Spieth eliminated in match play as Reed moves on
AUSTIN, TEXAS» One shot into the match, Jordan Spieth already was in a golf cart being driven back to the tee.
It took three holes before Patrick Reed had to putt.
The most anticipated match 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 in the Dell Technologies Match Play 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 is among 16 players who won their group on Friday at Austin Country Club and advanced to singleelimination on the weekend, all of them from matches away from a World Golf Championships 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 Dustin Johnson, the defending 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, a 489-yard drive that would be the longest in PGA Tour history except that stats from Match Play are not official.
Thomas and Sergio Garcia (No. 7) were the only top-10 seeds to advance to the fourth round.
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.
Paul Casey might have had the toughest day: He lost twice.
In other groups:
• 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.
Romo finishes last.
Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo finished last Friday in the 132-man field in the Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship, bogeying the first six holes in a 10over-par 82. He finished six shots worse than the next player on the leaderboard and 28 strokes behind leader Brice Garnett.
Durant leads Champions event.
BILOXI, MISS.»
Joe Durant had three straight birdies in a back-nine burst and shot a 6-under 66 to take the first-round lead in the PGA Tour Champions’ Rapiscan Systems Classic. Mark Calcavecchia was a stroke back, and Steve Stricker shot a 68.
Kerr leads Kia Classic.
CALIF.» Cristie Kerr shot an 8-under 64 in the Kia Classic to open a five-stroke lead halfway through the second round. The 40-year-old Kerr won the 2015 event at Aviara Golf Club.