Most top-10 seeds done at Match Play
AUSTIN, Texas — One shot into the match, Jordan Spieth was in a golf cart being driven back to the tee.
It took three holes before Patrick Reed had to putt.
The most anticipated pairing of round-robin competition at the Dell Technologies Match Play turned into a sloppy affair Friday when Spieth hit one shot out-of-bounds, two shots into a hazard and three times gave away a chance to win the hole by three-putting.
And right when it looked as though Spieth might still have a chance, Reed buried him with a 40-foot birdie putt from behind the 17th green for a 2-and-1 victory that sent Reed into the weekend and Spieth searching for answers.
“I don’t think it would have been that tough to beat me today,” Spieth said.
Reed was tough enough when it mattered. He seized control with the prettiest shot of the match, a knockdown wedge into the wind that grazed the front edge of the cup on the 13th for a 2-up lead. He ended it with a putt that looked as though it might go eight feet by until the hole got in the way.
“Just happened to be the perfect line,” Reed said. “Thank God, because that thing was moving.”
Reed is among 16 players who won their groups at Austin Country Club and advanced to single-elimination competition, all of them four match victories away from a World Golf Championship title.
That group includes Justin Thomas — at No. 2, the top seed remaining — who can go to No. 1 in the world by winning.
It doesn’t include current No. 1 Dustin Johnson, the 2017 tournament champion who played so poorly that none of the three matches he lost made it to the 18th hole. Johnson left the gallery with one parting shot Friday, a 489-yard drive that would be the longest in PGA Tour history except that stats from this event are not official.
Rory McIlroy had a chance to advance but was beaten soundly by Brian Harman.
Also out is Spieth, who now has gone seven tournaments since his last top-10 finish.
“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, especially 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 difficult. And I’ve been trying to figure out how to get back to that level, and I’ve been trying different things.”
Thomas and Sergio Garcia (No. 7) were the only top-10 seeds to advance to the fourth round. Thomas had the easiest time, a 7-and-5 victory over Francesco Molinari. Thomas was asked how he felt going into the weekend.
“The same as the other 16 guys,” he answered. “We all start at the same place.”
Former Baylor School and Vanderbilt University standout Luke List, who was seeded 60th and played in the group with Thomas, finished an 0-3 showing at the event with a 4-and-2 loss to Patton Kizzire.
Phil Mickelson was eliminated when Charles Howell III, who beat him on Wednesday, completed a 3-0 mark in group play by beating Satoshi Kodaira. Howell and Ian Poulter, who swept his matches when Kevin Chappell conceded at the turn with a back injury, still have a chance to earn a spot in the Masters by getting into the top 50 at the end of the week. They both need to win at least one more match.
Mitchell in second
PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic — Tony Romo bogeyed his first six holes on the way to a 10-over 82 in the second round of the Corales Puntacana Resort
and Club Championship, missing the cut and finishing last in his PGA Tour debut.
Romo, who started on the back nine, had double bogeys on Nos. 18, 2 and 5, inflicting damage that birdies on the par-5 fourth and par-4 sixth did little to offset. The former Dallas Cowboys quarterback had a 15-over 159 total — six shots worse than the next player on the leaderboard and 28 strokes behind leader Brice Garnett, who followed his opening 63 with a 68 and held a one-shot advantage.
Baylor School graduate Keith Mitchell and Steve Wheatcroft were tied for second after each shot a 66. Mitchell had six birdies in a bogey-free round a day after he made nine birdies but was hurt by a bogey and a double bogey.
Seungsu Han (67) and Xinjun Zhang (68) shared fourth at 10 under, with six golfers another stroke back in sixth.
“There’s so much golf left, 36 holes, and especially out here guys are going to make charges from way back,” Garnett said. “A lot of birdies are out there. So I’ll just keep my head down, keep plugging and try to have a solid weekend.”
Romo won’t have that chance. Now an NFL analyst for CBS Sports, he received a sponsor’s exemption to the tournament and played as an amateur. The event has one of the weaker fields of the year because it is held at the same time as a World Golf Championship.
“I lipped out three or four putts early, some short putts that kind of got me almost a little bit pressing,” Romo said. “I just didn’t hit the irons very good today. The back nine’s 4,000some yards, so when you’re not hitting those, well, you’re going to have tough shots.
“Short-sided a few times, made too many mistakes. So a lot of stuff to learn from, and in a good way. I’ll be able to kind of assess why I didn’t play as well as I wanted to, and then you go attack it … a month from now, I think we’ll see things a little better.”
Baylor grads Harris English (69) and Stephan Jaeger (68) were part of a nine-way tie for 38th at 4 under
Durant on top again
BILOXI, Miss. — Joe Durant had three straight birdies in a back-nine burst and shot a 6-under 66 for the first-round lead in the PGA Tour Champions’ Rapiscan Systems Classic.
Durant birdied the par-4 11th and 12th and par-5 13th in his bogey-free round at breezy and rain-softened Fallen Oak Golf Club. Because of the wet conditions, players were allowed to lift, clean and place their golf balls in the fairway.
Durant won the Chubb Classic last month in Naples, Fla., for his third victory on the 50-and-older tour.
One stroke back was Mark Calcavecchia, who won last month in Boca Raton, Fla. Steve Stricker — who won three weeks ago in Tucson, Ariz., for his first senior victory — was third after a 68. Billy Andrade, Billy Mayfair and David McKenzie were tied for third at 69.
Kerr takes control
CARLSBAD, Calif. — Cristie Kerr shot an 8-under 64 in the second round of the Kia Classic and held a five-stroke lead going into the weekend at Aviara Golf Club & Resort.
The 40-year-old Kerr, the tournament’s 2015 winner, had eight birdies in her second straight bogey-free round to reach 13-under 131. Caroline Hedwall (70), In-Kyung Kim (69), Hee Young Park (70) and Lizette Salas (67) were tied for second.
Laura Davies withdrew after an opening 82. The 54-year-old tied for second last week at the Founders Cup, playing through painful left Achilles’ tendon and calf injuries.