Clarke may face Lawrie at La Costa

TOUR NEWS: Darren Clarke could face Paul Lawrie in the opening round of the Accenture World Matchplay championship in California next week.

Clarke, who picked up the $1 million first prize two years ago by beating Tiger Woods in the final on the same La Costa course, is the 12th seed this year.

But Lawrie will be his first opponent only if Colin Montgomerie or Argentina's Jose Coceres do not pull out of the $3.5 million event.

Montgomerie is doubtful because of the back injury which forced him to withdraw from the Johnnie Walker Classic in Perth three weeks ago, while Coceres is recovering from breaking his arm skiing.

Already out of the championship is Dane Thomas Bjorn, which brings in 65th-ranked John Cook to play Woods on Wednesday week, providing there are no more scratchings.

Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley may open against American Matt Gogel and Argentinian Angel Cabrera respectively, while Welshman Phil Price is set for a duel with US Open champion Retief Goosen.

Lee Westwood's scheduled first match is against American Ryder Cup player Stewart Cink - and then it could be British Open champion David Duval in the next round.

If Montgomerie and Coceres do play, the Scot would take on another American in Steve Lowery.

The official draw takes place next Monday, after which any players who pull out are not replaced.

Until then Australian Peter O'Malley and American Bob May are the two on stand-by.

Meanwhile, for his part, Clarke has been re-creating the circumstances which culminated in the biggest win of his career. Just like two years ago, he spent last Sunday with the coach he shares with Woods, Butch Harmon, before heading on to Riviera CC.

And will his preparation include missing the cut in the Los Angeles Open, just as he did in 2000?

"That's not part of the plan," he said yesterday with a chuckle. "In fact I'm hitting the ball very nicely and I think I can do really well this week."

Woods has withdrawn from this week's Los Angeles Open due to illness. The world's number one claimed he had been unwell for two weeks prior to finishing 20th, decidedly modest by his standards, behind Jose Maria Olazabal in the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines on Sunday.

"I just want to go home and get some rest and get some strength back - put a little weight on," said a subdued Woods. But he insisted he will be back in action for La Costa.

When he returns to action, he won't be carrying the new Nike driver with which he sprayed the ball in all directions at Torrey Pines, hitting only 17 of 39 fairways.

"Unfortunately it's not the driver for me," he admitted ruefully. If I'm missing anything, it's just going dead right and I get stuck on the way down. It's the same old thing. I just can't seem to get out of it. If I trust my swing, it's fine. It's when I rush it or feel uneasy over a shot and I try to put a steer on it that I don't hit it that well."

WORLD MATCHPLAY - Projected draw (world rankings in brackets): (1) T Woods (US) v (65) J Cook (US); (33) S Katayama (Jpn) v (34) N Price (Zim); (16) S Verplank (US) v (50) S Appleby (Aus); (17) B Estes (US) v (49) B Faxon (US); (8) D Love (US) v (58) T Taniguchi (Jpn); (26) M Campbell (Nzl) v (41) J Leonard (US); (9) V Singh (Fij) v (57) S Stricker (US); (25) M Calcavecchia (US) v (42) J Parnevik (Swe) (4) S Garcia (Spn) v (62) J Sluman (US); (30) T Lehman (US) v (37) J Durant (US); (13) M Weir (Can) v (53) B Andrade (US); (20) C Montgomerie (Sco) v (46) S Lowery (US); (5) E Els (Rsa) v (61) R Sabbatini (Rsa); (29) R Mediate (US) v (38) C Howell (US); (12) D Clarke (NIre) v (54) P Lawrie (Sco); (21) S Hoch (US) v (45) K Triplett (US) (2) P Mickelson (US) v (64) K Sutherland (US); (32) P McGinley (Ire) v (35) A Cabrera (Arg); (15) B Langer (Ger) v (51) F Lickliter (US); (18) K Perry (US) v (48) P Fulke (Swe); (7) R Goosen (Rsa) v (59) P Price (Wal); (27) P Azinger (US) v (40) J Daly (US); (10) C DiMarco (US) v (56) S Flesch (US); (23) J Coceres (Arg) v (43) N Fasth (Swe) (3) D Duval (US) v (63) L Janzen (US); (31) S Cink (US) v (36) L Westwood (Eng); (14) J Furyk (US) v (52) A Scott (Aus); (19) T Izawa (Jpn) v (47) S McCarron (US); (6) D Toms (US) v (60) B Mayfair (US); (28) JM Olazabal (Spn) v (39) H Sutton (US); (11) P Harrington (Ire) v (55) M Gogel (US); (22) R Allenby (Aus) v (44) J Kelly (US).