Thomas Bjorn’s late withdrawal from this week’s Accenture World Match Play championship in San Diego means Ireland’s Graeme McDowell will play Vijay Singh instead of world number one Tiger Woods.
A sore neck has sidelined Bjorn and he joins Sergio Garcia on the absentee list for the prestigious 64-man event.
The revised draw, still only provisional because players can still be replaced if they withdraw before midnight tonight, sees two all-European duels - Paul Casey against Ryder Cup points leader Henrik Stenson and Colin Montgomerie against Niclas Fasth.
With McDowell now paired with world number two Singh, England’s Paul Broadhurst switches from Singh to Retief Goosen.
McDowell was hoping to play Woods. Not because the world number one had to withdraw from last week’s Nissan Open at halfway because of ‘flu, but because winning would be an even bigger feather in his cap.
"Tiger’s the man, the man to beat," he said. "If you beat him you know you have beaten one of the best players ever."
Woods won the title in 2003 and 2004, but last year lost in the second round to Australian Nick O’Hern and prior to his victories he was beaten by Jeff Maggert, Peter O’Malley and also by Darren Clarke in the 2000 final.
Revised provisional draw (official draw released at midnight GMT, seeding positions in brackets):
(1) Tiger Woods v (64) Stephen Ames, (32) Robert Allenby v (33) KJ Choi, (16) Henrik Stenson v (49) Paul Casey, (17) Chad Campbell v (48) Tim Herron, (8) David Toms v (57) Ian Poulter, (25) Jose Maria Olazabal v (40) Brandt Jobe, (9) Adam Scott v (56) Lucas Glover, (24) Stuart Appleby v (41) Tom Lehman
(4) Ernie Els v (61) Bernhard Langer, (29) Stewart Cink v (36) Mike Weir, (13) Michael Campbell v (52) Geoff Ogilvy, (20) Nick O’Hern v (45) Fred Funk, (5) Phil Mickelson v (60) Charles Howell, (28) Bart Bryant v (37) John Daly, (12) David Howell v (53) Steve Elkington, (21) Scott Verplank v (44) Lee Westwood
(2) Vijay Singh v (63) Graeme McDowell, (31) Rory Sabbatini v (34) Miguel Angel Jimenez, (15) Angel Cabrera v (50) Peter Lonard, (18) Padraig Harrington v (47) Rod Pampling, (7) Chris DiMarco v (58) Mark Calcavecchia, (26) Tim Clark v (39) Arron Oberholser, (10) Kenny Perry v (55) Carl Pettersson, (23) Davis Love v (42) Mark Hensby
(3) Retief Goosen v (62) Paul Broadhurst, (30) Justin Leonard v (35) Ben Crane, (14) Luke Donald v (51) Richard Green, (19) Darren Clarke v (46) Shigeki Maruyama, (6) Jim Furyk v (59) Zach Johnson, (27) Fred Couples v (38) Sean O'Hair, (11) Colin Montgomerie v (54) Niclas Fasth, (22) Paul McGinley v (43) Shingo Katayama
