Nick Faldo stands in the way of a head-to-head duel that all of Irish golf would like to see. If Padraig Harrington, the sixth seed, overcomes Faldo in Thursday's 36-holes first round of the Cisco World Match Play Championship at Wentworth, then his quarter-final protagonist would be Darren Clarke, who has been spared the rigours of competing in the opening series of matches.
Although this year's event has been somewhat diluted by the absence of any American players - the first time this has happened since the event was inaugurated in 1964 - yesterday's draw, nevertheless, threw up some interesting encounters, not least Harrington's match with Faldo. That Clarke, seeded third, awaits the winner certainly adds spice to it all.
As anticipated, Seve Ballesteros, lying a lowly 230th on the European Tour's moneylist, was drafted in to fill the 12th place in the field which was left vacant when John Daly declined an invite. Daly was initially chosen to complete the field but negotiations broke down after he asked for a private jet to fly him home afterwards.
"I think that was the stumbling block," admitted event organiser Mark McCormack of IMG yesterday. "He would have been a good addition, but we've never gone down that road and we were not going to make an exception for John Daly."
The choice of Ballesteros - who has survived only two cuts this season - may seem a strange one if current form is the criteria for selection. However, McCormack insisted the Spaniard's matchplay history (he is a five-time winner, most recently in 1991) made him a logical stand-in. "When you think of matchplay, mano a mano, you think of Seve. The heritage that he has with this championship and with European golf is quite extraordinary," said McCormack.
While Lee Westwood, as the defending champion, was awarded the top seeded position - and an opening match against the winner of Thomas Bjorn or Adam Scott - the other seeded positions were selected from the world rankings. Vijay Singh, number five in the world, is the top-ranked player in the field and, as second seed, he will face the winner of Mike Weir or Ballesteros.
This is Harrington's third successive year to play in the championship. In 1999 he reached the semi-finals, beating Carlos Franco and Ernie Els along the way before losing to Montgomerie and, last year, after beating Bob May in the first round, he again lost out to Montgomerie.
Clarke, meanwhile, had to go to the 40th hole last year to defeat Faldo before losing in his quarter-final match to Singh. However, this is the first time that Clarke - ranked ninth in the world - has secured a top-four seeding which enables him to avoid playing in the first round.
One man who probably would have wished that Daly had taken up the invite to play in Wentworth, rather than the Invensys Classic in Las Vegas, is Richie Coughlan. With time running out on the Irishman in his quest to retain his tour card, Coughlan has been relegated to first alternate for Las Vegas - and must now wait for one of the 144 players in the field to drop out if he is to start.
Coughlan's battle for a playing card for next year is mirrored on this side of the Atlantic by David Higgins' decision to play in the Cannes Open at Mougins rather than in the Smurfit Irish PGA at Castlerock this week. Higgins is currently 127th in the Order of Merit - he requires to move up at least 10 places to retain his card.
Higgins will be joined in the field in France by Eamonn Darcy, Paddy Gribben and Philip Walton, while three other Irish players - Damien McGrane, Gary Murphy and Peter Lawrie - are entered for the French Challenge tournament at Hardelot on the European Challenge Tour this week.
IRISH POSITIONS ON EUROPEAN TOUR ORDER OF MERIT: 2nd, D Clarke €1,756,367; 4th, P Harrington €1,362,564; 11th, P McGinley €1,001,944; 76th, D Smyth €238,140; 127th, D Higgins €118,191; 149th, E Darcy €87,255; 171st, P Walton €51,247; 187th, G Murphy €37, 970; 202nd, P Gribben €21,505; 212th, D McGrane €17,920.
