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CALIFORNIA - The field for next week's WGC-Accenture Matchplay Championship in Tucson, Arizona, was announced today, pairing Tiger Woods with fellow American golfer Brett Quigley in the opening round.
World No 1 Woods, the tournament winner in 2003 and 2004, is seeded one and will be bidding for his eighth consecutive victory on the PGA Tour in the 64-player event.
New Zealand's Michael Campbell, the 2005 US Open champion and seeded 29th for this event, opens his account against Briton Justin Rose, seeded 35th.
Masters champion Phil Mickelson, world No 2 Jim Furyk and third-ranked Adam Scott, of Australia, are the top seeds in the other three groups.
Left-hander Mickelson, who won his 30th PGA Tour title at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on Monday (NZT), will launch his campaign against British debutant Bradley Dredge, ranked 61st.
Furyk starts out against fellow American Shaun Micheel and Scott will take on compatriot Richard Green in Thursday's first round at Dove Mountain's Gallery Golf Club.
Holder Geoff Ogilvy, of Australia, the US Open champion, will launch his title defence against American Steve Stricker.
The opening World Golf Championships (WGC) event of 2007, being held at Dove Mountain for the first time, was staged at La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, California, for the last five years.
First round draw for the February 21-25 tournament (prefix denote seedings):-
1-Tiger Woods (US) v 64-Brett Quigley (US), 32-Tim Clark (South Africa) v 33-Robert Allenby (Australia), 16-Nick O'Hern (Australia) v 49-Lucas Glover (US), 17-David Howell (Britain) v 48-Rory Sabbatini (South Africa), 8-Luke Donald (Britain) v 57-Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain), 25-Shingo Katayama (Japan) v 40-Aaron Baddeley (Australia), 9-Henrik Stenson (Sweden) v 56-Zach Johnson (US), 24-KJ Choi (South Korea) v 41-Carl Pettersson (Sweden), 4-Phil Mickelson (US) v 61-Bradley Dredge (Britain), 29-MICHAEL CAMPBELL (NZ) v 36-Justin Rose (Britain), 13-Sergio Garcia (Spain) v 52-Darren Clarke (Britain), 20-Stuart Appleby (Australia) v 45-Charles Howell (US), 5-Ernie Els (South Africa) v 60-Charl Schwartzel (South Africa), 28-Ian Poulter (Britain) v 37-Bart Bryant (US), 12-Trevor Immelman (South Africa) v 53-Thomas Bjorn (Denmark), 21-Chris DiMarco (US) v 44-Brett Wetterich (US), 2-Jim Furyk (US) v 63-Shaun Micheel (US), 31-Angel Cabrera (Argentina) v 34-Chad Campbell (US), 15-Davis Love (US) v 50-Ben Crane (US), 18-David Toms (US) v 47-Arron Oberholser (US), 7-Vijay Singh (Fiji) v 58-John Rollins (US), 26-Robert Karlsson (Sweden) v 39-Stephen Ames (Canada), 10-Padraig Harrington (Ireland) v 55-Lee Westwood (Britain), 23-Stewart Cink (US) v 42-Jeev Milkha Singh (India), 3-Adam Scott (Australia) v 62-Richard Green, (Australia), 30-Yang Yong-Eun (South Korea) v 35-Rod Pampling (Australia), 14-Paul Casey (Britain) v 51-Mike Weir (Canada), 19-Colin Montgomerie (Britain) v 46-Johan Edfors (Sweden), 6-Retief Goosen (South Africa) v 59-Scott Verplank (US), 27-Joe Durant (US) v 38-Niclas Fasth (Sweden), 11-Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) v 54-Steve Stricker (US), 22-Jose Maria Olazabal (Spain) v 43-Paul Goydos (US).
- REUTERS
