Cream of crop for Mt Juliet
They are led by Tiger Woods with the sole defaulter being Japan's Toshimitsu Izawa, who prefers to stay at home and therefore, American John Cook, currently 51st in the world, will fill the vacancy if he so wishes.
Two other Japanese, Nobuhito Sato and Toru Tanighuchi, also qualified through their domestic tour but won't be travelling. They will not be replaced. The field, as yet, is not entirely cast in stone, with the possibility of the Linde German Masters in Cologne this week capable of changing the list slightly.
The presence in the field of Woods and other household names like Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia, Davis Love III, Vijay Singh and recent USPGA winner Rich Beem, along with countless others, including Pádraig Harrington and Darren Clarke, makes the Am-Ex Championship by far the biggest tournament ever staged in this country.
Aidan O'Hara and his greenkeeping staff at Mount Juliet have been working assiduously to present their Jack Nicklaus-designed course in immaculate condition.
There have been a number of minor changes to several holes that have lengthened the lay-out to a formidable 7, 246 yards while last year all 18 greens and approaches were refurbished to ensure that, as O'Hara puts it, "they can be made as true and as fast as any in the world."
Meanwhile, Paul McGinley and Graeme McDowell have their last chance to get into the Mount Juliet field when they compete in the
3 million Linde German Masters beginning in Cologne on Thursday. They need to force their way into the top twenty on the European order of merit to do so and would have to win the first prize of 500,000 in Germany to have any chance.
"My focus all year has been the Ryder Cup and I'm afraid that took precedence over qualifying for the American Express," said McGinley last night.
"I need to be first and possibly 2nd in Germany to get in but even if I did make it, I'd have a decision to make whether I played or not. As I say, my focus is completely on the Ryder Cup the following week. I spent a few days in Scotland last week with my coach Bob Torrance and my game is OK."
As things stand, five of the European team to face the US in the Ryder Cup the following week won't be at Mount Juliet McGinley, Lee Westwood, Philip Price, Jesper Parnevik and Pierre Fulke. That says a lot about the current poor form of the quintet. Ten of the Americans will be there, the exceptions being Stuart Cink and Hal Sutton.
The following is the full list of 64 competitors for the Amex at Mount Juliet (and their qualification route).
World rankings: Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Sergio Garcia, David Toms, Davis Love III, Padraig Harrington, Vijay Singh, Jim Furyk, Nick Price, David Duvall, Michael Campbell, Chris DiMarco, Justin Leonard, Rocco Mediate, Darren Clarke, Bob Estes, Angel Cabrera, Colin Montgomerie, Rich Beem, Robert Allenby, Scott Hoch, Kenny Perry, Shigeki Maruyama, Bernhard Langer, Scott Verplank, Scott McCarron, Mike Weir, Jose-Marie Olazabal, Jerry Kelly, Brad Faxon, Steve Lowery, Eduardo Romero, Niclas Fasth, Thomas Bjorn, Justin Rose, Fred Funk, Chris Riley, Tom Lehman, Lenny Mattiace, Mark Calcavecchia, Craig Parry, Stuart Appleby, Paul Azinger, Jose Coceres, Paul Lawrie, Adam Scott, Peter Lonard, John Cook.
US Tour (not already qualified): Craig Perks, John Rollins, Kevin Sutherland, Jeff Sluman.
European Tour (not already qualified): Trevor Immelman, Anders Hansen, Soren Hansen, Carl Pettersson, Thomas Levet.
Australasian Tour (not already qualified): Scott Laycock, Peter O'Malley.
South African Tour (not already qualified): Tim Clark.
Japanese Tour (not already qualified): Kenichi Kuboya.
Asian Tour (leading money winner 2001): Thongchai Jaidee.
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