Darren Clarke protested convincingly that he wasn't allowing thoughts of a battle with Tiger Woods into his head yesterday. The prospect is certain to give an additional edge, however, to Clarke's first round tie with Ian Woosnam in the £640,000 World Matchplay Championship at Wentworth tomorrow.
Woosnam, a four-time winner on the West Course - in the Volvo PGA Championships of 1988 and 1997 and the World Matchplay in 1987 and 1990 - gained late inclusion in this week's field when Bernhard Langer withdrew on Monday night. And the Welshman's decline to 37th in the world rankings, meant he wasn't seeded.
But Clarke, who was seeded seventh behind last choice Steve Stricker, retains enormous respect for Woosnam, despite the fact that he has lost five of his last six matches in this event. "We battled it out for the PGA Championship last year, when he won," said the Tyroneman. "Woosie is still a very dangerous opponent, particularly at Wentworth, which he knows so well."
In more upbeat vein, Clarke added: "Having worked hard with my coach, Pete Cowen, yesterday and today, I feel confident about my game. I certainly feel a lot more focused than I was against Brad Faxon (who beat him 2 and 1) last year when I was a bit flat after the Ryder Cup.
"Of course a quarter-final meeting with Tiger would be special. This is what we play for - high-profile matches against the best in the world. But I can't afford to think of it at this stage. Woosie is a handful for starters."
Clarke pointed to his deep knowledge of Wentworth, where he has played about 70 competitive rounds. In fact he has a house in Sunningdale, only two miles down the road. Woods, on the other hand, will be playing a notoriously tricky layout for the first time.
"The course is in absolutely superb condition at the moment, especially the greens," said Clarke. "They're running in excess of 10 on the Stimpmeter and they'll quicken even more before the weekend."
As expected, the top four seeds with byes into Friday's quarterfinals are the holder Vijay Singh, Woods, Ernie Els and Mark O'Meara, respectively. Which means that as the fifth seed, Colin Montgomerie, winner of the Andersen Consulting World Matchplay title last January, would have to survive four matches to complete a unique double. And he's not pleased.
Making his seventh appearance, Europe's number one faces Ryder Cup colleague Thomas Bjorn in tomorrow's opening round of 36hole matches, for the right to meet O'Meara. "You only have to look at the list of winners of this to realise that a bye is a very important thing to have," said the Scot yesterday.
The point if borne out by the fact that in the last 16 championships, only Woosnam in 1987, Corey Pavin in 1993 and Singh last year have come through four matches to land the title. "I believe this tournament should have either eight or 16 players," he added.
"It seems the obvious way - 12 just doesn't work out that well. In 1994, I won three matches and so did Ernie Els but he got the trophy. At Wimbledon Pete Sampras may be world number one but he doesn't get to play one less game." True. But if Montgomerie wishes to change things, one wonders why he's not directing his observations towards the organisers IMG, the management group to which he is attached.
A beaten finalist four years ago, he is confident of his matchplay skills, not only because of the Andersen triumph, but through an unbeaten record in Ryder Cup singles. "I hate to lose more than I love to win," he said. "That's probably why I have been successful."
His first-round opponent, Bjorn, is competing despite being advised by a doctor to take the remainder of the year off, so as to rest a damaged lower back. "I haven't swung a club for two weeks but I just can't miss this chance," said the Dane. He is also determined to play the Volvo Masters in Spain in a fortnight to try to protect the sixth place in the Order of Merit which might gain him an invitation to next April's US Masters.
In a change this year, there will be no third place play-off, which has reduced the prize money from £650,000 to £640,000, but the winner still picks up £170,000. The minimum reward is £30,000.
Meanwhile Greg Norman, who, incidentally, is a three-time winner of the Matchplay title, is reported to be ahead of his schedule in his recovery from major surgery to repair posterior instability in his left shoulder. Appropriately, Norman will resume tournament golf in the Shark Shootout in California on November 13th to 15th.
"He's going great, hitting 100 balls or so every day," said his manager, Bart Collins, yesterday. The Shark, who has not played since the US Masters at Augusta in April, is scheduled to play in the Australian Open which also includes Fred Couples and Nick Faldo at Royal Adelaide, three weeks after the Shootout.
