Campbell slams no-show by world’s top players

By Tony Jimenez

VIRGINIA WATER (Reuters) – U.S. Open champion Michael
Campbell says the absence of most of the world’s top players
from this week’s World Match Play Championship “is a slap in
the face to the sponsors.”

World number one Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh and Phil
Mickelson have chosen to miss the elite 16-man event at
Wentworth while six-times winner and world number four Ernie
Els is sidelined by a long-term knee injury.

“It’s a little bit disheartening that here we have the
biggest (first) prize in the (golf) world and half the guys
don’t turn up,” Campbell told a news conference on Wednesday.

New Zealander Campbell and his 15 title rivals are playing
this week for a first prize of one million pounds.

“Obviously they (sponsors HSBC) have the best players
available this week and for certain reasons they are not here.
To the public eye, it doesn’t look good, I don’t think,” added
Campbell.

“Here they are playing for a million pounds first prize and
several players turned it down because it doesn’t fit into the
schedule.

“I find that quite strange. If you think about it, though,
in America they play for $1 million every week, and a million
pounds is obviously a little bit more than one million dollars,
I think it’s about $1.6 million.

SCHEDULE ISSUE

“But it’s not the money issue now. It’s playing a schedule
that suits you so that you can perform well every single week.”

Fourth seed Campbell, who starts his campaign with a
36-hole, first-round match against Australian Geoff Ogilvy on
Thursday, holds the World Match Play Championship in high
esteem.

“With the history of it and the past champions, it’s got to
be right up there, if not equal to the World Golf Championships
events that we play,” he said.

“It’s got more history behind it. The previous champions
are all of the greats in golf (Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Jack
Nicklaus, Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo and Greg Norman).

“I actually believe this is one of the fifth majors of the
world.”

World number five Retief Goosen, the highest-ranked player
in this week’s field, agreed the limited-field event was like a
fifth major.

“Yeah, definitely,” said the South African top seed. “You
know, this event is a big victory in our books, it’s been going
for so long (since 1964) and a lot of great players have won
it.

NO DESIRE

“It’s a shame that top players don’t have any desire to
come and play and win this event.

“You’re playing for so much prize money this week as well.
But that’s a question you’ll have to ask them.”

Twice U.S. Open champion Goosen, hunting his third
tournament victory in successive weeks, faces rank outsider
Kenneth Ferrie of Britain in the opening round.

The 36-year-old South African won last Sunday’s German
Masters after clinching the China Masters the week before.

World number 13 Angel Cabrera of Argentina, the second
highest-ranked player in this week’s field, takes on South
Africa’s Trevor Immelman.

In one of the most eagerly awaited first-round matches,
third seed Luke Donald takes on Germany’s Bernhard Langer, the
Briton’s non-playing captain when Europe beat the U.S in last
year’s Ryder Cup.

Another all-European clash features Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn,
who was beaten by Els in the 2003 final, against Ireland’s Paul
McGinley.

Britain’s Colin Montgomerie, champion in 1999, takes on
Australia’s Mark Hensby while South African Tim Clark faces
Hensby’s compatriot Steve Elkington, runner-up to Els in 1995.