| Woods back in action at World Match Play |
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Wednesday, 13 September 2006
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Because he’s the defending champion. Campbell defeated Paul McGinley 2&1 in the final round of last year’s tournament to capture the title and pick up £1 million. Prior to that, Campbell had knocked out Geoff Ogilvy, Steve Elkington, and Retief Goosen. He didn’t get a shot at Woods though – Tiger wasn’t in the field for last year’s tournament. If there is a Campbell-Woods matchup, though, it won’t be played until Sunday. Woods has been given the tournament’s second seed, and he’ll take on No. 15 Shaun Micheel in the opening round. Top-seeded Campbell will face No. 16 Simon Khan on Thursday. Each match covers 36 holes and is played in a single day, with just one round per day. Jim Furyk, who sits second in the current World Rankings and is coming off a win in the Canadian Open, has the No. 3 seed in the tournament; he’ll take on No. 14 Robert Karlsson in the first round. Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh are both absent from the tournament’s field, but World No. 5 Adam Scott is set to battle Mike Weir on Thursday. Here are all eight first-round matchups for Thursday, with the player’s seed in brackets: Michael Campbell (1) Simon Khan (16) David Howell (8) Colin Montgomerie (9) Retief Goosen (5) Paul Casey (12) Adam Scott (4) Mike Weir (13) Jim Furyk (3) Robert Karlsson (14) Ernie Els (6) Angel Cabrera (11) Luke Donald (7) Tim Clark (10) Tiger Woods (2) Shaun Micheel (15) And here are the current World Golf Rankings positions for all 16 of this week’s players: 01 - Tiger Woods 02 - Jim Furyk 05 - Adam Scott 06 - Retief Goosen 07 - Ernie Els 10 - Luke Donald 12 - David Howell 16 - Colin Montgomerie 19 - Tim Clark 22 - Angel Cabrera 26 - Michael Campbell 27 - Paul Casey 37 - Mike Weir 44 - Robert Karlsson 77 - Shaun Micheel 82 - Simon Khan Don’t like betting on a dominant favorite like Woods, and don’t feel that Campbell has what it takes to repeat as champion? Then Ernie Els might be of some interest to you. Els has won this event an incredible six times; three straight times from 1994 to 1996, and three more times from 2002 to 2004. The only other past champion in this week’s field is Colin Montgomerie, who walked away with the World Match Play trophy in 1999. Here are the current posted odds to win the HSBC World Match Play Championship: Tiger Woods --- +120 Ernie Els --- +600 Jm Furyk --- +700 Retief Goosen --- +900 Adam Scott --- +900 Luke Donald --- +1100 Michael Campbell --- +1500 David Howell --- +1500 Angel Cabrera --- +1700 Colin Montgomerie --- +1700 Paul Casey --- +2000 Mike Weir --- +2800 Tim Clark --- +3500 Robert Karlsson --- +4000 Simon Khan --- +10000 Shaun Micheel --- +10000 The eight golfers who are victorious on Thursday will advance to the tournament’s quarterfinal round on Friday. The four Friday winners will then play in Saturday’s semi-finals, with the two Saturday winners battling it out over 36 holes in the Sunday finals.                        |
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| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 13 September 2006 ) | |||||||
Woods already a legend. Tiger Woods holds down the top spot in the World Golf Rankings. Michael Campbell sits at No. 26 in those rankings. So why is Campbell the No. 1 seed at this week’s HSBC World Match Play Championship at the Wentworth Club in Virginia Water, England?