Woods, Singh, Weir Top Field for Nissan Open

The first 1-2 showdown was a washout at Torrey Pines, but maybe Tiger Woods-Vijay Singh II will prove to be better as a sequel at Riviera Country Club when the $4.8-million Nissan Open begins Thursday.

Woods and Singh, the top two ranked players in the world, lead a field that also includes defending champion Mike Weir and 11 of the top 20 players in the rankings. That number includes 10th-ranked David Toms, who hasn’t played this year after having wrist surgery at the end of last year.

Woods, who tied for fifth last year at Riviera, has never won the Nissan Open. Singh missed the cut at Torrey Pines.

Other notables in the top 20 are Darren Clarke, Jonathan Kaye, Nick Price, Chad Campbell, 2001 Nissan winner Robert Allenby, Fredrik Jacobson and Thomas Bjorn.

John Daly has entered, and so have British Open champion Ben Curtis and PGA Championship winner Shaun Micheel.

Olin Browne, Angel Cabrera, Per-Ulrik Johansson, Hirofumi Miyase, Kevin Na, Phillip Price, Eduardo Romero and Lee Westwood received sponsor’s exemptions.

First prize is $864,000, an increase of $54,000.

-- Thomas Bonk