World number one Dustin Johnson was knocked out of the World Golf Championships with a game to play after a second straight defeat in Austin.
The 33-year-old defending champion followed a first-day loss to Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger with a 4&3 defeat by Canada’s Adam Hadwin which means he cannot qualify for the knockout stages.
Rory McIlroy kept alive his title hopes with a 2&1 win over Jhonattan Vegas.
Peter Uihlein – who beat McIlroy on Wednesday – lost to Brian Harman.
Northern Ireland’s McIlroy, winner in 2015, could still win the group by beating Harman on Friday, although he would face a play-off with Uihlein if the American beats the already eliminated Vegas.
McIlroy came into the week following victory in the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Sunday, and said he “could have done with that extra day” of rest.
“You win on a Sunday and usually you’re teeing it back up on a Thursday but you have to start on a Wednesday here,” he told Sky Sports.
“I did feel a bit flat on Wednesday coming back out here. I don’t want to use that as an excuse, Peter played great, but there’s sometimes a little bit of a hangover and I was tired.”
Earlier on Thursday, European number one Tommy Fleetwood recovered from his opening defeat, beating Kevin Chappell by the biggest winning margin of the week so far.
Fleetwood lost 3&2 to fellow Englishman Ian Poulter on day one, but on Thursday cruised to a 7&6 victory over American Chappell.
Poulter still leads group nine after beating 26th seed Daniel Berger 2&1 to maintain his 100% record, but a three-man play-off is possible if Fleetwood beats Berger and Poulter loses to Chappell on Friday.
On Thursday, Spieth beat China’s Li Haotong 4&2 and Reed defeated former Masters champion Charl Schwartzel of South Africa one up
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