Bjorn out of World Match Play

Thomas Bjorn has withdrawn from this week’s Accenture World Match Play Championship in San Diego with a sore neck.

The Dane awoke with the problem yesterday and has decided not to fly to California, where he was due to play Jon Daly.

His absence means the draw will be revised with Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell, who came into tournament as Sergio Garcia’s replacement, switching from playing top seed Tiger Woods to facing number two Vijay Singh.

There were also rumours at the Nissan Open in Los Angeles last week that Retief Goosen might also be missing from the 64-man field at La Costa but there has been no official announcement.