Cejka faces tough task against high-flying Singh

GERMAN Alex Cejka appears to have the toughest task following the draw for the HSBC World Match Play Championship at Wentworth next week.

Cejka, in the 12-man field thanks to the withdrawals of six Americans led by Tiger Woods, will play world number three Vijay Singh in the first round.

Defending champion Ernie Els and major winners Mike Weir, Ben Curtis and Shaun Micheel have been awarded byes through to Friday's quarter-finals of an event which this year offers a first prize of £1 1.4 million the second biggest in golf.

Automatic seeding was then based on the world rankings and keeps the three Europeans in the championship apart. Thomas Bjorn plays US Masters runner-up Len Mattiace and Swede Fredrik Jacobson faces US PGA runner-up Chad Campbell.

If Cejka beats Singh he will come up against US PGA winner Micheel, while Bjorn would take on Masters champion Weir and Jacobson would meet shock Open winner Curtis.

The other first round match is between Australian Stephen Leaney, second in the US Open in June, and South African Tim Clark, third in the US PGA.

Els, who will start against the winner of that game, will be bidding to win his fifth World Match Play title, a victory that would put him level with Gary Player and Seve Ballesteros with the most wins in the tournament's 40-year history.

The South African is the only player to have won three consecutive titles in 1994, 1995 and 1996 and following his fourth win last year also holds the record for the best single round, a 12-under-par 60, and best match score, 15 under for 31 holes.

US Open champion Jim Furyk, Kenny Perry, Phil Mickelson, David Toms and Davis Love all joined Woods in electing not to take part.

Draw (seeded positions in brackets):

(8) Stephen Leaney (Aus) v (9) Tim Clark (Rsa). Winner to play (1) Ernie Els (Rsa)

(5) Vijay Singh (Fij) v (12) Alex Cejka (Ger). Winner to play (4) Shaun Micheel (USA)

(6) Chad Campbell (USA) v (11) Fredrik Jacobson (Swe). Winner to play (3) Ben Curtis (USA)

(7) Len Mattiace (USA) v (10) Thomas Bjorn (Den). Winner to play (2) Mike Weir (Can)