Wood rues missing Tiger
The draw has now been confirmed with Lee Westwood seeded second, Martin Kaymer fourth, Rory McIlroy fifth, last year’s runner-up Paul Casey sixth, Henrik Stenson seventh, Pádraig Harrington eighth and Ian Poulter ninth.
Tomorrow’s first round has three all-European clashes — Westwood against Bristol’s Chris Wood, Luke Donald against Graeme McDowell and Oliver Wilson against Miguel Angel Jimenez.
Meanwhile, Chris Wood says he would have relished the chance to face Tiger Woods on his World Golf Championships debut. With Mickelson deciding a fortnight ago not to enter the Accenture Match Play 22-year-old Wood knew when the world rankings came out last week that he would be the opponent if Woods came out of hiding and launched his eagerly-awaited comeback in the event.
What a media frenzy that would have created after all that has emerged about the now tarnished superstar, but Woods remains holed up somewhere and Wood plays Lee Westwood.
The two stablemates, joint third in The Open last July after both bogeyed the last hole to miss out on the play-off, were on the same British Airways flight on Sunday.
“I would have liked to play Tiger,” he said. “It would have been one of the best chances to beat him in his first round back. I’ve never met the bloke. I hit balls next to him at the PGA last year, but he didn’t even see me.
“I think it would have been a bit intimidating and I would have been apprehensive the first couple of holes, but once into it I’m sure I would have stepped up to it.
“But I knew it was going to be either the world number one or the European number one, so either way a hard match. I don’t know Lee that well, but I have played a few rounds with him. He’d be a big scalp for me too, of course — he’s the second seed — and I can’t wait for it.”
Sixty-five places separate them on the rankings, but 18-hole match play lends itself to more upsets.
Wood, last season’s Rookie of the Year in Europe, is also boosted by the memory of the Vivendi Trophy in September. The 6ft 5in golfer was top-scorer for Britain and Ireland in their win over Continental Europe in Paris and had the chance of a maximum five-point haul — the first-ever in the competition – until conceding a testing putt to Peter Hanson on the final green.
They were the last pair on the course and the overall match was already decided.
“At the time I thought it was the right thing to do to offer a half, but afterwards I thought it would have been nice to say I got five wins out of five. It was still a great week, though. That was a big occasion for me being in amongst those players in my first full year on Tour.
“They had only Garcia missing from their strongest possible team (Martin Kaymer was injured at the time), so to go through it unbeaten was great and I absolutely loved it.”
A month later, however, Wood tore ligaments in his foot slipping down some steps and with a winter break as well this season has felt a bit like starting afresh again.
He managed top 20 finishes in all three legs of the Middle East swing, but Westwood was third in Qatar and then two weeks ago lost a play-off to Miguel Angel Jimenez in Dubai.
As well as it being his first World Championship it is also only the second tournament Wood has played in the States.
The goal is not just to knock out Westwood, but make further progress and climb into the world’s top 50 for the next World Championship in Miami in three weeks.
But at least he is not also fighting for a place in The Masters in April. He will make his debut there thanks to his performance at Turnberry last summer.
Like Tom Watson, Wood could not believe his approach to the last went over the green. Also like Watson, he then failed to save par, but unlike Watson he did not have another chance over extra holes.
But after finishing fifth as an amateur the previous year, a tie for third place was a further indication of just how far he can go in the game.
As a win over Westwood tomorrow would be.
1436 (12) Robert Allenby (Aus) v (53) Peter Hanson (Swe)
1445 (21) Luke Donald (Gbr) v (44) Graeme McDowell (Irl)
1455 (11) Kenny Perry (USA) v (54) Brian Gay (USA)
1504 (22) Zach Johnson (USA) v (43) Francesco Molinari (Ita)
1514 (9) Ian Poulter (Gbr) v (56) Justin Leonard (USA)
1523 (24) Angel Cabrera (Arg) v (41) Adam Scott (Aus)
1533 (10) Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) v (55) Alexander Noren (Swe)
1542 (23) Camilo Villegas (Col) v (42) Dustin Johnson (USA)
1552 (5) Rory McIlroy (Irl) v (60) Kevin Na (USA)
1601 (28) Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) v (37) Oliver Wilson (Gbr)
1611 (6) Paul Casey (Gbr) v (59) Stephen Ames (Can)
1620 (27) Alvaro Quiros (Spa) v (38) Mike Weir (Can)
1630 (8) Pádraig Harrington (Ire) v (57) Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind)
1639 (25) Anthony Kim (USA) v (40) Matt Kuchar (USA)
1649 (7) Henrik Stenson (Swe) v (58) Ben Crane (USA)
1658 (26) YE Yang (Kor) v (39) Soren Kjeldsen (Den)
1708 (13) Sergio Garcia (Spa) v (52) David Toms (USA)
1717 (20) Lucas Glover (USA) v (45) Anders Hansen (Den)
1727 (14) Sean O’Hair (USA) v (51) Simon Dyson (Gbr)
1736 (19) Stewart Cink (USA) v (46) Edoardo Molinari (Ita)
1746 (16) Robert Karlsson (Swe) v (49) Rory Sabbatini (Rsa)
1755 (17) Ross Fisher (Gbr) v (48) Thongchai Jaidee (Thai)
1805 (15) Ernie Els (Rsa) v (50) Ryan Moore (USA)
1814 (18) Retief Goosen (Rsa) v (47) Soren Hansen (Den)
1824 (4) Martin Kaymer (Ger) v (61) Chad Campbell (USA)
1833 (29) Vijay Singh (Fij) v (36) Tim Clark (Rsa)
1843 (3) Jim Furyk (USA) v (62) Scott Verplank (USA)
1852 (30) Hunter Mahan (USA) v (35) Charl Schwartzel (Rsa)
1902 (1) Steve Stricker (USA) v (64) Ross McGowan (Gbr)
1911 (32) Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn) v (33) Michael Sim (Aus)
1921 (2) Lee Westwood (Gbr) v (63) Chris Wood (Gbr)
1930 (31) Nick Watney (USA) v (34) Yuta Ikeda (Jpn).
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