Staff WriterPatrick Reed will sleep on a two-shot lead and a fair bit of sand in his shoes as he heads into the final round of the Qatar Masters at Doha Golf Club, eyeing a second win in as many weeks and a stranglehold on the International Swing.
The American started Saturday with a one-shot cushion and treated it like a security blanket in a gale, coaxing it into a bogey-free 70 to reach 14 under par, two clear of Denmark’s Jacob Skov Olesen. On a day when the wind behaved like it had a personal grudge against golf balls, Reed’s card looked suspiciously like it had been filled in indoors.
Reed Grinds Out a Clean Card in the Wind
Reed’s round was the sort of steady, unspectacular golf that wins both tournaments and arguments with swing coaches. Birdies at the second and the par-five tenth were dressed with 16 pars, the kind of bogey-free march that looks dull on paper and heroic when the palm trees are leaning sideways.
As he put it afterwards: “Obviously it was really windy out there today, especially this afternoon. It’s one of those days you’ve got to take advantage of the par-fives, I didn’t really do that very well today. A three-putt on the last obviously stings but to go around this place bogey-free, especially with how the wind was, it’s obviously successful.
I felt like I hit the ball better today than I did the last two days – well, really compared to yesterday, and the score’s three shots worse , so it’s an interesting game.
The golf game feels good, it feels solid, it feels steady and really just got to go out there and keep the foot on the gas tomorrow, get off to hopefully a faster start than today, and see where it goes.
Really the only time I felt actual stress would have been on 13, that iron shot, that par-three is already hard as it is. It was a perfect number where I felt like if I hit my normal shot shape it’s going to be working so hard left because of the wind.”
If that’s stress, the rest of us need a lie down.
The 35-year-old, already a four-time DP World Tour winner, is riding a serious heater. He arrives at this Qatar Masters finale fresh from a Rolex Series victory at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic and a runner-up finish at last week’s Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship. If momentum were a golf club, it’d be the only thing in his bag.
Lagergren Wobbles as Olesen Charges Late
For a while, though, it looked like Reed’s tidy lead might blow away over the desert.
Playing partner Joakim Lagergren birdied the first to wipe out the overnight advantage, then both men picked off the second. When the Swede added a third birdie at the sixth, he nudged in front and briefly looked like the one most at home in the Doha gusts.
Then the water at the eighth reached up, grabbed Lagergren’s ball and started a slow leak in his scorecard. A bogey there, followed by further dropped shots at the 11th, 14th and 16th, sent him stumbling back into the chasing pack. Reed’s birdie at the tenth, by contrast, restored his one-shot cushion at the time and reasserted who was actually in charge of this little desert drama.
Enter Jacob Skov Olesen, late, but very much to the party.
The Dane’s front nine was about as joyful as airport security – one over par and going nowhere. But the back nine at Doha is “gettable” if you’re brave, stubborn or slightly unhinged, and Olesen decided to be all three. Five birdies coming home, including three in the final four holes, rocketed him into solo second at 12 under and straight into the final group alongside Reed.
“I’m very pleased. It was a grind on the front nine, couldn’t really get anything going, didn’t hit any good shots at all either. It was just about staying patient, and it paid off in the end. I hit a good wedge in on ten after a poor drive. It’s not really the pin position where you want to be stuck with a wedge out the first cut, but I hit a good one in there and rolled one in.
I’m going to try just try and do the same as today. Just try and hit good shots and if it doesn’t really go that way from the start, then I know the back nine is gettable. You never know when you’re going to make birdies, you can’t control that yourself, and you just try and stay patient and hit good shots and play to your targets, then it will hopefully be my day.”
If he reproduces that back nine with the trophy on the line, this Qatar Masters could turn from a Reed procession into a Scandinavian ambush.
Ayora, Hillier and a Logjam Behind
Behind the leading duo, there’s a small traffic jam of hopefuls, all squinting at the top of the leaderboard and wondering how on earth to run down an in-form Reed in the Doha wind.
Spaniard Ángel Ayora signed for a neat two-under 70 to slip into third spot on 11 under par, where he’s joined by New Zealander Daniel Hillier. They’re the nearest shadows to Reed and Olesen, and both know Sunday requires something significantly spicier than safe pars and polite applause.
Hillier, in particular, had to manufacture his score out of pure stubbornness.
“It was tough today. I didn’t have my best by far, which made it even harder, but it’s just one of those days where you try and grind it out as well as you can. I knew pretty early on that it was going to be one of those days where I kind of had to turn a one-over, two-over round into an even, one under par. I’m pretty happy that I managed to do that with a couple of late birdies at the end.
“It was nice just to keep a little bit of momentum going (on 13), and the putter’s been treating me well lately so it’s nice that it’s still doing that, and hopefully it’s got one more day left in it. I just need to stay patient. It’s not going to be easy tomorrow. Patrick (Reed) has got a bit of a comfortable lead at the moment so we’re going to have to go out and shoot a good score.”
Just behind them at ten under sit Oliver Lindell, Gregorio De Leo, David Micheluzzi and the fading-yet-dangerous Lagergren, all in a share of fifth and all very much still a factor if the wind, or Reed, misbehaves.
Low Ones in the Wind and a Crowded Chasing Pack
Further down the Qatar Masters board there were some serious moves from players who clearly didn’t get the memo about the course playing tough.
Scotland’s Calum Hill – runner-up alongside Reed in Bahrain last week and apparently allergic to quiet Sundays – fired a 66 to reach nine under. He was joined there by Antoine Rozner, who matched Hill’s score, and Sebastian Söderberg, who went one better with the round of the day, a sparkling 65.
Dan Bradbury, Kazuma Kobori and Johannes Veerman also muscled their way to nine under, forming a sizeable peloton of players who will need something close to spectacular to overhaul Reed, but are capable of making the leader at least glance nervously over his shoulder.
Foot on the Gas for Sunday in Doha
So it comes down to this: a desert track, a howling wind, a packed chasing pack and Patrick Reed, who says his game “feels solid” and wants to “keep the foot on the gas tomorrow”. He’s hunting a second victory of the season, another big DP World Tour title, and a fat helping of International Swing points.
Around him, Olesen is banking on another back-nine charge, Hillier is trusting a hot putter, and half a dozen others are sharpening their scorecards in the hope that Doha throws a curveball at the American.
If the wind keeps up and the nerves fray, the final round of the Qatar Masters might just look less like a casual stroll through the desert and more like a full-blown stampede for the trophy.
