Golf: Els favourite but Long gets second chance

BANGKOK - Michael Long heads a field of four New Zealanders contesting the lucrative Johnnie Walker Classic starting today.

Long will be the first player to tee off at 1.10pm (NZT) in the £1 million ($2.72 million) event being played on the same Alpine Country Club course where Tiger Woods won the 2001 title.

Long will be joined by compatriots Mahal Pearce, David Smail and Richard Lee.

South African Ernie Els will start favourite to retain his title. The world No 3 is competing for the first time since his successful defence of his Hawaiian Open title a fortnight ago.

Els rewrote Australasian, European and Asian Tour records in the Johnnie Walker Classic last year with his stunning 29-under-par winning tally on Perth's Lake Karrinyup course.

Long was runner-up to Els in a controversial manner in the tournament six years ago when he called a penalty on himself during the last round at the Hope Island course in Queensland.

Missing from the Bangkok event is New Zealand No 1 Michael Campbell, who is best man at a friend's wedding in Sydney this weekend.

But Campbell will start his 2004 European Tour season next week in Melbourne at the Heineken Classic, an event he won in 2000 and 2001.

He has also confirmed a first participation in the following week's ANZ Championship at Nelson Bay, where Britain's big-hitting Laura Davies will make her European men's tour debut.

Her entry, on a sponsor's invitation, follows the highly publicised appearances of world No 1 Annika Sorenstam and young American Michelle Wie on the US PGA Tour.

The ANZ Championship will become the first PGA Tour event in Australasia or Europe to include a woman in the field.

Davies has won almost 50 titles around the world, including the British and US Open Championships in 1987.

* In-form Wellingtonian Gareth Paddison is one of the first players confirmed for the A$1 million ($1.16 million) NZPGA Championship at Clearwater, Christchurch, from February 26 to 29.

The total field for the tournament, a USPGA-sanctioned event, will include 73 from the US, 73 from the Australasian tour and 10 invitees.

Paddison, who won the Victorian Open by five shots over the weekend, will be joined at the tournament by compatriots Eddie Lee, Smail and Steve Alker.

For Lee and Alker, the event at Clearwater should give them a home-ground advantage. Christchurch player Lee has played the Clearwater course many times, and Alker is Clearwater's touring professional.

- NZPA