Australian golfer Marc Leishman faces a day-long nervous wait to see if he can narrowly advance to the knockout stage of the World Golf Championships- Match Play in Texas.
After losing 2 and 1 to Perez on Thursday, 33-year-old Leishman faces a bizarre scenario of having to wait around in Austin for the outcome of Westwood's Friday (Saturday AEDT) match against American Pat Perez.
The Victorian's progression to Saturday's elimination round at Austin Country Club hinges upon group opponent Westwood beating Perez for the trio to be tied on two points.
Leishman would then tee it up in a stroke play sudden-death playoff having not played a single hole on Friday, after compatriot Jason Day's withdrawal from the tournament, who Leishman was scheduled to face.
"It was disappointing not to play today as well as I did at Bay Hill," said Leishman, referring to his drought-breaking victory at last week's Arnold Palmer Invitational.
"Pat is playing good golf, so we'll see how it goes. I'll get to the course an hour before their match ends and hopefully Lee can get the win and I can make a birdie on the first playoff hole."
Meanwhile, world No.1 Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson stamped their authority with consecutive easy victories - Johnson dispatching Germany's Martin Kaymer 3 and 2 and Mickelson schooling fellow American Daniel Berger 5 and 4.
Spaniard Sergio Garcia grabbed a 4 and 3 win over American Kevin Chappell to set up an all-Spanish showdown with Jon Rahm, while world No.6 Jordan Spieth defeated Japanese golfer Yuta Ikeda 4 and 2.
Big-hitting Johnson (vs Jimmy Walker), Rahm (vs Sergio Garcia) and Mickelson (vs J.B. Holmes) need only to halve their third matches to guarantee Saturday starts, while Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk can also book a spot in the knockout stage with a win over England's Ross Fisher.
"At the beginning of the week, I wanted both of us Spaniards and I to play to get through, so at least one of us can" said world No.10 Garcia.
For Spieth to top his group, the Texan native will need to defeat Ryan Moore, who halved his match against Japan's Hideto Tanihara, and have Tanihara lose to countryman Ikeda.
World No.4 Hideki Matsuyama suffered a 2 and 1 loss to Fisher while No.2 Rory McIlroy bagged an effortless point with American opponent Gary Woodland's withdrawal from the event, due to a 'personal family matter'.
McIlroy, who lost his opening contest in group two to Denmark's Soren Kjeldsen, is now out.
Kjeldsen had never previously won a match in the tournament but his 4 and 3 victory over Emiliano Grillo saw him advance.
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