It May Not Be the Full Monty

Colin Montgomerie has been bothered by an injury to the muscles in his lower back since December, but it must be worth it for him to show up at La Costa this week for the Accenture Match Play Championship.

How do we know this? Even first-round losers get $27,500 out of the $5.5-million purse that will be divided among 64 players.

Only the top players in the world rankings are invited to the party, which begins Wednesday at La Costa Resort and Spa. And for players such as Montgomerie, who lives in England, and Ernie Els and Retief Goosen from South Africa, Padraig Harrington from Ireland and Michael Campbell from New Zealand, well, if it seems like a long way to travel for the chance to play one match and go home, that’s the way it goes.

The rules are simple: You lose, you’re gone. After the opening day, the field will be cut by half.

Tiger Woods, the top-ranked player, is back after resting last week instead of playing the Nissan Open. Woods’ first-round opponent is Peter O’Malley of Australia.

Other key first-round matchups: Jose Maria Olazabal-Justin Leonard, Montgomerie-Scott McCarron, Sergio Garcia-Lee Janzen, Paul Azinger-Jesper Parnevik, Tom Lehman-Hal Sutton and Rocco Mediate-John Daly.

Woods would play the winner of the Nick Price-Angel Cabrera match in the second round. If Garcia wins, he would play Charles Howell III in the second round, provided Howell can defeat Stewart Cink.

Second-ranked Phil Mickelson, who missed his last two cuts at Pebble Beach and Torrey Pines, plays John Cook in the first round. David Duval, who is third-ranked, plays Kevin Sutherland. Duval withdrew from the Nissan Open after playing three holes Sunday because of flu, but he was on the practice tee Monday afternoon at La Costa.

There will be a 36-hole final Sunday with the winner making $1 million and the runner-up $550,000.