Sports City Line

Last year’s European No 1 Robert Karlsson will miss next week’s Open Championship because of his left eye problem.

The 39-year-old Ryder Cup star, joint seventh at Royal Birkdale last summer, has not played since the European Open at the end of May.

The injury has been affecting his balance as well as his vision. It was originally thought to be an inner ear infection, but then Karlsson was discovered to have fluid behind his retina.

He has been told it could take four to six months to clear up, but having started to suffer early this year the Swede had been hopeful he might recover in time for The Open at Turnberry.

See our Golf page for details.

Tiger Woods arrived at Augusta on Monday with fellow American Steve Stricker saying the four-time Masters champion will be unstoppable if he is on form. The world number one launches his bid for a fifth green jacket and a 14th major title on Thursday having triumphed in nine of his last 11 starts.

“Obviously he’s the favourite coming in here,” world number four Stricker told reporters after practice on Monday.

“I mean, the course, and his play, the way he’s played this year, there’s no question he’s the odds-on favourite to win here.”

Woods has been virtually unstoppable this year, winning his first four tournaments before finishing fifth at last month’s WGC-CA Championship in Miami.

“How many has he won here already, four? That shows you something right there. You realise that he’s the guy to beat,” the PGA Tour’s 2006 and 2007 comeback player of the year added.

“If he plays well, no one is going to beat him. I’ve seen him enough lately that if he’s on his game, he’s impossible to beat.”

“He can’t have any slip-ups. It’s just tough to win a golf tournament and there’s so many good players that he’s going to have to play well to do it.”

With talk of a calendar grand slam abounding, Stricker said that a lot of intangibles will have to go right if Woods is to become the first to achieve golf’s greatest accomplishment.

“There’s a lot of factors that go into winning a golf tournament,” said Striker. “He (Woods) knows that, too?

“Especially going over to the British Open; you could get on the wrong side of a draw over there and be 10 shots back in a hurry.

“You’ve got to have some good breaks, and you have to play well, and hopefully, someone else doesn’t just tear it up that week, too, which is always a possibility.”

