Woods to miss Match Play

Tiger Woods will not be playing in next week's WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona, it has been confirmed.

World number one will not return to action in Arizona next week

Tiger Woods will not be playing in next week's WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona, it has been confirmed. The world number one's name was not on a list of 64 players entered for the event which was published on Friday night. With Phil Mickelson missing the event as well to spend time with his family, English pair Chris Wood and Ross McGowan are both now confirmed as starters. They are ranked 65th and 66th in the world respectively, meaning that McGowan will play top seed Steve Stricker in next Wednesday's first round while Wood will meet new second seed Lee Westwood. Woods, who has not seen in public since crashing his car in the early hours of November 27, has been on an indefinite break after lurid stories concerning his private life then hit the headlines. There have been no hints as yet from his management company about a date for his comeback. Given that Accenture are one of the sponsors to subsequently drop Woods it would have been a surprise for him to choose their tournament to return. There appears more likelihood of him playing in either the CA Championship in Miami on March 11-14 or the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando two weeks later.

Rumours

However, there are also rumours suggesting that Woods may appear first at the unofficial - and private - Tavistock Cup match on his home course Isleworth in Florida on March 22-23. He has played in the event, an annual made-for-television competition between the exclusive club members of Isleworth and Lake Nona, every year since it started in 2004. The assumption is that Woods wants to play The Masters in April and will need at least one tournament under his belt before going to Augusta. If Woods is still absent come the first major of the year then the odds on a whole season without him will drop dramatically. Mickelson, whose wife and mother were both diagnosed with breast cancer last year, announced last week that he would not be playing in Arizona. Assuming there are no more withdrawals before Monday's official draw then Westwood v Wood will be one of three all-European matches on the first day. Luke Donald, runner-up to Stricker in Los Angeles last Sunday, is set to face Graeme McDowell, with Oliver Wilson also playing Dubai Desert Classic winner Miguel Angel Jimenez. Rory McIlroy would play American Kevin Na, with Padraig Harrington meeting Indian Jeev Milkha Singh, Paul Casey playing Stephen Ames and Ian Poulter taking on former Open champion Justin Leonard. Provisional draw (world rankings in brackets): (2) Steve Stricker v (66) Ross McGowan
(34) Ryo Ishikawa v (35) Michael Sim
(18) Robert Karlsson v (51) Rory Sabbatini
(19) Ross Fisher v (50) Thongchai Jaidee
(10) Padraig Harrington v (59) Jeev Milkha Singh
(27) Anthony Kim v (42) Matt Kuchar
(11) Ian Poulter v (58) Justin Leonard
(27) Angel Cabrera v (43) Adam Scott
(6) Martin Kaymer v (63) Chad Campbell
(31) Vijay Singh v (38) Tim Clark
(15) Sergio Garcia v (54) David Toms
(22) Lucas Glover v (47) Anders Hansen
(7) Rory McIlroy v (62) Kevin Na
(30) Miguel Angel Jimenez v (39) Oliver Wilson
(14) Robert Allenby v (55) Peter Hanson
(23) Luke Donald v (46) Graeme McDowell
(4) Lee Westwood v (65) Chris Wood
(33) Nick Watney v (36) Yuta Ikeda
(17) Ernie Els v (52) Ryan Moore
(20) Retief Goosen v (49) Soren Hansen
(9) Henrik Stenson v (60) Ben Crane
(28) YE Yang v (41) Soren Kjeldsen
(12) Geoff Ogilvy v (57) Alex Noren
(25) Camilo Villegas v (44) Dustin Johnson
(5) Jim Furyk v (64) Scott Verplank
(32) Hunter Mahan v (37) Charl Schwartzel
(16) Sean O'Hair v (53) Simon Dyson
(21) Stewart Cink v (48) Edoardo Molinari
(8) Paul Casey v (61) Stephen Ames
(29) Alvaro Quiros v (40) Mike Weir
(13)Kenny Perry v (56) Brian Gay
(24) Zach Johnson v (45) Francesco Molinari