Ireland’s Graeme McDowell faces a match against Tiger Woods after squeezing into the 64-man field for next week’s Accenture world match play championship at La Costa near San Diego.
McDowell was 65th in the rankings after missing the cut in the Pebble Beach Pro-am but sneaks into the tournament because top European Sergio Garcia is not playing.
With the draw fixed in order of seeding it means McDowell takes on the world number one providing there are no more withdrawals before next Monday evening.
It may seem a tall order, but the Ryder Cup hopeful should remember that while Woods has taken the title two of the last three years he has also been beaten by Nick O’Hern, Peter O’Malley and Jeff Maggert and, of course, by Darren Clarke in the 2000 final.
Colin Montgomerie, who did not qualify last year, is set to play Steve Elkington, the Australian who beat him in a play-off for the US PGA championship 11 years ago.
The winner could take on Paul McGinley, who is lined up for an opening match against Mark Hensby, while the provisional draw also sees Clarke against last year’s Players Championship winner Fred Funk.
If he comes out on top there it could be Luke Donald next, the Englishman having to beat Australian Peter Lonard first.
Padraig Harrington plays Shigeki Maruyama.
Provisional draw (seeded positions in brackets):
(1) Tiger Woods v (64) Graeme McDowell, (32) Rory Sabbatini v (33) Robert Allenby, (16) Henrik Stenson v (49) Tim Herron, (17) Chad Campbell v (48) Rod Pampling, (8) David Toms v (57) Lucas Glover, (25) Jose Maria Olazabal v (40) Arron Oberholser, (9) Adam Scott v (56) Carl Pettersson, (24) Stuart Appleby v (41) Brandt Jobe
(4) Ernie Els v (61) Charles Howell, (29) Bart Bryant v (36) Ben Crane, (13) Michael Campbell v (52) Richard Green, (20) Nick O’Hern v (45) Lee Westwood, (5) Phil Mickelson v (60) Zach Johnson, (28) Fred Couples v (37) Mike Weir, (12) David Howell v (53) Geoff Ogilvy, (21) Scott Verplank v (44) Shingo Katayama
(2) Vijay Singh v (63) Paul Broadhurst, (31) Justin Leonard v (34) KJ Choi, (15) Angel Cabrera v (50) Paul Casey, (18) Padraig Harrington v (47) Shigeki Maruyama, (7) Chris DiMarco v (58) Ian Poulter, (26) Tim Clark v (39) Sean O’Hair, (10) Kenny Perry v (55) Niclas Fasth, (23) Davis Love v (42) Tom Lehman
(3) Retief Goosen v (62) Bernhard Langer, (30) Stewart Cink v (35) Miguel Angel Jimenez, (14) Luke Donald v (51) Peter Lonard, (19) Darren Clarke v (46) Fred Funk, (6) Jim Furyk v (59) Mark Calcavecchia, (27) Thomas Bjorn v (38) John Daly, (11) Colin Montgomerie v (54) Steve Elkington, (22) Paul McGinley v (43) Mark Hensby