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Here is the list of PGA Masters Invitees Robert Allenby (Australia)(14,16,18)
Stephen Ames (Canada)(5,17,18)
Stuart Appleby (Australia)(10,17,18)
Woody Austin (13,14,15,16,17,18)
Aaron Baddeley (Australia)(14,16,17,18)
# Brian Bateman (15)
Jonathan Byrd (15,16)
Angel Cabrera (Argentina)(2,17,18)
Mark Calcavecchia (14,16,17,18)
Michael Campbell (New Zealand)(2)
Paul Casey (England)(10,17,18)
K. J. Choi (Korea)(14,15,16,17,18)
# Daniel Chopra (15)
Stewart Cink (14,16,17,18)
Tim Clark (South Africa)(10,14,16,17,18)
Fred Couples (1)
Ben Crenshaw (1)
Ben Curtis (3)
Luke Donald (England)(10,14,17,18)
# Nick Dougherty (England)(11,17)
Ernie Els (South Africa)(12,13,14,15,16,17,18)
Niclas Fasth (Sweden)(11,17,18)
Steve Flesch (14)
Raymond Floyd (1)
Jim Furyk (2,10,11,14,15,16,17,18)
Sergio Garcia (Spain)(12,14,16,17,18)
Retief Goosen (South Africa)(2,10,17,18)
# Richard Green (Australia)(12,17)
Todd Hamilton (3)
# Anders Hansen (Denmark)(17)
# Soren Hansen (Denmark)(17,18)
Padraig Harrington (Ireland)(3,10,14,16,17,18)
# J. B. Holmes (15)
Charles Howell III (14,16,17,18)
Trevor Immelman (South Africa)(17,18)
Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain)(17,18)
Zach Johnson (1,14,15,16,17,18)
Robert Karlsson (Sweden)(17,18)
Shingo Katayama (Japan)(17)
# Martin Kaymer (Germany)(18)
Jerry Kelly (10,11)
* Trip Kuehne (9)
Bernhard Langer (Germany)(1)
Justin Leonard (18)
Peter Lonard (Australia)(18)
Steve Lowery (15)
Sandy Lyle (Scotland)(1)
Hunter Mahan (14,15,16,17,18)
# Prayad Marksaeng (Thailand)
Shaun Micheel (4)
Phil Mickelson (1,4,5,14,15,16,17,18)
Larry Mize (1)
Arron Oberholser (13,17,18)
Geoff Ogilvy (Australia)(2,14,16,15,17,18)
Sean O’Hair (15,18)
Nick O’Hern (Australia)(17,18)
Jose Maria Olazabal (Spain)(1)
Mark O’Meara (1)
Gary Player (South Africa)(1)
Ian Poulter (England)(10,17,18)
John Rollins (14,16)
# Andres Romero (Argentina)(12,15,17,18)
Justin Rose (England)(10,14,16,17,18)
Rory Sabbatini (South Africa)(10,14,15,16,17,18)
Adam Scott (Australia)(14,16,17,18)
# John Senden (Australia)(13,18)
Jeev Milkha Singh (India)
Vijay Singh (Fiji)(1,4,10,14,16,17,18)
# Heath Slocum (14,16)
Brandt Snedeker (14,15,16,17,18)
Craig Stadler (1)
Henrik Stenson (Sweden)(17,18)
# Richard Sterne (South Africa)(17,18)
Steve Stricker (14,15,16,17,18)
Toru Taniguchi (Japan)(17,18)
Vaughn Taylor (10)
#* Michael Thompson (6-B)
David Toms (10,11,17)
D.J. Trahan (15)
Scott Verplank (11,14,15,16,17,18)
Camilo Villegas (Colombia)(16)
# Nick Watney (15)
# Bubba Watson (11)
Tom Watson (1)
#* Drew Weaver (7)
# Boo Weekley (14,15,16,17,18)
Mike Weir (Canada)(1,17,18)
# Liang Wen-Chong (China)
Lee Westwood (England)(17,18)
Brett Wetterich (14,16,17)
Tiger Woods (1,3,4,10,11,14,15,16,17,18)
Ian Woosnam (Wales)(1)
Fuzzy Zoeller (1)

Past champions not playing: Tommy Aaron, Severiano Ballesteros, Jack Burke Jr., Billy Casper, Charles Coody, Nick Faldo, Doug Ford, Bob Goalby, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer.

#- Denotes first Masters
*- Denotes Amateur

Number after each name indicates the basis of qualification. The Masters Committee, at its discretion, also invites international players not otherwise qualified.

1. Masters Tournament Champions(Lifetime)
2. US Open Champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)
3. British Open Champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)
4. PGA Champions (Honorary, non-competing after 5 years)
5. Winners of The Players Championship (3 years)
6. Current US Amateur Champion (6-A) (Honorary, non-competing after 1 year) and the runner-up (6-B) to the current US Amateur Champion
7. Current British Amateur Champion (Honorary, non-competing after 1 year)
8. Current US Amateur Public Links Champion
9. Current US Mid-Amateur Champion
10. The first 16 players, including ties, in the 2007 Masters Tournament
11. The first 8 players, including ties, in the 2007 US Open Championship
12. The first 4 players, including ties, in the 2007 British Open Championship
13. The first 4 players, including ties, in the 2007 PGA Championship
14. The 30 leaders on the Final Official PGA Tour Money List for 2007
15. Winners of PGA Tour events that award a full-point allocation for the season-ending Tour Championship, from previous Masters to current Masters
16. Those qualifying for the season-ending 2007 Tour Championship
17. The 50 leaders on the Final Official World Golf Ranking for 2007
18. The 50 leaders on the Official World Golf Ranking published during the week prior to the 2008 Masters Tournament.