Europeans aim to take advantage in Hawaii

SERGIO Garcia and Carl Pettersson are the two Europeans hoping to take advantage this week of the absence of seven of the world’s top 10 players from the opening event of the new US Tour season.

The Mercedes Championship in Hawaii is restricted to winners of 2005 tournaments, but Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Retief Goosen have decided to extend their winter breaks - as has world number 17 Padraig Harrington - and Ernie Els, Adam Scott, Colin Montgomerie and Chris DiMarco did not qualify.

The field is only 28-strong and Garcia, the second highest-ranked player left in behind Vijay Singh, will be hoping to repeat his 2002 victory.

That was the first appearance in the event for the Spaniard, 26 next Monday, and he fired a closing 64 to catch David Toms, then birdied the first hole of the play-off.

Pettersson is among the debutants this time, the 28-year-old Swede having captured his first US Tour title at the Chrysler Championship.

A week later Pettersson just missed out on finishing the season with back-to-back victories, but neither event earned him any Ryder Cup points because he was not a member of the European tour.

Now he is again, but instead of starting 2006 second in the qualifying race behind Montgomerie he has to start from scratch and that lengthens the odds on him earning a debut under Ian Woosnam at the K Club near Dublin in September.

Garcia is third in the standings, but even if he falls out of a top 10 automatic spot the world number six is virtually guaranteed a wild card.

Reigning US Open champion Michael Campbell is also in the Mercedes line-up, but the New Zealander is continuing as a member of the European circuit with the US Tour restricting him to just 10 of their events because he quit in mid-season three years ago.

Campbell is far from happy about that and let his feelings be known in November.

Wales’s 2002 Ryder Cup hero Phillip Price, who lost his US Tour card at the end of 2005, has followed Justin Rose, Alex Cejka and Pettersson in rejoining the European tour.

But Greg Owen and Fredrik Jacobson have decided to focus their attentions on the American circuit knowing that it rules them out of Ryder Cup contention.