Tiger ruled out of £1m Match Play event

Tiger Woods today dealt a blow to the World Match Play Championship by confirming he won't be accepting his invitation to compete at Wentworth for a record first prize of £1million.

Woods would have been the star attraction at the knock-out tournament which, in it's 40th year, is offering the biggest winner's cheque in European and American golf.

Despite not winning at least one major title for the first summer since 1998, the American superstar qualified for the elite 12-man field by holding top place in the world rankings.

But the Match Play, to be staged over Wentworth's famous West Course on 16-19 October, collides head on with a special clinic for junior golfers hosted by the Tiger Woods Foundation at the Walt Disney resort in Florida. Tournament sponsors HSBC and promoters IMG, who also manage Woods's golf and business affairs, had hoped to negotiate a way out of the embarrassing date clash.

But before teeing off in the first round of the NEC Invitational World Golf Championship at the Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, Woods said: "I can't come. I have my Foundation clinic which is the biggest we have all year. We fly kids in from all over the country for that one."

He may not be the only notable absentee. Mike Weir, the Canadian left-hander who claimed his maiden major title at the Masters in April, topped a special ranking for 10 automatic qualifying places following the final counting event, Sunday's US PGA Championship.