Reed’s glorious 64 in Shanghai

Golf: Augusta champ tames the wind to lead by two as Americans dominate in Far East

Patrick Reed overcame windy conditions to claim a two-shot lead in the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai with an eightunder-par first-round 64.

The Masters champion, making his first appearance since the Ryder Cup, carded eight birdies in his blemish-free round at Sheshan International.

Fellow Americans Xander Schauffele and Tony Finau ended in a tie for second on six under, with England’s Matt Fitzpatrick a shot farther back.

Tommy Fleetwood was in a group of five on four under while defending champion Justin Rose was on three under along with I an Poulter and Matt Wallace.

Rory McIlroy finished on level-par 72, alongside new world number one Brooks Koepka after battling to cancel out a double bogey and two bogeys with four birdies.

Reed, playing the back nine first, started superbly with birdies at the 11th and 12th and picked up two more shots before a run of three successive birdies after the turn saw him power ahead. He added another birdie on the ninth, his last.

The American said: “It felt really good because if you can go out and shoot rounds like that in these kind of conditions, you know you’re going to have confidence when the wind dies down and there are perfect conditions out there.

“I really just need to keep on taking it day by day and try to shoot the lowest round I can each day. Hopefully I’ll shoot a couple more of these rounds, I think that will help me out.”

Schauffele’s 66, which came in his 25th birthday, also did not feature a dropped shot.

He said: “I’ll always take a bogey-free round, no matter where we are in the world. It was a little windy. We got our feet wet through the first couple holes.

“I made a really long par putt early in the round, so I easily could have been over par. We sort of hung in there and gave ourselves some more looks coming down the stretch.”

Finau’s card included one bogey and seven birdies and he hopes he can maintain his solid start.

Finau said: “I played good. It played tough, especially early when the wind was up on my front nine, which was the back nine.

“I made a couple of bombs, which was really kind of the story of the day, which kept the momentum up for me through my round.

“I hope I can just keep doing what I’m doing. I hit a lot of fairways today, which was nice, and you have to on this golf course, especially if the wind is going to be up because the greens are not really accessible if you’re hitting out of the rough.”

Fitzpatrick recovered well to shoot 67 after two bogeys in his opening fur holes.

Former world number one Dustin Johnson laboured to a two-over-par 74 while Open champion Francesco Molinari struggled to a 76.

“I think I need to keep taking it day by day to shoot the lowest round”

BLEMISH-FREE: Patrick Reed, who finished the round eight-under-par, in action in Shanghai yesterday