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SPORTSSaturday 24 March 2018

Reed topples Spieth as top seeds fall in Match Play

By DOUG FERGUSON Patrick Reed hits from from the eighth tee during round-robin play at the Dell Technologies Match Play golf tournament, Friday,
AP Golf Writer March 23, 2018, in Austin, Texas.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — In
a showdown that turned Associated Press
sloppy, Patrick Reed near-
ly holed a wedge to seize figure out how to get back er match was halved. In- nine to take a 1-up lead, — Bubba Watson birdied
control and finished off Jor- to that level, and I've been stead, Kyle Stanley made only to lose the 14th with a his last two holes to earn
dan Spieth with a 40-foot trying different things." an 8-foot birdie putt on the bogey. With the match all a halve against Julian Suri
birdie putt from behind the Spieth, the No. 4 seed, 18th hole to win, and then square, Noren made a 10- and avoid a playoff. Wat-
17th green to advance to wasn't the only player leav- he beat Casey on the sec- foot birdie at the 17th to son next faces Harman, a
the weekend of the Dell ing early. ond hole of a playoff. go 1 up, and then holed a match of Georgia lefties.
Technologies Match Play. Justin Thomas (No. 2) and Tyrrell Hatton also was 15-foot par putt on the final — Louis Oosthuizen beat
The 2-and-1 victory sent Sergio Garcia (No. 7) were forced into a playoff, and hole to avoid going to a Jason Day with two clutch
Spieth home in search of his the only top-10 seeds to ad- he beat Brendan Steele on playoff with Finau. putts, and then won the
game with the Masters just vance to the fourth round. the first extra hole. Noren now has won seven group with a 12-foot par
two weeks away. Thomas had the easiest Rory McIlroy still had a of his last eight matches in putt in a playoff to beat Ja-
Spieth hit his opening tee time, a 7-and-5 victory over chance until he lost to Brian his event, his only loss com- son Dufner. This is the third
shot onto the range and Francesco Molinari. And Harman. Phil Mickelson was ing to Johnson in the quar- time in four years that Oost-
out-of-bounds. He hit into with defending champion eliminated when Charles terfinals last year. huizen has reached the
a hazard on each of the Dustin Johnson already Howell III, who beat Lefty In other groups: weekend.q
next two holes. And when eliminated, Thomas can go on Wednesday, complet- — Garcia won on the
he finally caught Reed with to No. 1 in the world if he ed a 3-0 mark in group play 17th hole against Xander
consecutive shots to tap-in wins this week. by beating Satoshi Kodaira. Schauffele and won his
range, he missed two key But there's a long way to Howell and Ian Poulter, who group for the first time since
putts inside 6 feet. go. swept his matches when it switched to pool play in
"I don't think it would have Asked how he felt going Kevin Chappell conceded 2014. He also becomes the
been that tough to beat into the weekend, Thomas at the turn with a back in- home favorite from living
me today," Spieth said. replied, "The same as the jury, still have a chance to part-time in Austin, where
Reed was tough enough, other 16 guys. We all start earn a spot in the Masters his wife gave birth to their
twirling a wedge in his at the same place." by getting into the top 50 first child last week.
hands as it cut into the Paul Casey might have at the end of the week. — Si Woo Kim outlasted
wind and grazed the front had the toughest day: He They both need to win at Webb Simpson on the 18th
edge of the cup on the lost twice. least one more match. hole to advance.
13th hole for a 2-up lead Casey only had to halve his The tightest match was Alex — Matt Kuchar made a
to take command of the match to advance for the Noren and Tony Finau, one hole-in-one in a 6-and-4
match. Spieth, who three- third time in four years. He of four matches between victory over Ross Fisher to
putted for the third time lost to Matt Fitzpatrick, and players who had not lost advance to the weekend
on No. 15 to fall 3 down, even then had a chance all week. Finau won three for the second time in three
stayed alive with an 8-foot to win his group if the oth- straight holes on the back years.
birdie putt on the 16th and
looked as though he might
have a chance to go the
distance when Reed's putt
was racing toward the cup
at the 17th.
The cup got in the way,
and all Spieth could do was
smile.
"Just happened to be the
perfect line," Reed said.
"Thank God, because that
thing was moving."
And now Reed is mov-
ing along into the single-
elimination phase of the
weekend, four matches
away from another World
Golf Championship. Spieth
is headed to the Houston
Open without a top 10 in
his last seven tournaments.
"I'm human and I'm realistic
that based on the way the
year's gone ... it's been kind
of a trying time for me, es-
pecially on and round the
greens," Spieth said. "Stuff
I took for granted in setup
and pace control and
all that kind of stuff ... has
been a little bit more diffi-
cult. And I've been trying to