Date: February 12, 2008
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Aussies face off in match play

Australians Geoff Ogilvy and Robert Allenby are set to lock horns in the opening round of the Accenture World Match Play Championship in Arizona next week. American Brett Wetterich and South African Ernie Els are the only two from the world&aposs top 64 that will not be competing at this stage. Barring any further withdrawals from the tournament, the two Aussies will go head-to-head after the provisional draw was released on Sunday. The two players are no strangers to the World Match Play Championship event. Ogilvy, who is the No.14 seed this year, has made the last two finals, beating Davis Love III in 2006 and losing to Henrik Stenson last year. Meanwhile, Stuart Appleby (seed No.51) is the only player to have competed in each of the nine tournaments since its inception in 1999. The road to the pointy end of proceedings for Lee Westwood, Paul Casey and Bradley Dredge will be a treacherous one with all three finding themselves in the same quarter as two-time winner and world No.1 Tiger Woods. Woods will take on American Anthony Kim in his first-up clash at the tournament. Meanwhile, second seed Phil Mickelson may be a tad apprehensive on the eve of his first-round match with J.B. Holmes after losing to him in a play-off in Phoenix last week. Aaron Baddeley takes on 1997 British Open winner Justin Leonard, Brendan Jones meets rising English star Justin Rose and Rod Pampling faces Korean KJ Choi. The winner of the event will pocket $US1.35 million ($A1.5 million) and an $US8 million ($A8.9 million) prize purse is on offer. The draw will be finalised on Monday. Provisional draw: (No.1 seed) Tiger Woods v (64) Anthony Kim, (32) Arron Oberholser v (33) Tim Clark, (16) Aaron Baddeley v (49) Justin Leonard, (17) Lee Westwood v (48) David Toms, (8) KJ Choi v (57) Rod Pampling, (25) Scott Verplank v (40) Soren Hansen, (9) Vijay Singh v (56) Bradley Dredge, (24) Paul Casey v (41) Richard Green (4) Adam Scott v (61) Daniel Chopra, (29) Richard Sterne v (36) Woody Austin, (13) Angel Cabrera v (52) John Senden, (20) Martin Kaymer v (45) Nick Dougherty, (5) Jim Furyk v (60) Jonathan Byrd, (28) Retief Goosen v (37) Charles Howell, (12) Henrik Stenson v (53) Jerry Kelly, (21) Stewart Cink v (44) Shingo Katayama (2) Phil Mickelson v (63) JB Holmes, (31) Mike Weir v (34) Hunter Mahan, (15) Zach Johnson v (50) Anders Hansen, (18) Luke Donald v (47) Mark Calcavecchia, (7) Rory Sabbatini v (58) Colin Montgomerie, (26) Stephen Ames v (39) Robert Karlsson, (10) Padraig Harrington v (55) Camilo Villegas, (23) Ian Poulter v (42) Miguel Angel Jimenez (3) Steve Stricker v (62) Pat Perez, (30) Stuart Appleby v (35) Andres Romero, (14) Geoff Ogilvy v (51) Robert Allenby, (19) Trevor Immelman v (46) Brandt Snedeker, (6) Justin Rose v (59) Brendan Jones, (27) Toru Taniguchi v (38) Nick O&aposHern, (11) Sergio Garcia v (54) Peter Hanson, (22) Niclas Fasth v (43) Boo Weekley