Shubhankar Sharma loses to Dylan Frittelli in WGC-Dell Match Play

Austin (USA): Shubhankar Sharma came up with a late rally but it was not enough to fetch him his first WGC-Dell Match Play win as he went down to another first-timer South African Dylan Frittelli in the third league match.

The third loss meant Sharma finished at the bottom of the four-man pool. The 21-year-old Sharma, who is due to play at Houston next week and then carries on at the Masters on an invite, acquitted himself well by taking Sergio Garcia to the 18th and losing to Frittelli on the 18th.

Against Xander Schauffele, Sharma lost 3&1 at the WGC event. Asia's big star was Kiradech Aphibarnrat, who won all his three matches. 

The day's big match-up was between Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth, where the former won 2&1 and moved into the knock-out stages. 

Spieth was totally out of sorts, hitting his opening tee shot onto the range and out of bounds. 

As Reed moves in search of his second WGC, Spieth heads to Houston Open without a top 10 in his last seven tournaments.

Justin Thomas (No. 2) and Sergio Garcia (No. 7) were the only top-10 seeds to advance to the fourth round. Thomas had the easiest time, a 7-and-5 victory over Francesco Molinari. Since defending champion Dustin Johnson is already out, Thomas could rise to No. 1 in the world if he wins this week.