Lowry's Luck Spells Accenture

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Shane Lowry looks all set to face world No 1 Rory McIlroy in the opening round of next week's WGC Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona thanks to some help from American duo Phil Mickelson and Patrick Reed.

Mickelson, the world No 10, said last week that he would not be playing in the tournament, meaning the world No 65 would replace him in the event.

Leaving Lowry the lucky recipient of Leftie's absence with some needed work by Reed to stay ahead of Fredrik Jacobson in the World Ranking.

Jacobson looked likely to finish ahead of Lowry when he posted a closing 67 at Pebble Beach on Sunday to slip into seventh spot.

This would have been good enough for the Swede to qualify for the World Golf Championship event at Dove Mountain, had it not been for Reed holing a 12-foot birdie putt on the final green in California to join Jacobson in a tie for seventh.

This reduced the number of world ranking points he gained from the event, allowing Lowry to sneak ahead of him by just 0.0002 of a point.

Jacobson will now be the first alternate for the tournament and, if no other players withdraw between now and Friday, Lowry will earn a date next Wednesday against McIlroy.

McIlroy was beaten in last year's final by Hunter Mahan who has slipped to No 26 in the world.

The biggest jump of last week was made by Richard Sterne whose victory in Johannesburg moved him from 94th to 55th in the ranking list.

Players have until Friday to commit to play in the $8.75m tournament.

Tiger Woods will be the No 2 seed behind McIlroy with 2011 match play champion Luke Donald the current world No 3.

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McIlroy and Woods in Treble

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Tiger Woods has confirmed his entry for the Honda Classic in Florida later this month, setting up a three-event stretch playing against Rory McIlroy.

Woods will now appear in the same field as McIlroy in three straight tournaments, starting with next week's WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona.

The world's top two players will then do battle at PGA National, where McIlroy held off a dramatic final-day charge from Woods to clinch the title last season.

Woods closed with a stunning 62, but McIlroy held his nerve to claim the first of his five victories last year by a two-shot margin.

The pair will also go head-to-head the following week in the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral in Miami, where an Achilles injury forced Woods to withdraw during the final round last season.

"I'm excited to be playing in the Honda Classic again," Woods said. "I like the golf course and I came pretty close last year."

"It's part of a busy stretch for me, and I want to continue playing well."

Woods sauntered to his 75th PGA Tour title at the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego a fortnight ago, while McIlroy has not played since he and Woods both missed the cut at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship last month.

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Higgins Opens Year in Africa

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David Higgins made the cut comfortably at the Africa Open with rounds of 70 and 68 to finish in share of tenth place on Friday night on 9 under, in his first tournament of the season since regaining his full European Tour card last December at PGA Catalunya.

However fellow Irish men Damien McGrane and Gareth Maybin missed the weekend 

But it was South Africans Darren Fichardt and Jaco Van Zyl who took over at the top of the Africa Open leaderboard midway through a fascinating third round.

With low scoring the order of the day, Adilson Da Silva saw his three shot overnight advantage disappear as the Brazilian covered the first eight holes in one over par.

That barely told the story, however. After two opening pars the 41 year old hit a splendid second to eight feet at the long third and holed the eagle putt to extend his lead to four shots.

Four straight pars followed, but a string of problems on the eighth cost the Sunshine Tour regular the lead.

Da Silva drove into a bunker, needed two shots to get out, duffed his fourth left into more sand at the side of the green then two-putted for a triple bogey seven.

At 13 under he was one behind Fichardt and playing partner Van Zyl.

Saint Omer Open winner Fichardt matched Da Silva’s eagle at the third and had four birdies in his first eight holes, while Van Zyl picked up three shots over the opening stretch.

Argentine Emiliano Grillo held the clubhouse lead on 11 under after a 64, and he was level in fourth place with England’s John Parry, France’s Gregory Bourdy and South African Oliver Bekker.

Things not get much better for Da Silva at the ninth – he missed the fairway with his tee shot, came up short of the green with his approach and failed to get up and down - turning in 39 as a result.

Fichardt bogeyed the same hole, leaving Van Zyl one ahead at the turn.