Accenture Match Play Championship bracket
CARLSBAD, Calif. -- In the 16 months since John Rollins won the 2002 Bell Canadian Open, he has never been paired with Tiger Woods in any round of a golf tournament.
That will change Wednesday in the Accenture Match Play Championship, barring any last-minute withdrawals. The draw will not be made official until late on Tuesday afternoon local time, and any player who withdraws before then will be replaced in the draw. After that time, their scheduled opponent will receive a bye into the next round.
Rollins got into the $7 million World Golf Championship only when three players withdrew. As the last man in the 64-player field, he gets to play Woods, the defending champion, in the first round.
"I just want to play well and at least give him a good match," Rollins said, already sounding like his week at La Costa won't last long.
Then again, all bets are off this week. No other format in golf is more fickle than the Accenture Match Play Championship.
Woods is the defending champion, and the only top-10 seed to win the tournament. Three previous winners -- Jeff Maggert, Steve Stricker and Kevin Sutherland -- didn't even qualify.
"Getting through the first round is the hardest thing," Nick Price said. "We've seen great players get knocked out in the first round."
Woods was one of them two years ago, losing to 64th-seeded Peter O'Malley of Australia.
Rollins figures to be the most wide-eyed.
He hasn't played well this year, missing his last three cuts. The last time he played this format was the 1997 U.S. Amateur at Cog Hill, where he lost to eventual winner Matt Kuchar in the round of 16.
And while his victory in the Canadian Open put him in pool of PGA Tour winners when first-round pairings are made at regular events, he has never played with Woods.
"I'd have to guess this match will be on TV," said Rollins, who has never had a lot of television exposure. "You've got to get an opportunity sometime. It's better in a head-to-head match than in stroke play."
Therein lies the beauty of the week.
There are no sure bets. Someone could shoot 65, a round good enough to win any other match at La Costa, and go home if the guy he's playing shoots 64.
That's why dozens of players on the range weren't sure whom they were playing, nor did they care.
"You've just got to play good and make a lot of birdies," said British Open champion Ben Curtis, who plays Charles Howell III. "Match play at this level ... there are no secrets. You can't outthink or outstrategize your opponent. You've just got to play better than him."
The field is missing two players ranked in the top 10.
Ernie Els withdrew last week because he wanted to spend time with his family in London before his 4-year-old daughter goes to school for the first time.
U.S. Open champion Jim Furyk has an injured left wrist.
The other player to withdraw was Kirk Triplett, who's going to his best friend's wedding in Hawaii.
Vijay Singh is the No. 2 seed and will play Japan's Shingo Katayama. Davis Love III (No. 3) faces Briny Baird, while Masters champion Mike Weir, coming off a victory in the Nissan Open, takes on former PGA champion Rich Beem.
The most intriguing match in the first round Wednesday is Phil Mickelson (No. 6) against Lee Westwood of England, particularly in a Ryder Cup year with Lefty playing before a hometown crowd.
Mickelson was among those on the range Monday, a rare sight. He usually practices away from the course, but he was grinding with coach Rick Smith at his side.
Westwood had failed to win in almost three years and slumped from fourth in the world to 215th before his victory at the BMW International Open last August. The former European No. 1 then claimed the Dunhill Links championship a few weeks later, is now back within sight of the world's top 50 and seems certain to qualify for the Ryder Cup in September.
Mickelson's fall from grace was not quite so dramatic, but the left-hander had dropped out of the world's top 10 for the first time in several years until rediscovering his form this year.
Former champion Darren Clarke, who won the title in 2000 by beating David Duval in the semi-finals and then Tiger Woods in the 36-hole final, begins his campaign against Argentinean veteran Eduardo Romero.
Europe's top-ranked player, world No. 11 Padraig Harrington, takes on Japan's Toshi Izawa while Justin Rose, in the midst of a lengthy spell playing on the PGA Tour, faces Australia's Stuart Appleby.
Colin Montgomerie, who has come straight from the Malaysian Open, is up against Zimbabwe's Nick Price while the only all-European tie pits Swede Fredrik Jacobson against Ryder Cup hero Phil Price. And rising English star Paul Casey faces a tough opening contest against PGA champion Shaun Micheel.
Some believe the Accenture Match Play Championship is easier to win than a stroke-play event, since players only have to beat six other guys -- one at a time -- instead of 70-plus players over four days.
Price says while some of the previous winners weren't among the highest-ranked seeds -- Maggert (No. 24), Stricker (No. 55) and Sutherland (No. 62) -- it was no fluke who won those tournaments.
"Six matches is hard," Price said. "If there's any chink in your armor, it's going to come out in six rounds. When you get to the third and fourth rounds, you're playing guys who are on their game."
Woods' victory here 12 months ago was one of three wins in his first four events on his return from knee surgery, but the world No. 1 has yet to taste victory in 2004. He did card a seven under par 64 in the final round of the Nissan Open two hours up the coast in Los Angeles on Sunday, however, and was satisfied with his seventh-place finish.
"The goal on Sunday was to get into the top 10 and build on some positive momentum going into this week, considering we might not be able to play hardly any practice rounds," said Woods, referring to the heavy rain which fell on Sunday and left parts of the course under water.
"You are going to have to drive the ball in the fairway because the rough will be up. They can't cut it because it will be so wet so you have to get the ball in play and put a lot of pressure on your opponent."
Rollins will be trying to get through the first match. And as anyone can tell him, it doesn't get any easier after that.
