Reed knocks out Donaldson

Patrick Reed: Beat Jamie Donaldson to advance to the quarter-finals of the Volvo World Match Play

Patrick Reed gained a small measure of revenge for last month's Ryder Cup defeat by knocking European hero Jamie Donaldson out of the Volvo World Match Play Championship on Friday.

Reed, who was the top scorer for the United States at Gleneagles, beat Donaldson 3&2 in the final round of group matches at The London Club to advance to the quarter-finals.

Donaldson, who secured the winning point against Keegan Bradley to make it three wins from four matches on his debut, was never ahead against Reed, who carded five birdies but was also crucially gifted the 11th when Donaldson three-putted from close range.

Birdies on the 12th and 14th took Reed four ahead with four to play, and although Donaldson kept the match alive by almost holing his second shot to the par-five 15th and hitting his tee shot to two feet on the next, Reed also made birdie on the 16th to seal the win.

Next up for the American is South Africa’s George Coetzee who progressed despite a 2&1 loss to Italy’s Francesco Molinari.

In the other clash in the Palmer group, Henrik Stenson produced a sensational finish to confirm a 2&1 victory of his own, holing from the 17th fairway for an eagle to end Thongchai Jaidee’s hopes in both the match and tournament.

The Swede will now take on compatriot Jonas Blixt after he came through a sudden-death play-off to edge out Paul Casey, with their high-quality contest having ended all square in regulation.

Sudden death play-off

Both players birdied the 18th to finish 10 under par and claim one point each from the match, leaving them tied on three points overall and therefore unable to be separated by their head-to-head record.

Friday's results

Donaldson lost to Reed 3&2
Blixt * halved with Casey
Dubuisson lost to Gallacher 2&1
Lowry lost to Larrazabal 2&1
McDowell lost to Luiten 2down
Ilonen beat Levy 1up
Stenson beat Jaidee 2&1
Molinari beat Coetzee 2&1

* Blixt won sudden death play-off

The play-off proved something of an anti-climax though, Casey hitting his approach to the first extra hole into the water guarding the green and Blixt winning it with a par five.

Defending champion Graeme McDowell also failed to progress from the group stages after he went down to his second defeat in two matches in the Larson Group â€" a 2 down loss to Joost Luiten who was the only man to emerge with three wins from three.

McDowell looked to be in control as he moved into a three-hole lead after eight holes, but he collapsed over the back nine and, sitting all square through 16, lost the last two holes to crash out.

Luiten is joined in the last eight by Mikko Ilonen who held firm over the closing stretch to record a battling 1up success over Alexander Levy. His reward is a quarter-final showdown with Victor Dubuisson, while Luiten now faces Pablo Larrazabal.

In the Gabrielsson Group, already-eliminated Stephen Gallacher had completed a meaningless 2&1 win over Dubuisson and Larrazabal defeated Shane Lowry by the same score to join the Frenchman in the last eight.

Saturday’s quarter-final matches:

11.40: Patrick Reed vs George Coetzee
11.55: Victor Dubuisson vs Mikko Ilonen
12.10: Joost Luiten vs Pablo Larrazabal
12.25: Henrik Stenson vs Jonas Blixt