MIAMI, March 3 (UPI) -- Phil Mickelson, winner of the PGA Tour's West Coast swing, heads the field in the Ford Championship beginning Thursday at Miami's Doral Resort.
Mickelson (No.8), Retief Goosen (No. 7) and Kenny Perry (No. 9) are the only world top 10 players entered in the tournament at Doral's Blue Monster course. Other contenders include No. 12 David Toms, Nick Price, Justin Leonard and defending champion Scott Hoch.
Many of golf's big stars skipped the Doral event, which has a first prize of $900,000.
Tiger Woods and Ernie Els are playing in the Dubai Desert Classic this week. Others not at Doral include Vijay Singh, Mike Weir, Davis Love, John Daly and Jim Furyk, who lost in a playoff to Hoch last year.
Mickelson is off to one of the best starts of his career. He won the Bob Hope Classic and has finished no lower than seventh in any other event this season. A victory at Doral would be the 23rd of his career.
