Reed topples Spieth at Match Play Cheung officially takes over at AP
Austin, Texas — In a showdown that turned sloppy, Patrick Reed nearly holed a wedge to seize control and finished off Jordan Spieth with a 40-foot birdie putt from behind the 17th green to advance to the weekend of the Dell Technologies Match Play.
The 2-and-1 victory sent Spieth home in search of his game with the Masters just two weeks away.
Spieth hit his opening tee shot onto the range and out-of-bounds. He hit into a hazard on each of the next two holes. And when he finally caught Reed with consecutive shots to tap-in range, he missed two key putts inside 6 feet.
"I don't think it would have been that tough to beat me today," Spieth said.
Reed was tough enough, twirling a wedge in his hands as it cut into the wind and grazed the front edge of the cup on the 13th hole for a 2-up lead to take command of the match. Spieth, who three-putted for the third time on No. 15 to fall 3 down, stayed alive with an 8-foot 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 moving 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, 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."
Spieth, the No. 4 seed, wasn't the only player leaving early.
Justin Thomas (No. 2) and Sergio Garcia (No. 7) were the only top10 seeds to advance to the fourth round. Thomas had the easiest time, a 7-and-5 victory over Francesco Molinari.
And with defending champion Dustin Johnson already eliminated, Thomas can go to No. 1 in the world if he wins this week. But there's a long way to go. Asked how he felt going into the weekend, Thomas replied, "The same as the other 16 guys. We all start at the same place."
Paul Casey might have had the toughest day: He lost twice.
Casey only had to halve his match to advance for the third time in four years. He lost to Matt Fitzpatrick, and even then had a chance to win his group if the other match was halved.
Instead, Kyle Stanley made an 8-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to win, and then he beat Casey on the second hole of a playoff.
Tyrrell Hatton also was forced into a playoff, and he beat Brendan Steele on the first extra hole.
Rory McIlroy still had a chance until he lost to Brian Harman. Phil Mickelson was eliminated when Charles Howell III, who beat Lefty 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.
The tightest match was Alex Noren and Tony Finau, one of four matches between players who had not lost all week. Finau won three straight holes on the back nine to take a 1-up lead, only to lose the 14th with a bogey. With the match all square, Noren made a 10-foot birdie at the 17th to go 1 up, and then holed a 15-foot par putt on the final hole to avoid going to a playoff with Finau.
Noren now has won seven of his last eight matches in his event, his only loss coming to Johnson in the quarterfinals last year. In other groups: • Garcia won on the 17th hole against Xander Schauffele and won his group for the first time since it switched to pool play in 2014. He also becomes the home favorite from living part-time in Austin, where his wife gave birth to their first child last week.
• Si Woo Kim outlasted Webb Simpson on the 18th hole to advance.
• Matt Kuchar made a hole-in-one in a 6-and-4 victory over Ross Fisher to advance to the weekend for the second time in three years.
• Bubba Watson birdied his last two holes to earn a halve against Julian Suri and avoid a playoff. Watson next faces Harman, a match of Georgia lefties.
• Louis Oosthuizen beat Jason Day with two clutch putts, and then won the group with a 12-foot par putt in a playoff to beat Jason Dufner.
This is the third time in four years that Oosthuizen has reached the weekend.
Groton — Sam Cheung, who served as "the coach in waiting" during UConn Avery Point's recently concluded men's basketball season, was officially elevated to head coach on Friday, athletic director Roger Bidwell announced.
Cheung replaces James Childs, who announced prior to the 2017-18 season that he was retiring.
Cheung, who starred at Waterford High School and then the Coast Guard Academy, spent time as a Coast Guard assistant and as head coach of the girls' basketball team at Montville High School before joining Childs' staff at Avery Point.
During his time as a Coast Guard assistant, the Bears won two conference titles and made to trips to the NCAA Division III tournament, reaching the Elite Eight for the only time in program history in 2008.
Cheung was an all-state point guard and three-time team MVP at Waterford, graduating as the Lancers' career lead in points and assists, two records broken this year by senior point guard Mikey Buscetto. He went on to score more than 1,000 points as Coast Guard, earning two team MVP awards and being selected to the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference first team as a senior.
College baseball
• James Smiegocki allowed just one earned run over 7.1 innings as Johnson & Wales spoiled Coast Guard's northern opener with a 6-1 win in Providence.
The loss snapped the Bears' fourgame winning streak. Luke Thompson had three hits for Coast Guard (52), his third straight game with three or more hits, while Trey Rittenhouse drove in the lone run with a single in the seventh.
• Tim Cate struck out 11 over five innings and Anthony Prato his a grand slam in the second as UConn built an early 6-0 lead before holding off South Florida 6-4 in its American Athletic Conference opener in Tampa. It was the fourth straight win for the Huskies (11-7, 1-0).
Women's lacrosse
• No. 19 Colby routed Connecticut College 15-3 in the New England Small College Athletic Conference. Hannah Lombard had a goal and an assist for the Camels (2-5, 0-4) while Clara Bisson and Jamie Navoni each scored a goal.
Women's swimming
• Coast Guard's women's 800 freestyle relay earned honorable mention All-America honors to highlight the third day of the NCAA Division III Championships at Indianapolis. Sarah Passilla, Kristen Young, Emily Benson and Christine McCulla placed eighth in the timed finals (7:38.25), meaning they can finish no lower than 16th.
• Maeve Wilber of Conn College finished 20th in the 100-yard backstroke, finishing in 56.50 seconds. Conn's Lily Gribbel and Olivia Haskell each swam on two relays on Thursday.
They teamed with Danielle Fergus and Juliette Lee to tie for 12th in the 200 freestyle relay (1:34.81), then placed 10th in the 400 medley relay (3:47.42) along with Wilber and Mary Erb.
All six earned All-America monorable mention honors. Wilber was also 18th in the 400 IM (4:29.39).
Men's swimming
• Coast Guard's Chasse Sodemann placed 23rd in the 100 breaststroke (56.44) while Eric Fuhs was 24th (56.49) in the NCAA Division III Championships at Indianapolis. Patrick Jackson placed 28th in the 100 backstroke (51.11).
• Conn College freshman Charlie Adl set a school record as the Camels finished 18th in the 800-yard freestyle relay (6:51.89). Adl led off with a 1:13.76 leg, which set the record, and was followed by Drake Freiberg, George Tilneac and Kaison Ifill.
Ifill finished 11th in the 100 butterfly and swam on two relays for the Camels on Thursday. Ifill swam a 48.90 to earn All-America monorable mention status. He also anchored the 200 free relay team with Tilneac, Freiberg and Adl to place 12th (1:22.51) to All-America monorable mention honors.
The same four were 17th in the 400 medley relay (3:23.08).