Now that the international rugby team have pointed Irish sportsmen towards world supremacy, we can look to Padraig Harrington and Darren Clarke dominating the bottom half of the draw in the $5 million Andersen Consulting World Matchplay here at La Costa this week. In fact if everything goes according to plan, they will meet in the semi-final on Saturday.

Even at this time of great optimism, however, it must be acknowledged that there are some potentially sticky hurdles along the way. Indeed these will start in the opening round tomorrow, when Harrington meets Jesper Parnevik and Darren Clarke faces Paul Azinger.

Parnevik enhanced his status among the top exponents on the US Tour, when finishing runner-up to Kirk Triplett in the Nissan Open at Riviera CC on Sunday. And through a fascinating duel with Vijay Singh on the practice ground at Riviera, he also showed himself to be one of the game's longest hitters.

Singh is not short, by any standards. So, not surprisingly, Parnevik took great delight in smashing balls over the 60-foot fence at the end of the practice ground - a carry he estimated at about 290 yards. "Vijay kept at it for about an hour after I quit, but he still couldn't make it," said the Swede with a broad grin.

Meanwhile, it was revealing to note his admiration for Harrington as a colleague in the European Ryder Cup team at Brookline last September. "I would rate Padraig as a very tough competitor," he said. "I was really impressed by him at the Ryder Cup, especially on the Sunday, coming out and doing what he did against Mark O'Meara."

He added: "Apart from any other consideration, it's always difficult to play against a guy with a good short game. And we all know what Padraig can do around the greens. I'm expecting a difficult match."

Clarke, who missed the cut at Riviera last Friday, believes he is much better prepared this year than for his debut 12 months ago, when he lost on the 18th to Andrew Magee in the first round, after an approximate 76. "Travel is a big thing, especially coming over here to the west coast," he said yesterday.

He went on: "The eight-hour time change is one of the reasons I came over early this year. I certainly don't want to be making another early departure. At the moment I'm getting rid of some winter cobwebs but my game is in good shape. Though I've met Azinger, I've never played with him but he's obviously playing well at the moment, given his win in Hawaii last month."

Harrington and Clarke have been here since Saturday practising. The Dubliner, who had earlier been in Las Vegas on a short holiday, complained yesterday of a severe head cold.

Indeed, the resort course wasn't especially appealing yesterday in intermittent, heavy rain showers. "You must feel real at home, coming from Ireland," came the greeting from an official in the media centre, who would appear to have taken "Angela's Ashes" a little too literally.

Meanwhile, rivals are taking scant comfort from the fact that Tiger Woods, in a share of 18th place at Riviera, had his worst finish on the US Tour since last April. As Davis Love observed: "You start wondering what Tiger's going to do and you lose track of what you're doing yourself."

Love, who is scheduled for a first-round meeting with fellow American Olin Browne, went on: "He (Woods) beat me in a playoff (for the Las Vegas Invitational, Woods's first win in 1996) and just going from there, I've had some rounds with him that I wasn't very happy about. Attribute it to whatever you want, but the fact is that I haven't played well with him."

That's the sort of fear-factor which always gave Jack Nicklaus a head-start, especially in the major championships. Clarke knew exactly what it was all about when he remarked: "We've all heard about Seve (Ballesteros) at his best."

At Riviera, David Duval was two strokes behind Woods, who said of his rival: "Neither of us played too well. Maybe we'll meet under different circumstances, preferably next Sunday morning - and then again in the afternoon." For American audiences, that would be a dream final to this week's event.

As a premier tournament venue, La Costa will be remembered for staging the Mercedes Championship from 1969 to 1998. The 1997 tournament was especially memorable for a playoff between Woods and Tom Lehman. On the first hole of sudden-death, the short seventh, Lehman hit his tee-shot into water and Woods proceeded to nail his effort to within four inches of the pin.

Justin Leonard disagrees with the notion that it favours the less talented players by being too open and easy. "I think the course is better suited for matchplay than strokeplay," he said. "It's very versatile. There's a lot of risk-reward here and the guy who plays best should win."

Designed by Dick Wilson and Joe Lee in 1964, the tournament course is a composite of the resort's 36 holes. It's straightforward and rewards solid striking and in a matchplay situation, several key holes on the homeward journey must be treated with caution, especially the narrow, dog-leg 15th (378 yards) and the 569-yard par-five 17th where water on the right, threatens the second shot all the way to the green.