Ireland's challengers, Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley, could meet in the third round of the $5 million Accenture World Matchplay Championship, which starts tomorrow at the Metropolitan GC, Melbourne. The former amateur colleagues are in the same eighth of a draw in which Ernie Els is the top seed.
The other six players making up their particular octet are Justin Leonard, Murphy's Irish Open champion Patrik Sjoland, Gary Orr, Steve Stricker, Scott Verplank and Brent Geiberger.
Harrington, 24th in the world but the 10th seed this week, is the highest-ranked European in a seriously depleted field. But he has a difficult opening match against the American, Stricker, who beat Lee Janzen in the opening round at La Costa last February before losing to compatriot Duffy Waldorf. Stricker will also be recalled as runner-up to Vijay Singh in the USPGA Championship at Sahalee.
McGinley is drawn against the Scot, Orr, who won the Portuguese Open and the British Masters on the European Tour last year to finish 10th in the Order of Merit. Another all-European pairing has Scottish Ryder Cup player Andrew Coltart facing the talented Welshman, Phillip Price.
While McGinley is making his debut in the event, Harrington played at La Costa where he was beaten 2 and 1 by Jesper Parnevik in the first round. "There's definitely a big difference between strokeplay and matchplay," said the Dubliner. "Some players who are good at strokeplay can't play good matchplay, and vice-versa. If you're very strong mentally, I think it makes you a good matchplayer."
The top 10 seeds are: 1 Els (RSA); 2 Hal Sutton (US); 3 Singh (Fiji); 4 Tom Lehman (US); 5 Michael Campbell (NZ); 6 Stewart Cink (US); 7 Leonard (US); 8 John Huston (US); 9 David Toms (US); 10 Harrington (Ireland).
Competitors from all parts seem to be delighted with the quality of the Metropolitan layout which played host to the Australian Open in 1993, when Brad Faxon, who is in this week's field, triumphed. Since then, Peter Thomson, the five times former British Open champion, has advised on fairway bunkering to heighten the challenge.
The general consensus is that the course is something of a hidden gem, though Els is as yet unaware of its qualities, given that he is not due to arrive in Melbourne until today. This is a source of some anxiety to the organisers who are understandably anxious not to lose any more big names.
"It's one of the best courses I've played, anywhere in the world," said Leonard, who won the British Open at Royal Troon in 1997. By way of acclimatisation, he played a practice round with Faxon on Sunday, having already done considerable work on the practice ground on his home course in Dallas before setting off for Australia.
Though half the field will depart the scene in the first round tomorrow, there is the not inconsiderable compensation of $25,000 as a minimum reward. With so much money currently is the professional game, however, serious challengers will have their sights on much more lucrative rewards.
There is also the matter of Ryder Cup points. After a staggering 40 withdrawals, including Tiger Woods, Lee Westwood, Colin Montgomerie and last year's winner Darren Clarke, some lesser lights could do themselves considerable good by reaching the closing stages this weekend.
Meanwhile, of this week's challengers, Paul Lawrie and Sutton are the only survivors from last year's quarter-finals. On that occasion, the 1999 British Open champion was crushed 5 and 4 by Woods while a rampant Clarke came from three down after four to beat Sutton by one hole.
