Reed Ousts Donaldson, Advances to Quarterfinals in Volvo World Match Play Championship


Patrick Reed extracted a bit of revenge Friday as he beat Jamie Donaldson and knocked the Welshman out of the Volvo World Match Play Championship. The 16-player European Tour event began Wednesday at London Golf Club in Ash, England.

Donaldson made the winning point for the European team in last month's Ryder Cup, while Reed - playing as a rookie in the biennial event - was part of the losing U.S. squad at Gleneagles in Scotland.

The 24-year-old Reed, a three-time winner last season who had a laudatory 3-0-1 record and earned 3½ of the Yanks' total of 11½ points in their failed Ryder Cup effort, took the lead on the third hole with a birdie and never let the match get back to all-square, closing Donaldson out on the par-3 16th, which both players birdied.

The tournament involves an opening round robin, with the field divided into four groups. Two winners out of those groups each advance to the quarterfinals Saturday. The tournament concludes with the 18-hole semifinals Sunday morning followed by the 18-hole championship match in the afternoon.

Reed moves on to the quarterfinals, where he'll play South African George Coetzee, who advanced despite losing to Italy's Francesco Molinari 2 and 1.

Also advancing is France's Victor Dubuisson, who won his first two matches but lost to Scotland's Stephen Gallacher 2 and 1. Both played for Europe in the Ryder Cup. Dubuisson will meet Finland's Mikko Ilonen, who forged a 1-up win over Frenchman Alexander Levy.

Joost Luiten of the Netherlands eliminated defending champion Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland 2-up, giving the 28-year-old Dutchman a 3-0 record in the tournament.

In the quarterfinals Luiten will play Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal, who defeated Ireland's Shane Lowry 2 and 1.

In Saturday's other quarterfinal match, No. 1-seeded Henrik Stenson will face off against fellow Swede Jonas Blixt. Stenson clinched a 2 and 1 win over Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee when he holed out from the fairway for an eagle on the par-4 17th.

Blixt waged a tight match with England's Paul Casey, a back-and-forth affair that ended up all-square after 18 holes as each carded the equivalent of 10-under-par 62s. But the 37-year-old Casey found water on the 19th hole leading to a Blixt victory.

For all the scoring details, visit http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2014/tournamentid=2014082/leaderboard/index.html.