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McIlroy, Woods steal spotlight

World No. 1 Rory McIlroy and three-time winner Tiger Woods top the list of favourites in the $8.75 million World Golf Championships Match Play Championship that begins on Wednesday.

Woods, a 14-time major champion chasing the record 18 majors won by Jack Nicklaus, comes off a practice round last weekend with US President Barack Obama and a victory last month at Torrey Pines on his 2013 US PGA debut.

McIlroy, who lost last year’s Match Play final to American Hunter Mahan, missed the cut at Dubai in his only prior start this year. McIlroy won the 2012 PGA Championship and the 2011 US Open.

Martin Kaymer, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy during Abu Dhabi Golf Championship. — KT File

The Northern Irishman opens against Irishman Shane Lowry in a Bobby Jones bracket that also has a first-round matchup between another Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell and Ireland’s Padraig Harrington, both past major winners. Woods tops the Gary Player bracket with an opener against US compatriot Charles Howell. Woods lost in the second round last year and has not gone past the second round since beating Stewart Cink in the 2008 final.

Mahan, the only American finalist in the past four years, starts at the opposite end of the same bracket against Italy’s Matteo Manassero.

The field of 64 is lacking two of the world’s top 64 players after 2012 US PGA playoff champion Brandt Snedeker withdrew with sore ribs and Phil Mickelson pulled out for a family vacation. Sweden’s Fredrik Jacobson, who opens against reigning British Open champion Ernie Els of South Africa in the Ben Hogan bracket, and Lowry were added to the field to replace Snedeker and Mickelson.

England’s Luke Donald, the top seed in the Sam Snead bracket, opens against Germany’s Marcel Siem. Last year, as the defending champion, Donald lost in the first round to Els. South Africa boasts a top seed in Louis Oosthuzien, who leads the Ben Hogan bracket and opens against Scotsman Richie Ramsay.