Clarke returns to his happy hunting ground

Unlike last year's fiasco in Australia, when a combination of the timing (the first week in January) and the location, meant that many of the world's top players stayed away in their droves, this year's Accenture World Matchplay Championship - which starts at La Costa tomorrow - looks like the real thing. Of the top 64 players in the world, only two are missing.

Thomas Bjorn, who has been troubled by a back injury, and Jose Coceres, who broke his arm playing soccer, are the missing men. But Colin Montgomerie, who looked as if he too would be absent, arrived in the United States on Sunday. The back injury that, at one stage, looked so serious that he doubted if he would be able to play in the US Masters, or the following week's Seve Trophy at Druids Glen, has not proven to be so bad after all. A number of specialists assured him his pain could be eased with rest and treatment.

For the first time in this particular event, three Irish players will be competing. Last year, Darren Clarke was one of over two dozen top players who did not travel to Australia - although his reason for not defending his title was more acceptable than many others, the Tyroneman remaining at home due to a family illness - but he will be returning to a happy hunting ground at La Costa (where he beat Tiger Woods in the 2000 final) and he is joined by Paul McGinley and Padraig Harrington.

Clarke was one of eight players competing in the matchplay who missed the cut in the Nissan Open, while McGinley survived into the weekend at Riviera, but played poorly, eventually finishing tied 74th. For some reason, Clarke has a history of playing well in the week after missing a cut, although it is a record he would probably prefer not to put to the test. Harrington, meanwhile, is making his seasonal debut and, in fact, is the highest-ranked player in the world yet to make a competitive appearance this year.

Harrington, the number 11 seed, is due to open his championship against American Steve Flesch; Clarke's first-round opponent will be Matt Gogel, winner of the Pebble Beach Pro-Am three weeks ago, while McGinley's campaign will start with a match against Joe Durant.

The task of taking on world number one Tiger Woods in the opening round has fallen to Australian Peter O'Malley. "Tiger is not as untouchable as he was 12 months ago," insisted O'Malley. "Anything can happen in 18 holes of matchplay. I definitely give myself a chance."

One of the more interesting first-round match-ups pits in-form Jose Maria Olazabal, who followed up his win in the Buick Invitational with a top-10 finish in the Nissan Open, against Justin Leonard in a rematch of the pivotal singles match in the Ryder Cup at Brookline in 1999. On that occasion, many of the US team, and their entourage, ran onto the 17th green after Leonard holed a raking putt while Olazabal still had a putt to keep the match alive.

David Duval, meanwhile, confirmed his participation in the matchplay despite having to withdraw from the Nissan Open after three holes of his final round.

Len Mattiace's win at Riviera came too late to earn him a place in the World Matchplay field. Mattiace had never won in 219 previous tries and seven full years on the US Tour until making the breakthrough on Sunday, shooting a final round 68 for 269 and a one-stroke winning margin over Scott McCarron, who had a three-shot lead with seven holes to play only to falter on the run-in.

Mattiace became the sixth player in seven tournaments on the US Tour this year to come from behind on the final day to win.The surprise was that McCarron was a victim - in the three previous times he had the 54-hole lead he went on to win.