McDowell laments cold putter as defence fizzles out

The Portrush man lost by two holes to Holland's Joost Luiten to miss out on the knockout stages for the first time in four appearances in the event, having reached the quarter-finals in 2011, the final in 2012 and winning last year in Bulgaria.

McDowell was 'only' three-under in losing to Luiten, who birdied three of the last four holes to become the only player to win all three of his group matches. "A bit like yesterday, I ran into a guy on form," said McDowell, who was three up after eight holes. "I thought I had the match in control but the putter abandoned me at the 11th hour. I just kind of used my putts up against Alex (Levy) on Wednesday.

"I'm very disappointed by my defence of the title but there was a lot of quality golf out there. If you're not shooting 64 or 65 you're going home.

"But I hit the ball beautifully with a new set of irons and a new ball in the bag this week and I can't wait to get to China now. I'm in the mood to get on a plane now to China, so bring it on."

Patrick Reed gained a small measure of revenge for last month's Ryder Cup defeat by knocking out European hero Jamie Donaldson. 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. Stenson and Reed will enjoy a re-match of their Ryder Cup singles clash in the semi-finals if they can see off Jonas Blixt and George Coetzee respectively in the last eight, with Dubuisson taking on Mikko Ilonen and Luiten facing 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.

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 six birdies but was also crucially gifted the 11th when Donaldson three-putted from close range.

Meanwhile, in the Hong Kong Open, Ernie Els leads at the halfway stage after carding a second-round 65 for a nine-under-par tally. Ireland's Kevin Phelan shot a 67 to be five behind Els, but Paul Lawrie and Damien McGrane both missed the cut by one shot on level-par.

On the US Tour, three birdies in his last five holes left Padraig Harrington on three-under par after two rounds of the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas. Harrington's second-round 69 leaves him six behind early leader Andrew Svoboda of the US.

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Shriners Hospitals Open,

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