PONTE VEDRA, Fla., Oct. 5 (UPI) -- Phil Mickelson and David Toms, who made up the United States' best team last week at the Ryder Cup, on Saturday were named the top seed for the World Golf Championships-EMC World Cup in December.
Second and sixth in the world, respectively, Mickelson and Toms will represent the United States as the No. 1 seed. They went 2-1-1 as a team at the Ryder Cup, which the United States lost to Europe.
The seedings are based on the World Golf Rankings. Since world No. 1 Tiger Woods decided to skip the event, Mickelson and the next highest-ranked American qualified to represent the U.S.
South Africans Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, the defending champions who are third and fourth in the world, respectively, will not compete in the event, which will be played in mid-December at Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
Fifth-ranked Sergio Garcia of Spain also elected to skip the team tournament, the last in the four-event WGC series.
The second seed will be Fiji's Vijay Singh and Dinesh Chand. Their seeding is based on the play of Singh, a two-time major champion who is ranked eighth in the world.
Ireland's Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley, New Zealand's Michael Campbell and Craig Perks, and Argentina's Angel Cabrera and Eduardo Romero round out the top-five teams.
Also represented are Japan, Canada, Sweden, England, Australia, Scotland, Korea, Denmark, France, South Africa, Wales, Trinidad & Tobago, Germany and Mexico.
The highest-ranked available players representing 18 countries automatically qualified and are joined in the field by a duo from the host country. The remaining five teams will be determined next week at tournaments in Malaysia and Mexico.
