Familiarity is king for Masters leader Reed

The Masters has not always been kind to Patrick Reed but the American has stepped up his game at Augusta this year.

Patrick Reed believes familiarity is the reason why he has finally been able to up his game at the Masters after a sublime second round saw him take a two-shot lead from Marc Leishman.

The American signed for a six-under-par 66 on Friday, leaving him at nine under for the tournament ahead of the weekend.

Reed had never broken 70 at Augusta before this year's tournament but now holds his destiny in his own hands as he attempts to make a major breakthrough.

The 27-year-old is no stranger to the course, having played it during his college days at Augusta State University, but he believes his improvement at the Masters is due to getting a feel for the "subtleties" year on year.

"I mean, any time you get to play, the more you get to play out here, the more comfortable you get with the golf course, the more you kind of find little subtleties and nuances that you need to know about it," he said.

"And I also feel like I'm in a better frame of my golf game and kind of mentally coming in. I feel like I've done all the work. I feel like I know where I need to leave the golf ball, and most of the pins out here, and it's now just going out here and executing the game plan and staying disciplined enough to actually stick to that game plan. 

"I've been doing that the first two days, and it's allowing me to kind of attack this golf course and not make a lot of mistakes." 

Reed's best performance at a major was at last year's US PGA Championship, where he tied for second, and the 27-year-old is confident he has the game to win one of golf's big four.

"Everyone wants to win, and if you don't believe you can win them, then you probably shouldn't be playing in them," he added.

"I believe that if I play the golf that I know how to play, that I can win majors.  

"It's just one of those things that I have to go in and not get ahead of myself and go into tomorrow and just take it shot by shot, hole by hole, like I've been doing. Thirty-six holes, there's a lot of holes left.

"I just need to go out and keep to my game plan, play some solid golf and just go out and continue shooting in the 60s and see if it gets the job done."