66 to move to the top of the leaderboard at the US$9 million Rolex Series event on the DP World Tour.
Patrick Reed goes bogey-free on his second round👏
Reed has an excellent record at @EmiratesGC with a T10 finish in 2025 and solo second in 2023.#HeroDubaiDesertClassic | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/np8C0aFyv8
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) January 23, 2026
One shot clear of Andy Sullivan, the 2018 Masters Champion backed up his opening 69 with a far more controlled display on Friday, taking advantage of calmer early conditions on the Emirates Golf Club’s Majlis course to post one of the rounds of the day in Dubai.
“You know, pretty good warmup this morning,” Reed said. “I feel like yesterday I hit the ball decent. Just kind of hard to tell with how hard that wind was blowing. Game felt good.
“Kind of went out there and gave myself a lot of good looks, good opportunities, and only missing one green today, that definitely helps.”
Reed’s ball-striking was the standout statistic, missing just a single green in regulation, and even that error left him a straightforward recovery.
“I went around this place, hit 17 greens and the one I missed was in the fairway, basic chip,” he added. “You’re able to do that around this type of golf course, you’re able to shoot a number, and I was lucky enough to see a couple putts go in early and it just went from there.”
Reed admitted the difference between his opening round and his bogey-free Friday was both strategic and situational, after Thursday’s blustery conditions punished anything slightly off-line. His first-round card featured only six pars in a rollercoaster start.
“A little bit of both,” he said. “Felt like yesterday, especially on that back nine, I tried to do too much. Tried to take on shots that I probably shouldn’t have especially with the conditions and how the greens were, and because of that, short-sided myself a couple times in the rough.”
He also highlighted the challenge posed by the firm, fast putting surfaces, particularly when the wind dries them out and the grain becomes difficult to read.
“Yesterday, they had like a silver hue to them,” Reed said. “Whenever it gets windy, just dries them out and it’s kind of hard to see the grain… sometimes the ball glides instead of turning over. You don’t know if it’s going to break or stay straight.”
With conditions softer in the morning, Reed felt scoring was there for the taking.
“The golf course is definitely a little bit more gettable in the morning… and you had to kind of go out and shoot a number,” he said.
Overnight leader Francesco Molinari wasn’t able to repeat Thursday’s fireworks and had to settle for a level-par 72, leaving him in third place alongside fellow countryman Andrea Pavan. Meanwhile, defending champion Tyrrell Hatton signed for a three-under 69 to sit in a tie for sixth.
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