Graeme McDowell
Fellow Northern Irishmen and Ryder Cup colleagues Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy will meet in a mouth-watering Volvo World Match Play Championship last 16 clash on Saturday.
McDowell, the US Open champion, topped his group when he followed up his win over British Open Champion Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa with a last green victory against Venezuela's Jhonattan Vegas.
McIlroy who defeated South Africa's Retief Goosen by one hole in his Thursday opener slumped to a shock 3 and 2 loss to Belgium's Nicolas Colsaerts.
"Rory beats me every time we play together," said McDowell. "But this isn't the Northern Ireland match play championship and I'm hoping it's going to be different. It's the Volvo World Match Play and the pressure is on.
"He is a fabulous player, so talented. This course is all about driving the ball and he is pretty good at that. It's hard to play against a close friend, but you've got to leave your friendship on the sidelines."
McIlroy said about facing McDowell: "He's not going to give me anything - it's going to be a really tough match.
"I'll just try and treat it like I'm playing anyone else. I'm here to try to win a tournament and I need to get through him - that's the number one thing on my mind."
In another all-Ryder Cup clash for a place in the quarter-finals, world number one Lee Westwood faces Ian Poulter, who won the WGC Match Play title last year.
Westwood, who had cruised past Denmark's Anders Hansen 6 and 5 on Thursday, was dominant again on Friday, seeing off Australia's Aaron Baddeley 4 and 3.
"I've carried on from where I left off in Indonesia and Korea," said Westwood, who is now seeking his third successive victory.
"I will try to keep that going, but match play is different - you can play well and lose."
Poulter halved with Scotland's 1999 British Open champion Paul Lawrie just as he had with Italian Francesco Molinari on the opening day.
Luke Donald and Martin Kaymer, both of whom could take the number one spot off Westwood this weekend, had their second victories.
Donald beat defending champion Ross Fisher 3 and 1 and next plays Sweden's Johan Edfors. Fisher faces South Africa's Masters champion Charl Schwartzel.
Kaymer reached the last 16 with a 2 and 1 win over Noh Seung-yul, the German's second successive win over a South Korean after seeing off Yang Yong-Eun by the same score the previous day.
There was also the first three-man play-off in the history of the event caused by Schwartzel, Edfors and Miguel Angel Jimenez all finishing with a win and loss each.
Jimenez went out when he bogeyed the first extra hole and Schwartzel topped the group when Edfors bogeyed the next.
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