Woods draws Garcia in Open first round

World number one Tiger Woods has been drawn with Sergio Garcia for the first two rounds of the British Open starting on Thursday…

World number one Tiger Woods has been drawn with Sergio Garcia for the first two rounds of the British Open starting on Thursday.

The draw sets up an intriguing rerun of their memorable 1999 US PGA Championship final-day encounter when Garcia, playing in a different group, took Woods to the wire before losing to him by a shot.

Britain's Luke Donald, who plays on the US PGA Tour, is the third player in the match.

Ernie Els, the Open holder and winner of last week's Scottish Open, has been drawn with Japan's Shigeki Maruyama, who was tied for fifth in last year's championship, and David Toms, the 2001 US PGA champion.

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Ireland's Darren Clarke, second to Els at Loch Lomond last week, will play with Davis Love III and Shingo Katayama.

Padriag Harrington is drawn with Kenny Perry and Stuart Appleby while Paul McGinley lines up alongside Scott Verplank and Nick O'Hern.

Gary Murphy, who qualified after his brilliant fourth at Loch Lomond, will play with Rolf Muntz and Simon Wakefield.