Woods, Els Top Field at Riviera

Ernie Els will make his PGA Tour debut Thursday at the Nissan Open at Riviera Country Club, where Tiger Woods will try to break an unwanted streak.

Woods has begun the year with two victories -- in the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines and the European Tour’s Dubai Desert Classic. But it has been a different story at the Nissan Open.

This will be his ninth attempt to win the tournament, the only PGA Tour event he has played more than three times as a pro without a victory.

Els, after knee surgery last year, has gotten off to nearly as fast a start as Woods. He won the Dunhill Championship, was second at the South Africa Airways Open, tied for 13th at the Qatar Masters and then lost to Woods in a one-hole, sudden-death playoff at Dubai.

Five of the top 10-ranked players are in the 144-player field at Riviera, where prize money of $5.1 million is at stake. The winner’s share is $918,000.

Woods is ranked first, Els is fifth, Jim Furyk seventh, Chris DiMarco eighth and Adam Scott 10th.

Scott was last year’s winner in a rain-shortened, 36-hole unofficial tournament, defeating Chad Campbell in a one-hole playoff. Campbell, who won the Bob Hope Classic three weeks ago, will be at Riviera to try again.

There are 35 of the top 50 players competing at Riviera for the 80th edition of what began in 1926 as the Los Angeles Open.

The tournament has been played at 11 sites, but Riviera will be the host course for the 44th time.

Colin Montgomerie and David Howell, who had committed to play, decided to withdraw before the deadline. Montgomerie is ranked 12th and Howell 14th. Fred Couples and Mark Calcavecchia took their places. Calcavecchia, 45, won at Riviera in 1989. Couples, 46, is a two-time winner at Riviera, in 1990 and 1992, and had to fly from Perth, Australia, where he played in last week’s Johnnie Walker Classic.

Former Nissan Open champions in the field include Scott, Els, Couples, Calcavecchia, Mike Weir, Len Mattiace, Robert Allenby, Kirk Triplett, Billy Mayfair and Corey Pavin.

Duffy Waldorf, Henrik Stenson, Lee Westwood, Bill Haas, Daisuke Maruyama, Angel Cabrera, Paul McGinley and Briny Baird received sponsor’s exemptions.

There are 43 of the top 65 ranked players in the field at Riviera, leading up to next week’s $7.5-million Accenture Match Play Championship. Sixth-ranked Sergio Garcia isn’t expected to play the event at La Costa, which would mean that 65th-ranked Graeme McDowell moves into the limited-field tournament.

New rankings that come out Monday could change the list, but if nothing is altered, McDowell would be matched against Woods in the first round at La Costa.