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Adam Scott will seek revenge after being drawn to face fellow Australian Brendan Jones in the opening round at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship on Wednesday.
Jones beat Scott when they played together in the final round at the Taiheiyo Masters in Japan in November, sinking a monster eagle putt from the fringe at the final hole for a memorable victory.
That performance reminded Scott, if he needed reminding, of just how dangerous Jones can be on his day.
“Brendan was a much better player than me in our amateur days,” world No.5 Scott said today at Dove Mountain, site of the World Golf Championships (WGC) series event.
“He and Geoff (Ogilvy) dominated in the national squad. They won every amateur event.
“I know it’s going to be a tough match, although you could say that no matter who you drew.”
Jones is playing his first WGC event and only locked up a spot in the elite 64-man field with a strong final round at the Indian Masters little over a week ago, where he shrugged off a dose of “Delhi belly” to post an excellent final round.
His 60th seeding on world ranking meant he was always in for a daunting first round.
“I knew I was going to be playing one of the top five players in the world and Adam is the one I know the best out of all of them,” Jones said.
“I don’t think it’s going to be as daunting a task as playing Tiger or Phil or Ernie.
“Adam is world class but I’m going to feel more comfortable playing him than one of the other guys.
“I feel I’m hitting the ball really nicely. I know on my day I can do it.
“I asked my caddie Tom who we would play in the second round, and he said ‘Qantas’, meaning the Qantas flight home.
“He was making the point that we shouldn’t look past Wednesday.”
While Jones finished last year with two stellar victories in Japan, Scott made a great start to 2008 by winning the the Qatar Masters, where he shot a stunning final round 61.
Scott rates that as probably the second best round of his career, just behind the 62 he carded in the second round at last year’s Memorial tournament on the demanding Muirfield Village course in Ohio.
Scott and Jones will play the only all-Australian showdown in the first round, with the other eight players avoiding their compatriots.
There are some most interesting match-ups, perhaps none more so than Queenslander John Senden’s clash with Spaniard Sergio Garcia.
It will be a battle of contrasting personalities, Senden’s quiet, reserved demeanour against Garcia’s Latin heart-on-his-sleeve emotion.
Robert Allenby, who is on the verge of playing very well, takes on defending champion Henrik Stenson, while Geoff Ogilvy, last year’s runner-up, meets American Justin Leonard.
First round Australian matches (prefix denotes seeding):-
5-Adam Scott v 60-Brendan Jones
17-Aaron Baddeley v 48-Mark Calcavecchia (US)
52-Robert Allenby v 13-Henrik Stenson (Sweden)
53-John Senden v 12-Sergio Garcia (Spain)
31-Stuart Appleby v 34-Tim Clark (S Africa)
58-Rod Pampling v 7-Justin Rose (England)
39-Nick O’Hern v 26-Scott Verplank (US)
42-Richard Green v 23-Niclas Fasth (Sweden)
15-Geoff Ogilvy v 50-Justin Leonard (US)