Mahan happy to join 'elite' field

Obviously, not everyone is enthused by the prospect of winning a €1.5 million top prize. Yesterday, American Hunter Mahan, ranked 41st in the world, accepted the 16th and final invitation into the field for the HSBC World Matchplay Championship at Wentworth in a fortnight.

His place was secured after a flurry of rejections from better qualified players who didn't want to play.

Tiger Woods, US Masters champion Zach Johnson, Jim Furyk, Sergio Garcia, David Toms and Scott Verplank all turned down the tournament, opening the way for Mahan, who finished 13th in the US Open and sixth in the British Open, to get the final invitation.

With Woods and Johnson deciding not to make the transatlantic trip, the field is headed by British Open champion Padraig Harrington and US Open champion Angel Cabrera. Ernie Els, fifth in the world, is the highest ranked player in the field.

Henrik Stenson and Soren Hansen clinched their places in the event from the European Tour order of merit after the British Masters.

While Paul Casey, the defending champion, is the automatic top seed, the actual draw won't be finalised until after next week's Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland, with the draw determined by players' positions in the world rankings.

Harrington would be in line for a first-round encounter with his Ryder Cup team-mate Colin Montgomerie, who is competing in this week's Seve Trophy at The Heritage. Harrington is resting, prior to resuming tournament play at the Dunhill in his quest to retain the European Tour order of merit title.

As things stand, the draw would be: Paul Casey v Jerry Kelly; Angel Cabrera v Niclas Fasth; Justin Rose v Hunter Mahan; Rory Sabbatini v Anders Hansen; Henrik Stenson v Woody Austin; Retief Goosen v Andres Romero; Ernie Els v Soren Hansen, and Harrington v Montgomerie.

Meanwhile, Michael Hoey and Gareth Maybin will this week attempt to claim one of the five qualifying places available on the Caribbean island of Aruba for November's World Cup in Mission Hills, China.

Hoey and Maybin have received funding from the Team Ireland Golf Trust to participate in the qualifying tournament.

World Cup qualifying teams (in Aruba)

Venzuela (Juan Carlos Berastegui, Miguel Martinez); Costa Rica (Alejandro Duque, Juan Marin); El Salvador (Fernando Figueroa, Victor Melara); Ecuador (Rafael Ponce, Andres Moncayo); Czech Republic (Petr Skoppovy, Jakub Kucera); Italy (Edoardo Molinari, Francesco Molinari); Paraguay (Carlos Franco, Fabrizio Zanotti); Chile (Mark Tullo, Christian Leon); Colombia (Gustavo Mendoza, Jorge Benedetti); Peru (Luis Graf, Jose Cardenas); Bermuda (Dwayne Pearman, Kim Swan); Brazil (Phillipe Gasnier, Alexandre Rocha); Mexico (Esteban Toledo, Jose Trauwitz); Ireland (Gareth Maybin, Michael Hoey); Guatemala (Alejandro Villavicencio, Pablo Acuña); Puerto Rico (Wilfredo Morales, Miguel Suarez); Bahamas (Keno Turnquest, Samuel Kemp); Jamaica (Peter Horrobin, Owen Samuda); Serbia (Igor Milicic, Mihail Lanic).