Reed tops Spieth in Match Play

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 single-elimination on the weekend, all of them four 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.

PGA: Tony Romo bogeyed the first six holes and shot a 10-over 82 to finish last in his PGA Tour debut.

Romo followed the opening bogey run in the Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship with a double bogey on the par-4 18th. He birdied the par-5 fourth and par-4 sixth on the second nine, but had double bogeys on the par-3 second and par-4 fifth.

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.

Garnett followed his opening 63 with a 68 to get to 13-under 131.

Steve Wheatcroft and Keith Mitchell were a shot back, each after their second 66.

PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS: Joe Durant had three straight birdies in a backnine burst and a shot 6under 66 to take the firstround lead in the Rapiscan Systems Classic in Biloxi, Miss.

Durant birdied the par-4 11th and 12th and par-5 13th in the bogey-free round at Fallen Oak. He won the Chubb Classic last month in Naples, Florida, for his third victory on the 50-andover tour.

Mark Calcavecchia was a stroke back, and Steve Stricker shot 68.

Billy Mayfair, Billy Andrade and David McKenzie shot 69.

LPGA: Cristie Kerr shot an 8-under 64 in the Kia Classic to take a five-stroke lead into the weekend.

The 40-year-old Kerr had eight birdies in her second straight bogey-free round to reach 13-under 131 at rainsoftened Aviara.

“I like winning. I like challenging myself,” Kerr said. “Definitely doesn’t get any easier as you get older with the travel and recovery time. I got up this morning and I’m like, ‘Man, why does my hamstring hurt?’ From working around this hilly golf course. The golf ball doesn’t know an age. I’ve always said that. As long as I stay hungry, going to just keep playing.”

She has 20 LPGA Tour victories, winning at Aviara in 2015. She won twice last year and helped the U.S. beat Europe in her ninth Solheim Cup appearance.

Lizette Salas, In-Kyung Kim, Hee Young Park and Caroline Hedwall were tied for second. Salas shot 67, Kim 69, and Park and Hedwall 70.