Patience wears thin at Match Play

A jeep churns up a mud-filled gully in Carlsbad on Tuesday

The first round of the WGC-Match Play in San Diego has been postponed until Thursday because of heavy rain.

The tournament had been set to start on Wednesday but the course is waterlogged after torrential rain.

World number one Vijay Singh said: "I'm kind of tired of playing this wet course. Every year there's a lake on (holes) nine and 18."

Australia's Robert Allenby added: "This is probably the worst course we play on tour. I hate it."

Allenby continued: "I've never seen it in good condition.

"You could move [the tournament] but I don't think that's going to happen, because I think the main sponsor likes it here."

This is the sixth year the tournament has been at La Costa, and the third straight year that weather has delayed play.

Els does not have a good record in the World Match Play

Last year there was no golf at all on Thursday.

Coming on top of last week's 36-hole rain-shortened Los Angeles tournament, the patience of the players is starting to wear thin.

But PGA tournament director Mark Russell said the weather outlook is for an improvement.

"If we play 32 matches on Thursday, 16 on Friday morning and eight more in the afternoon, we can get back on schedule.

"Fortunately, we do have the leeway here to do that."

The event is contracted to be played at La Costa again next year, but a move is possible in 2007.

Ernie Els is the only one of golf's top 64 players to miss the event, while there are 15 Europeans in the field.

First reserve Shingo Katayama comes in for the big South African and will play top seed Singh in the first round.

Woods dominant

Among the Europeans is 2000 winner Darren Clarke but Colin Montgomerie missed out.

Clarke plays fellow Ulsterman Graeme McDowell while the other all-European clash is Spain's Sergio Garcia against Germany's Alex Cejka.

Tiger Woods has dominated the event since it began six years ago, winning in 2003 and 2004 and finishing runner-up in 2000.

He will carry a 12-match unbeaten run into his first-round tie with Nick Price of Zimbabwe.

All matches are over 18 holes except the 36-hole final on Sunday. The winner takes home $1.3m (£685,000).

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Tee times for Thursday's first round at La Costa Resort and Spa, Carlsbad, California
(All times GMT, seedings in brackets):

1525 (9) Davis Love (US) v (56) Chris Riley (US)
1534 (24) Lee Westwood (GB) v (41) Steve Flesch (US)
1543 (12) Darren Clarke (GB) v (53) Graeme McDowell (GB)
1552 (21) Todd Hamilton (US) v (44) Robert Allenby (Aus)
1601(10) Stuart Appleby (Aus) v (55) Joakim Haeggman (Swe)
1610 (23) Jim Furyk (US) v (42) Ian Poulter (GB)
1619 (11) Adam Scott (Aus) v (54) Trevor Immelman (SA)
1628 (22) Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) v (43) David Howell (GB)
1637(8) Stewart Cink (US) v (57) Fred Funk (US)
1646 (25) KJ Choi (S Kor) v (40) Tom Lehman (US)
1655 (5) Mike Weir (Can) v (60) Kirk Triplett (US)
1704 (28) Tim Clark (SA) v (37) Craig Parry (Aus)
1713 (7) Padraig Harrington (Ire) v (58) Jeff Maggert (US)
1722 (26) Thomas Bjorn (Den) v (39) Rory Sabbatini (SA)
1731 (6) Sergio Garcia (Spa) v (59) Alex Cejka (Ger)
1740 (27) Scott Verplank (US) v (38) Jerry Kelly (US)
1749 (16) Chris DiMarco (US) v (49) Tim Herron (US)
1758 (17) Justin Leonard (US) v (48) John Daly (US)
1807 (13) Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) v (52) Rod Pampling (Aus)
1816 (20) Chad Campbell (US) v (45) Fredrik Jacobson (Swe)
1825 (15) Kenny Perry (US) v (50) Thomas Levet (Fra)
1834 (18) Luke Donald (GB) v (47) Zach Johnson (US)
1843(14) David Toms (US) v (51) Richard Green (Aus)
1852 (19) Stephen Ames (Can) v (46) Mark Hensby (Aus)
1901 (1) Vijay Singh (Fij) v (64) Shingo Katayama (Jpn)
1910 (32) Jonathan Kaye (US) v (33) Jay Haas (US)
1919 (4) Retief Goosen (SA) v (61) Stephen Leaney (US)
1928 (29) Peter Lonard (Aus) v (36) Fred Couples (US)
1937 (2) Tiger Woods (US) v (63) Nick Price (Zim)
1946 (31) Nick O'Hern (Aus) v (34) Charles Howell (US)
1955 (3) Phil Mickelson (US) v (62) Loren Roberts (US)
2004 (30) Angel Cabrera (Arg) v (35) Paul Casey (GB)