MATCH NOTES

CARLSBAD, Calif. — Scratch Darren Clarke off the list of those who are intimidated by the prospect of playing Tiger Woods.

“I’ve been joking with him all week that I’m 1-0 playing him in match play, because Lee Westwood and I beat he and David Duval at the Ryder Cup,” said Clarke, who plays Woods in today’s 36-hole final of the Andersen Consulting World Match Play Championship at LaCosta. “It will be more looking forward to it as opposed to intimidation.”

Clarke acknowledged that Woods “is the world’s No. 1. He’s the best player in the world, that’s pretty obvious to everybody. But we get on pretty well with each other. We sort of go at each other all the time.”

Butch Harmon will have a dilemma as he watches today’s Woods-Clarke final. Both are clients of his.

Harmon, who’s been Woods’ swing coach for about seven years, has been working with Clarke for a little more than a year. Clarke said Harmon will often watch his European Tour events on the Golf Channel and call him with critiques.

“For a teacher to have two of his students in an event such as this is an incredible feeling,” Harmon said. “Darren is playing better than ever. If I could just get him to lose 20 pounds … “

Some European Tour followers have questioned the commitment of Clarke, who’s never won in the U.S., because he loves his fast cars and his pints of Guinness. Some critics say that he won’t go to bed any earlier than usual last night and that his “right arm is stronger than” his left from drinking pints.

Clarke, too, joked that he has a gym in his home “collecting dust.”

“Darren Clarke is going to be a great player and this will motivate him more than anything,” Harmon said.

Asked where he thinks Harmon will stand between Woods and Clarke on the practice range this morning before the match, Woods said, “It will be interesting to see.”

David Duval said he committed on Friday night to play Doral this week instead of going snowboarding for a couple of weeks.

“I just felt like playing as much as anything. I’m real close to putting it all together,” Duval said. “You are going to think I’m crazy, but I really want to play.”

Davis Love III and David Duval will play each other in an 18-hole consolation match today to determine third and fourth place.

Love went 55 holes without carding a single bogey. The streak, which began after he bogeyed No. 14 in Wednesday’s first round, ended when he bogeyed No. 5 against Woods yesterday.

Winner of today’s Woods-Clarke match wins $1 million; the runner-up gets $500,000.