World Matchplay Championship: Countdown ...Padraig Harrington's anticipated first round opponent in the $6 million Accenture World Matchplay Championship - which starts at La Costa in San Diego tomorrow - has changed three times inside a week. Despite all the comings and goings, however, the early collision with world number one Tiger Woods remains on course.
The Irishman was initially set to meet Alex Cejka in the first round, and then it was meant to be Len Mattiace. However, the latest withdrawal - that of world number four Vijay Singh, who won the Phoenix Open last month but who has since aggravated a rib injury - means that Harrington's scheduled first round opponent tomorrow is now American John Cook.
Until Singh's withdrawal, the top 50 players from the world rankings were all due to play - which would have been the first time since last year's NEC Invitational that had happened.
Singh, though, has followed Nick Faldo (flu) and Japan's Toru Taniguichi (back injury) on the sidelines.
Yet, in a quirk of the draw, the various withdrawals haven't affect Harrington's place in the same quarter as Woods - and the two will meet in the third round should they justify their seedings: Woods is the number one seed, and Harrington the number eight seed in a matchplay championship which, for the first time, has a greater number of international players than Americans.
Although he is a player with a strong matchplay record, both as an amateur and since joining the professional ranks and demonstrated most noticeably in his two Ryder Cup appearances where he holds a 100 per cent record in singles, Harrington has struggled in his previous appearances in the Accenture.
In 2001, he was a first round loser to Steve Stricker (who went on to win the tournament) and, last year, he again lost in the first round, falling to Steve Flesch.
Last year, the matchplay was Harrington's first tournament of the year; this time, at least, he has prepared by playing in last week's Malaysian Open. Still, it remains to be seen if he has the sharpness required for an extended run in the championship, especially as the event is being played on a course which has poa annua greens. At one stage, Harrington considered not playing in the matchplay because of his dislike for such greens but reconsidered after beating Woods in the Target World Challenge in December.
Should Harrington - whose schedule over the next two weeks will see him switch to the Middle East, where he plans to play in the Dubai Desert Classic and then the Qatar Masters - manage to overcome Cook, then the winner of the Tom Lehman-Scott Hoch match awaits.
Woods, meanwhile, faces a first round encounter with Sweden's Carl Petterssen, who finished runner-up to him in the Buick Invitational two weeks ago. Petterssen had been first reserve and got into the field after Singh's withdrawal. "I'm looking forward to it, to meeting Tiger. I'm happy that's who I'm playing in the first round," insisted Petterssen, who won his US Tour card at last year's qualifying school.
