Els, Garcia & Mickelson head for Harbour Town

Masters champion Tiger Woods is skipping the event, but Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and Sergio Garcia are among the big names participating in the $4 million Worldcom Classic beginning Thursday at the Harbour Town Golf Links.

Mickelson finished in third place at the Masters last week, four strokes behind Woods.

"I saw a lot of progress in my game last week and I hope to carry it over to Hilton Head," said Mickelson, who is second in the world rankings and third on the earnings list behind Woods and Jose Maria Olazabal.

Els tied for fifth at the Masters and remains third in the world rankings. Garcia is sixth on the money list, behind Vijay Singh.

Singh plans to take the next three weeks off due to plantar fasciitis, the same foot injury that has bothered Mark Calcavecchia.

Despite the discomfort, Singh won the Houston Open two weeks ago and was within two strokes of Woods in the final round of the Masters before he took a quadruple-bogey on No. 15.

Jose Coceras of Argentina is the defending champion, beating Billy Mayfair on the third playoff hole for his first PGA Tour victory. He didn't make his 2002 PGA Tour debut until the BellSouth Classic in Atlanta two weeks ago, shooting two rounds of 73 to miss the cut.

Coceras has been sidelined since December 21 when he broke his left wrist while playing in a pickup soccer game at home in Argentina. His second start of the season came last week at the Masters, where he missed the cut.

With the Senior Tour having the week off, Doug Tewell is entered in this week's field. Harbour Town Golf Links requires precise driving accuracy, which is Tewell's forte. He is hitting 88 percent of his fairways in Senior Tour events this year.

Jeff Julian, who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly referred to as "Lou Gehrig's disease," received a sponsors exemption to participate in this event. He also played at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the BellSouth Classic.

The purse at this event has increased from $3.5 million to $4 million, with the winner receiving $720,000. The par-71 Harbour Town course measures 6,916 yards.

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