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News Release

TUCSON, Ariz. -- With less than a month to go, the field for the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship is shaping up to be an international affair. If the qualification deadline were this week, nearly two thirds of the field would come from countries other than the United States as 41 players from 17 countries would qualify for the 64-player match-play event at The Gallery Golf Club at Dove Mountain in Tucson, Arizona, on February 19-25.

The top-64 available players from the Official World Golf Ranking released on Monday, February 12, 2007, will qualify for this year's event as the tournament moves to Arizona for the first time after being contested at La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California, for seven of the last eight years.

Under the current standings, England, with seven, would qualify the most players of any country other than the United States, led by Luke Donald, ranked No. 7 in the current Official World Golf Ranking. Donald had a career season in 2006 with his victory at The Honda Classic as well as a career-high 10 top-10 finishes and earnings of more than $3 million. Donald picked up where he left off with consecutive top-10 finishes at the Mercedes-Benz Championship (7) and the Sony Open in Hawaii (T2) to start the 2007 season, putting him 5th in the FedExCup standings at week's end. Donald's teammate on the victorious European Ryder Cup team in 2006, Paul Casey, would also currently qualify. Casey made an unforgettable hole-in-one during the Ryder Cup matches and went on to win 2006 European Tour Player of the Year honors. He also has started well in 2007 with his victory at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, his eighth European Tour title. Other players who would join Donald and Casey include David Howell (No. 15), Ian Poulter (No. 34), Justin Rose (No. 36), Lee Westwood (No. 51) and Anthony Wall (No. 63 ).

Both South Africa and Australia each have six players who place within the top 64 in the current Official World Golf Ranking. Defending Champion Geoff Ogilvy (No. 10) had a spectacular 2006 that included his victory in this tournament as well as his win at the U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club. Joining Ogilvy from Australia is No. 3-ranked, Adam Scott. Scott won the PGA TOUR's final tournament of 2006 THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola. He nearly won this season's first PGA TOUR event, finishing second to Fiji's Vijay Singh at the Mercedes-Benz Championship. Also from Australia are Nick O'Hern (No. 21), Stuart Appleby (No. 24), Rod Pampling (No. 30) and Robert Allenby (No. 35).

South Africa's list of players include Ernie Els (No. 5), Retief Goosen (No. 8), 2006 PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year Trevor Immelman (No. 12), Tim Clark (No. 32), Rory Sabbatini (No. 41) and Charl Schwartzel (No. 58).

Other countries that have players who currently rank in the top 64 include Sweden (5), Spain (3), South Korea (2), Canada (2), Wales, Scotland, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Japan, Ireland, India, Fiji, Denmark and Argentina.

"The purpose of the World Golf Championships is to bring the greatest players from across the world together for exciting and top-level competition," said Michael Garten, Executive Director. "The thrill of watching the best the world has to offer in a match-play competition is something that fans will surely enjoy."

Players in each of the four brackets are seeded No. 1 through No. 16, with the top-ranked golfer playing the No. 16 seed, No. 2 pairing off against No. 15, No. 3 vs. No. 14, and so forth in the first round.