Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood remain on track for a semi-final showdown and a chance at the world No 1 ranking after comfortable wins in the third round of the WGC Match Play Championship. On a day when only one of the eight round of 16 matches made it to the 18th hole, England's Westwood pumped American Nick Watney 3 and 2 and Northern Ireland's McIlroy managed to take down Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez 3 and 1.
Should either player win the tournament they will usurp Luke Donald as world number one, although currently they are on a collision course for a semi-final clash at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club. First Westwood must account for Scotsman Martin Laird who won an all-Scottish battle over Paul Lawrie 3 and 1 to advance. While McIlroy meets South Korean Sang-Moon Bae who continued his charge with a 1-up win over Australian John Senden in the only match to make it to the final hole.
Westwood, who had never advanced past the second round before this year, refused to look towards a potential dogfight with McIlroy, saying most people who had done so had been made to look like fools up to this point. "There's a danger if you're looking too far ahead. I'm just happy to be looking for a different restaurant for Friday night," he said "I had a little chuckle watching The Golf Channel on Wednesday morning and listening to them make all their predictions."