By Jeremy Harness

Going into the Cadillac Match Play at TPC Harding Park, the common thought was that things will continue to be interesting throughout.

So far, it has lived up to all of that, as all but two groups will have to be settled on Friday, the final day of pool play before the tournament moves to the single-elimination round of 16, which starts Saturday morning.

Those who have already advanced and will play stress-free rounds on Friday are third-seeded Rickie Fowler and John Senden, the 60-seed.

Fowler, the top player in his group, won his first two matches and sealed his place in the round of 16 by beating Shane Lowry, 1-up, Thursday afternoon. The reason why Fowler has advanced ahead of most groups was that Lowry and Harris English, whom Fowler beat on Wednesday, are the only players in the group that have a chance of going 2-1 if they win their Friday matches.

“(Getting) into the weekend is nice to kind of have a day where (I) kind of continue to see what I need to work on,” Fowler said. “The game hasn’t been perfect the last few days, (but) luckily I’ve been able to get enough out of it to win my matches.

“If we can tighten the swing up, continue to make some putts, it’s going to be a really fun weekend.”

As for Senden, who upset Henrik Stenson in extra holes on Wednesday and took down Bill Haas, 4 and 3, on Thursday, he is also looking forward to the next round and will use Friday’s match to stay sharp.

“(I’ve) just got to go out there and play my game, stay aggressive and, hopefully, knock few birdies in and put the pressure on,” Senden said.

Most of the other groups have different scenarios that will play out on the final day of pool play, but four of them will feature winner-take-all matches, two of them involving the best players in the world.

Rory McIlroy, the world’s No. 1 player, defeated AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am winner Brandt Snedeker on Thursday, will face defending FedEx Cup champion Billy Horschel, who took down Jason Dufner in the second round.

Meanwhile, Jordan Spieth, who has run into no real obstacles in winning his first two matches, figures to have a fight on his hands against Lee Westwood to determine the winner of that group.

In the fourth group, Bubba Watson and Louis Oosthuizen, who battled in a playoff for the 2012 Masters title, will face each other again to decide who advances there. Watson got the better of Oosthuizen to win his first green jacket, and the South African will try to get even on Friday.

Gary Woodland and Webb Simpson, who won the 2012 U.S Open at the Olympic Club, TPC Harding park’s neighbor course, will square off in the 11th group in the final winner-moves-on contest.