Graeme McDowell knocked out while Patrick Reed gets revenge

Reed knocked Jamie Donaldson out of the World Match Play

(Getty Images)

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 Championshi.

Defending champion Graeme McDowell, another key member of the victory at Gleneagles, also fell by the wayside at the London Club as he suffered his second successive defeat, to Dutchman Joost Luiten.

Scotland’s Stephen Gallacher had already been eliminated after losing his first two matches, leaving Victor Dubuisson and Henrik Stenson to fly the flag for the victorious European team this weekend.

Stenson and Reed will enjoy a re-match of their Ryder Cup singles duel in the semi-finals if they can see off Jonas Blixt and George Coetzee respectively; Dubuisson takes on Mikko Ilonen while Luiten faces Pablo Larrazabal in the other quarter-finals.

“Henrik will have revenge on his mind but I will too,” said Reed, who beat Stenson on the 18th at Gleneagles to finish as the top US points scorer on his debut. “I might have the ‘W’ in the singles but he has the cup and I don’t.”

McDowell lost by two holes to Luiten to miss out on the knockout stages for the first time in four appearances in the event, the Northern Irishman having reached the quarter-finals in 2011, the final in 2012 and winning last year in Bulgaria.

“I ran into a guy on form,” world No 18 McDowell said after losing by two holes. “The putter abandoned me at the 11th hour and Joost just ripped my heart out on 15 with his birdie putt.

“I’m very disappointed by my title defence but there is quality golf being played out there. The course is set up to be ripped apart and unless you’re shooting 64, 65, you’re going home.”