February 18-21 , 1999 Defending Champion: Billy Mayfair Purse: $2.8 million Host course: Riviera Country Club Where: Pacific Palisades, Calafornia

Lehman pulls out of Nissan

Game on for Woods and Duval

Billy Mayfair back to defend title

Who is favourite for the Nissan Open

The Nissan Open returns to its traditional home at the Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles after last year's move down the road to Valencia.

This will be the 35th time the competition is held at the southern California setting in the 73-year history of the event.

Created in the 1920s by one of slightly less heralded architects from the magical decade of golf course design, George C. Thomas, the Riviera is anything but traditional in nature.

Indeed, the strategic problems posed by 18 challenging holes ensured that nobody managed to break par on the course within the first six months of its opening.

Nick Faldo managed 12-under to win the 1997 event on this course, but with one of the par threes over 230 yards in length, another containing a bunker in the middle of the green plus a difficult 447-yard par four to finish, we can expect one or two of the field to find the going tough.

Faldo sits this one out, but last year's winner Billy Mayfair will look to become the sixth player in the tournament's history to successfully defend his title, Arnold Palmer being the last player to perform that feat in 1967.

LEADING CONTENDERS

Tiger Woods: If there was ever any question as to whether Woods deserved his ranking as world number one then the answer came at the Buick Invitational last weekend when the 23-year-old ended a nine-month win-less streak. And if Tiger continues to bite like he did in San Diego then he's undoubtedly going to be the one to beat again. Second at last year's event, in a city where celebrities are ten to the dozen Woods could prove to be the brightest star this week.

David Duval: Hardly surprisingly, Duval joins Woods at the top of the betting as he goes for his third US Tour title of the year, following triumphs at the Chrysler Classic and Mercedes Championships. Duval's other starts this season have brought him two top 20 finishes and it would be a major surprise if the man who heads the US Money List didn't figure on the upper end of the leaderboard come Sunday.

Justin Leonard: Leonard didn't compete at the Buick, but a second place at the Phoenix Open, tied fourth at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and tied fifth in the Mercedes in his three outings in 1999 suggest the Texan will again be there or thereabouts.

Ernie Els: The Big Easy makes his first appearance on the PGA Tour after a start to the season which puts him in second spot on the European Order of Merit. Isn't as familiar with the surroundings as some of his rivals, but a tied third on this course in the 1995 US PGA after he held a three-shot lead going into the final day hardly rules him out of the running!

Fred Couples: A missed cut in the Chrysler Classic blots an otherwise impressive copy-book for the 1991 and '92 PGA Tour Player of the Year. Now settled in his personal life after a troubled 1997, Couples showed enough promise last year - winning the Bob Hope Classic and finishing tied second at the US Masters - to suggest that he can be a regular tournament champion again.

Nick Price: Short on tournament practice this year and with no particular course form to back him up, it would still be foolish to write off the chances of Zimbabwean. A world class player with 16 Tour titles under his belt, he has to be respected.

Craig Stadler: The Walrus will have this one circled in his diary as 1996's competition provided the last success for one of the game's great characters. A lover of the Riviera course and enjoying a good spell of form on the Tour, the 1982 Masters champion could well be one to watch. Even without the moustache.

Scott Hoch: Still remembered for a missed `gimme' on the first hole of a play-off with Nick Faldo, costing him the US Masters in 1989, Hoch has improved with every event this season. Finished half-way down the field at the Chrysler, tied 22nd a week later in Arizona and just outside the top ten at Torrey Pines last week. Third here in 1997 and tied sixth in last year's event, he's not without a shout.

BEST OF THE REST

Defending champion Billy Mayfair's best finish this year came in the season opener in Hawaii where only Duval posted a better four-round score. Had respectable finishes on his previous visits to the course, but it would be asking a lot for him to make lightning strike twice. Omar Uresti had his best performance ever last week, tying for fourth place and at long odds could offer some hope, given two previous top ten finishes at the Country Club. The Pebble Beach Pro-Am a fortnight ago gave Payne Stewart his first win since 1995 - that followed a 1998 which provided his second-best earnings year ever. With a couple of top-20s at the end of January, expect golf's fashion guru to put up a good show in LA.

SUMMARY

Tiger Woods' imperious form over the last half of the Tour's most recent event makes it nigh on impossible to over-look the Californian on his home turf.

Last week he birdied the final two holes on the second round to squeeze through to the weekend's play, and then proceeded to card ten-under and seven-under for the following 36 holes to win the Buick invitational by two shots.

With that victory behind him, Eldrick T's confidence will be sky-high and a price of 15-2, while short, is still worth taking.

The major threat obviously comes from David Duval, who has made his intentions for 1999 plain with wins in Palm Springs and Hawaii.

Those victories were followed by two more top-20 finishes in decent company and it is unlikely that Jacksonville's favourite son will have to wait too much longer for his next success.

Picking the better option out of the pair is like Jeremy Clarkson trying to choose between a Porsche and Ferrari, but Woods' sparkling form just about gives him the edge.

No doubt as to where the best value lies, though.

The words "Course Specialist" written in large flashing lights should accompany Craig Stadler's name on Thursday's tee-off times board.

The Walrus failed to make the cut in 1998's Nissan Open, but a glance at his performances when the event has been held at its usual venue tells its own story.

Tied second in 1997, first a year earlier, tied third in 1995 and tied eighth in '94 - and, for good measure, a tied eighth at the US PGA when it came here in '95 - Stadler's recent record at the Riviera is second to none.

Moreover, the big man enters the competition on the back of an impressive third at the AT&T Pro-Am and a decent show when tied 28th at the Buick invitational last time out.

All of which makes a price of 33-1 as baffling as it is welcoming.

Our third choice is Fred Couples, who should be at home in what is forecast to be bright Los Angeles surroundings this week.

Tenth in an always-competitive field at Hawaii's Mercedes Championships and tied fourth behind Stewart, Frank Lickliter and Stadler in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Couples also has encouraging course form to go by, second here in '94, tied second two years later and tied ninth in 1997.

At 20-1 the 39-year-old should give us a good run for our money in the sunshine state.

Finally, Scott Hoch is not a name which would immediately spring to mind as having a big say these days, but Hoch the Choke has been as consistent as ever this season and posted a third here in '97.

Another one who fares better in sunny climes, he looks worth a small flutter at lengthy odds.