Who's favourite for the World Matchplay

Just like the European soccer league, it is surely only a matter of time before golf expands its natural borders and gets its own world tour.

And the first leg of the Andersen Consulting World Championship this week has brought that day a lot closer.

Only one of the original top 64 players in the world who qualified for the event, 'Jumbo' Ozaki has pulled out letting number 65, Nick Faldo, into the field.

And despite settling on a match play format that modern pros are supposed to be uncomfortable with, the fact that almost to a man they have descended on California shows this event can only prosper.

The other two legs will be staged in other parts of the world but this first one is at the La Costa club in Carlsbad, which until this year, had staged the season-opening Mercedes Championship on the US Tour.

This automatically gives the Yanks an advantage as they will know the course and their season gets under way earlier.

Some of Europe's top stars only began their campaign at the Dubai Desert Classic a fortnight ago by which time David Duval had already won two tournaments!

But if the Americans hold the upper hand in course knowledge, you could argue that the rest of the world may be the masters of matchplay.

The Europeans currently hold the Ryder Cup and the Rest of the World hold the President's Cup, leaving the US stars smarting after those two recent reverses.

Match play is really a sport in its own right. As former Open champion Justin Leonard remarked recently: "It's funny becasue you can play well and lose and you can play poorly and win. Those are the little nuances of the game."

Match play rewards both the smart golfer and the courageous golfer.

A man who can keep hitting the fairways and the greens can crank up the pressure on his opponent.

The one who can pull off the big shot can win vital holes confident in the knowledge that a wild error will simply mean a lost hole.

With six victories needed to secure the crown over five days, the event will test the strength and mental stamina of the players so the brittle or burned-out need not apply.

The last thing to bear in mind is the seeding which operates like a tennis tournament.

Tiger Woods is seeded one and is scheduled to meet number two pick David Duval in the final and that is why they line-up at opposite ends of the draw. If you fancy two players to make the final, they must be in different halves of the draw or they will eventually play each other along the way.

FIRST QUARTER

At the top of the draw Tiger Woods dominates the field. The general favourite among the bookmakers, he opens with a draw against wild card Nick Faldo and could meet another veteran 'major' winner Tom Watson in round two. He was tied second here in the Mercedes last year and won it the year before and his last two events on tour are also tied second and winner at the Buick a fortnight ago. His runner-up to Mark O'Meara in last year's World Matchplay is his best effort in a patchy matchplay career but he is still hard to overlook.

The other contenders who could emerge from this section include Vijay Singh and Nick Price. Woods is scheduled to meet the winner of the Singh-Price clash in the quarter-finals.

The powerful Fijian has shone at Wentworth in the past and that will be his trump card as his tied 13th here last year and tied 33rd in last week's Nissan Open suggest he is not on top of his game like Woods.

Price has had a quiet winter and only re-emerged with a creditable tied fifth at the Nissan to add to his tied fourth at the 1998 Mercedes. He has won almost 50 per cent of his President's Cup matches and is no forlorn hope.

SECOND QUARTER

Arguably the most open of the quarters, which could be set up for Carlsbad specialist Phil Mickelson.

The 'grunge' music enthusiast is, in contrast, usually an oasis of calm on a golf course especially at La Costa where he has won in 1994 and 98. He starts against Joe Ozaki and then probably Lee Westwood in unfamiliar surroundings so a quarter-final place at least beckons. His winless streak in last year's President's Cup spoiled an otherwise impressive matchplay record which includes a better than 50 per cent victory rate in the Ryder Cup.

The two players who would appear to stand in his way of making a semi-final appointment with the Tiger are close friends Fred Couples and Davis Love.

They have similar games and boast similar records so there is not a great to choose between them.

Couples is a La Costa natural and has three top five finishes there in the last six years while his President's Cup r4ecord of five wins from his last nine matches and singles victories over Singh and the thrashing of Woosnam in the 1997 Ryder Cup show Fred is not as brittle as he is often accused of being.

Love also boasts a couple of recent top 10 finishes in the Mercedes but a less impressive matchplay record though tied second in the Nissan shows he's bang in form.

THIRD QUARTER

One man you used to get to play the 18th hole if your life depended on it was Nick Faldo but now it's probably Mark O'Meara.

Last year's 'double' major winner never seems to play a bad event and his consistency will certainly wear down many an opponent this week.

He has a superb record at La Costs , second last year and winner in 1996 and won all five matches in the 1996 President's Cup. His famous victory over Tiger Woods at Wentworth last October shows he is not a man to take on head-to-head.

His most serious challenge could come in the last 16 where he may well meet Steve Elkington. The Aussie won here back in 1995 and has also excelled in matchplay boasting an impressive 60 per cent victory rate in the last two President's Cups (beating Justin Leonard in last year's singles)and reach the 1995 Wentworth final. Colin Montgomerie could meet the winner in the last eight if Monty can transfer his usual solid form to Carlsbad where he has very limited knowledge.

FOURTH QUARTER

The bottom end of the draw is dominated by two men, US Money List leader David Duval and the rival who could threaten Woods' title bid Ernie Els.

The big Easy has the temperament for a crisis and the power and skill to destroy opponents so it's little wonder that he won a hat-trick of World Matchplay titles at Wentworth.

If you add in a proud President's Cup record where he has lost only two matches out of 10 including an easy singles win over Phil Mickelson last time, he becomes an even more mouth-watering prospect.

Need more convincing? He won the Nissan Open from Woods, Love, Duval and most other top names last week and he made the top 10 in the Mercedes here last year.

Duval, probably the most respected player on the fairways anywhere in the world at the moment, was sixth here last year but has a limited and not too successful matchplay record (he didn't win a match in the 1996 President's Cup) but I bet he takes this more seriously.

They are scheduled to meet in the quarters and Darren Clarke could cross Duval in the last 16 if he passes the challenge of Andrew Magee and maybe Brian Watts but the big Irishman will be at 100 per cent to get any further.

Els could face an old rival in the last 16 in the shape of Steve Stricker who has Mark Calcavecchia and Justin Leonard around him in the draw but has impressed in matchplay, hammering Robert Allenby in last year's President's Cup and famously leading Els a merry dance at Wentworth before the South African showed who was boss.

SUMMARY

Knitting together a complex formula of course form and matchplay strength makes this event unique for betting purposes and the winner could be a hardened match battler or a California speicialist so we'll take a maixture of both.

The two men for Sunday's final seem to be Woods and Els.

Woods treats this course like his own back-garden. In his last seven rounds here he has only once been over 70 and has thrown in a 64 and a 65 to boot.

If he maintains that sort of record, everyone else look out.

Woods may not be exceptional in matchplay conditions but Els really doesn't have a weakness.

His 90s record at Wentworth and in the President's Cup has proved he is the heir apparent to Seve Ballesteros and Gary Player as the man you least want to face when holes rather than strokes are at stake.

He can produce the big shot when it's needed - probably the vital factor in determining a great match player.

O'Meara can never be left out of calculations and this is his time of year as he boastst an impressive record in the winter sun.

He may be thwarted at the semi-final stage by Els as this week is a lot of golf for a 42-year-old but he was fresh as ever in the Wentworth final after another tough week so who knows?

A whole gaggle of players will be battling their way to meet Woods in the top half and they all have legitimate claims but perhaps at around 40-1 Mickelson is a good value choice.

Twice a winner at La Costa, if he can transfer that replicate that course form this week, most of his opponents will bite the dust.

He's not bad in matchplay either, beating Darren Clarke in the last Ryder Cup and his metronome-like putting must be enough to dishearten even the best golfers.