South Korea's KJ Choi defends his title at this week's Tampa Bay Championship a mere four months since his four-shot victory on the Copperhead Course at Westin Innisbrook Resort.
The PGA Tour event, won by Choi for the second time in late October, has been brought forward seven months as part of the revamped Florida Swing.
Four of the world's top 15 players are in the field, but tournament director Gerald Goodman is disappointed loyal supporters Ernie Els and Retief Goosen are unavailable because of conflicting schedules. The South Africans are taking this week off after playing in last week's Johnnie Walker Classic in Thailand.
"Am I a little disappointed in the number of top 10 players we don't have? I'd be lying if I said I wasn't," Goodman was quoted as saying by the Tampa Tribune.
"But we have huge depth in the strength of our field and a lot of great golfers, the second-strongest full field of golf so far in 2007."
World number nine Vijay Singh, who cruised to victory by five shots with a tournament record of 18-under-par 266 in 2004, is the highest-ranked player at Innisbrook.
The Fijian is joined by Trevor Immelman (12), Sergio Garcia (13) and Charles Howell III (15), who ended a five-year title drought on the PGA Tour with a play-off victory over Phil Mickelson at last month's Nissan Open.
Other notable names in the field include double major winner John Daly, next year's US Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger and twice Masters champion Bernhard Langer.
