Woods hugs Clarke after his Ryder Cup singles win

Woods sought out his old friend Clarke, whose wife died in August, at the emotional climax to events in Ireland and paid tribute to him on Monday.

All of Ian Woosnam's winning team except Paul McGinley are in the field at The Grove for the lucrative event.

They are joined by 10 of the US line-up beaten 18�-9� at the K Club.

The only members of Tom Lehman's team not playing in Hertfordshire are Vaughan Taylor who, like McGinley, failed to qualify, and Phil Mickelson.

World number two Mickelson had decided not to travel to the UK even before his miserable half point from five games in Ireland.

Lehman will, however, be in action as the World Golf Championship series visits Britain for the first time since it was launched in 1999.

It was a performance that was out of this world Thomas Bjorn praises Europe's Ryder Cup team

Woods is the defending champion, having beaten John Daly in a play-off in San Francisco last year.

Colin Montgomerie, Sergio Garcia and Henrik Stenson finished two shots back in third place.

Woods is trying not only to win the title again, but also to achieve a sixth successive strokeplay victory - a run that started at the Open in July.

But he was knocked out in the World Match Play first round at Wentworth before failing to significantly improve his poor Ryder Cup record in Ireland.

Also in the 63-strong field at The Grove is Thomas Bjorn, who reacted angrily after being left out of the European team.

The Dane, who was fined around �10,000 for his outburst against Woosnam, admitted the team's performance had been "magnificent".

"It was a performance that was out of this world and for any European-born player that's just brilliant to watch," he said.

"The whole thing gelled and those 12 guys played for the whole tour."

American Express World Championship tee times:
GB and Ireland unless stated

1st tee Thursday; 10th tee Friday:
1130 & 1236 KJ Choi (Kor) P Broadhurst, L Oosthuizen (SA)
1141 & 1247 J Bickerton, M Campbell (NZ) D Wilson
1152 & 1258 J Edfors (Swe) N O'Hern (Aus) B Bryant (US)
1203 & 1309 G Bourdy (Fra) T Hiratsuka (Jpn) S Cink (US)
1214 & 1320 S Appleby (Aus) D Toms (US) JM Olazabal (Spa)
1225 & 1130 P Harrington (Ire) R Allenby (Aus) JJ Henry (US)
1236 & 1141 J Furyk (US) T Immelman (SA) R Karlsson (Swe)
1247 & 1152 L Westwood, R Sabbatini (SA) T Pernice (US)
1258 & 1203 D Clarke, T Woods (US) R Pampling (Aus)
1309 & 1214 C Campbell (US) T Jaidee (Tha) P Casey
1320 & 1225 A Wall, B Crane (US) S Ames (Can)

10th tee Thursday; 1st tee Friday
1141 & 1236 D Howell, A Oberholser (US) T Wiratchant (Tha)
1152 &1247 T Clark (SA) S Garcia (Spa) S Verplank (US)
1203 & 1258 C DiMarco (US) C Montgomerie, C Parry (Aus)
1214 & 1309 L Donald B Wetterich (US) A Scott (Aus)
1225 & 1320 T Herron (US) V Singh (Fij) C Schwartzel (SA)
1236 & 1141 L Glover (US) A Cabrera (Arg) H Stenson (Swe)
1247 & 1152 C Pettersson (Swe) B Quigley (US) J Randhawa (Ind)
1258 & 1203 S O'Hair (US) R Goosen (SA) T Bjorn (Den)
1309 & 1214 E Els (SA) I Poulter T Lehman (US)
1320 & 1225 T Taniguchi (Jpn) Z Johnson (US) S Dyson