World Matchplay: Thomas Bjorn's decision to withdraw from the WGC Accenture World Matchplay Championship at La Costa, suffering from a sore neck, has denied Ireland's Graeme McDowell an opportunity to go toe-to-toe with Tiger Woods when the tournament begins in Carlsbad, California, tomorrow, writes John O'Sullivan in Carlsbad
Instead McDowell will now face world number two Vijay Singh, a case of escaping from the fire to the frying pan. While facing the Fijian would generate enough heat for most players the Northern Ireland golfer will feel a pang of regret that he didn't get an opportunity to showcase his game against Woods.
As he observed over the weekend: "Tiger's the man, the man to beat. If you beat him you know you have beaten one of the best players ever."
Singh's a pretty decent consolation prize. Ironically McDowell, ranked 65 in the world, owed his place in Carlsbad to Sergio Garcia's decision to pull out of the tournament last week, citing the need to take a break from an "exhausting schedule".
Bjorn's misfortune offers a coveted spot in the field to Stephen Ames, the first alternate, and has caused a complete redrafting of the draw. That reshuffle has inspired a mini Ireland-Japan tussle with Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley due to take on Shigeki Maruyama and Shingo Katayama respectively.
Maruyama, affectionately known on the US Tour as the "smiling assassin", a reference to his demeanour on the course, is currently 120th in the American tour's standings with just a single top 30 finish this season.
He has enjoyed three US PGA tour victories the last of which was the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro in 2003 but has a penchant for contending in the majors. One claim to fame is a remarkable 58 that he shot in trying to qualify for the 2000 US Open. He posted an incredible 13 under the card at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, a round that included 11 birdies and an eagle.
Clarke, a winner of this tournament in 2000, when he beat Tiger Woods, withdrew from the Los Angeles Open to be at home with his wife Heather as she underwent further chemotherapy last week.
Katayama - his sartorial trademark is sporting a big cowboy hat when playing - will take on McGinley. The Japanese golfer played only five times on the US Tour last season but won the Order of Merit in his own country where he has based himself most of the time.
McGinley, who knows the La Costa layout dating back to his time at university in nearby San Diego, played solidly last week in Los Angeles but finished down the field.
Pádraig Harrinton is the fourth member of the Irish quartet, arriving in America on the back of his 13th place at the rain shortened Malaysian Open last week. He takes on Rod Pampling, the Australian suffering the dubious distinction of being the only player in the history of the British Open to lead the tournament after round one at Carnoustie (1999) and then miss the cut. The Queesland native who relocated to Flower Mound Texas to play on the US Tour (debut season, 2002) recovered from that setback, a turnaround that could be partially attributable to his wife, Angela, who is a clinical psychologist. Pampling admitted: "She gets to see everything I do out there. I'm kind of lucky. I have a psychologist out there 24 hours a day. She doesn't lie. I can't kid myself."
In 2004 he won The International, the tournament with the modified Stableford Scoring system, his maiden victory on the tour and then last year, demonstrated wonderful consistency in making 21 of 26 cuts that included six top 10 finishes.
This season he finished tied 10th in the Buick Invitational, tied for the lead with Garcia going into the final round but the Australian crashed to a 76 in a tournament won by Tiger Woods.
Harrington would have preferred a little more competitive mileage going into this tournament having made his seasonal bow in Malaysia for a sixth straight year.
He admitted: "I'd like to have played four rounds as I seemed to be getting better as the week went on." In reference to this week's tournament he pointed out he was content to commit given the stature of the tournament but "I wish I was better prepared."
Woods withdrew from last week's Nissan Open with flu but will tee up tomorrow, once again the man to beat in a tournament he won on back to back occasions in 2003 and 2004.
The revised draw sees a couple of all European clashes with Paul Casey squaring off against Ryder Cup points leader Henrik Stenson and Colin Montgomerie duelling with long hitting Swede Niclas Fasth.
The clash of Ernie Els and Europe's Ryder Cup captain at Oakland Hills, Bernhard Langer, fires the imagination while the current American captain Tom Lehman will hope to continue the good form he showed at Los Angeles when he takes on Australian Stuart Appleby.
Revised draw for tomorrow's first round
Seedings in brackets. (1) T Woods v (64) S Ames, (32) R Allenby v (33) KJ Choi, (16) H Stenson v (49) P Casey, (17) C Campbell v (48) T Herron, (8) D Toms v (57) I Poulter, (25) J M Olazabal v (40) B Jobe, (9) A Scott v (56) L Glover, (24) S Appleby v (41) T Lehman (4) E Els v (61) B Langer, (29) S Cink v (36) M Weir, (13) M Campbell v (52) G Ogilvy, (20) N O'Hern v (45) F Funk, (5) PMickelson v (60) C Howell, (28) BBryant v (37) J Daly, (12) D Howell v (53) S Elkington, (21) S Verplank v (44) L Westwood, (2) V Singh v (63) G McDowell, (31) R Sabbatini v (34) M A Jimenez, (15) A Cabrera v (50) P Lonard, (18) P Harrington v (47) R Pampling, (7) C DiMarco v (58) M Calcavecchia, (26) T Clark v (39) A Oberholser, (10) K Perry v (55) C Pettersson, (23) D Love v (42) M Hensby (3) RGoosen v (62) P Broadhurst, (30) J Leonard v (35) B Crane, (14) L Donald v (51) R Green, (19) D Clarke v (46) S Maruyama, (6) J Furyk v (59) Z Johnson, (27) F Couples v (38) S O'Hair, (11) C Montgomerie v (54) N Fasth, (22) P McGinley v (43) S Katayama.
