Henrik Stenson turned on the style at The London Club on Thursday afternoon.

The World No.5 came from three down to beat Francesco Molinari 2&1 on day two of the Volvo World Match Play Championship.

Stenson made six birdies and an eagle in the final 10 holes of his round.

He said: "I had a rocky start. I gave away a couple of early gifts and I was three down through four. I didn't give up, I was grinding it out and started playing better and better.

"It was another good day out there, especially considering I haven't touched a club basically for two weeks coming here.

"I felt I needed to take my chances and I rolled some nice putts in to close out the match, so that was very satisfying."

Stenson's win leaves him level with George Coetzee on three points at the top of the Palmer Group, the South African having beaten Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee 2&1.

Defending champion Graeme McDowell, who won on the first day of the tournament, was beaten 2&1 by Mikko Ilonen in the Larson Group. The other game in that section saw Joost Luiten sweep Alexander Levy aside 4&3 to go top with maximum points from his two matches so far.

McDowell said: "I'm obviously disappointed to lose today. It's a format where you want to control your own destiny.

"Tomorrow I have a few ifs and buts and whats. I just have to try to beat Joost tomorrow and that's at least me in a play-off to get into the weekend.

"Mikko was a better player today. Hats off to him. He was tough to live with."

Another man sitting on four points is Victor Dubuisson, who went out first against Shane Lowry and beat the Irishman 3&2.

Dubuisson tops the Gabrielsson Group, with Lowry and Pablo Larrazabal two points back. Larrazabal played one of the shots of the day by chipping in at the 18th to beat Scotland's Stephen Gallacher.

Larrazabal said: "The ball was sitting great. I thought I had the chance to putt it close and to make five and to put the pressure on Stevie. Stevie had a good lie but I holed it and it went in, happy days."

Jamie Donaldson, another of Europe's Ryder Cup heroes in action at the Kent course, beat Jonas Blixt 3&2 to record his first win in the McCormack Group.

Donaldson said: "Today was important to get off to a good start to maintain your position and I finished him off at the end. I played well for most of the day and it was nice to come up with the victory."

The final match was a hard-fought battle between Patrick Reed, of the United States, and England's Paul Casey. Reed eventually won it 2&1 and that means all four players in the McCormack Group have two points going into the final round of group games on Friday.

Donaldson v Reed is the first match out on the course at 11.15am.