The portly Reed had to settle for second place at Shanghai’s BMW Masters on Sunday after losing a playoff to Swede Kristoffer Broberg - his playing partner in Dubai where the American was again in contention at the European circuit finale.
Dressed in black like a Wild West outlaw, Reed often plays the villain, having shushed the Ryder Cup crowd in Scotland in 2014 and muttered offensive language at another event that year plus other on- and off-course indiscretions.
But the 25-year-old was professionalism personified on Dubai’s Earth course as he started the day on two-under before picking up shots at holes one, five and six .
Bogeys at nine and 12 had halted his charge, but a birdie at 10 plus five birdies in the last six holes, including a tricky 12-foot downhill putt on the par-five 14th, propelled Reed up the leaderboard with an aggregate nine-under 135.
Only England’s Andy Sullivan (132) and Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo (133) have scored lower.
“I felt like my speed was a little better today, made a couple more putts. I still left two short ones out there that I felt like I shouldn't,” said Reed.
He is one of the few Americans to be a European tour member and has enjoyed three straight top-10 finishes since mid-October, including on Sunday when he lost out to Broberg, who carded an aggregate 143 in Dubai.
Reed added: "I never really got to know him (Broberg) until last week - we had a great time together even on Sunday.
“You would think it would be a little bit more intense but his caddie and him are great guys. We enjoyed ourselves and today we enjoyed ourselves while we were out there.”
(Reporting by Matt Smith; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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