The European top four players on the tour have all been kept apart in the draw for the Volvo World Match Play Championship in Spain this week making for an interesting competition.

1964 was the last time the event started with a round robin group stage and has always previously been played at Wentworth.

Decided by the world rankings, the current race to Dubai leader is Lee Westwood and he is seeded second against Colombian Camilo Villegas, fellow Englishman Ross Fisher and India’s Jeev Milkha Singh. The number one seed Paul Casey, who has been injured with a torn rib muscle and hasn’t played since August 6, faces South African Retief Goosen, with American Anthony Kim and Australian Scott Strange in his group.

Martin Kaymer from Germany and Rory McIlroy from Northern Ireland, who like Casey have the chance to knock Westwood off the number one spot if they can make it through their groups and into the semifinals, are the fifth and sixth seeds respectively.

Kaymer will take on Spain’s Sergio Garcia, England’s Oliver Wilson and Australian Robert Allenby, while McIlroy’s group is fronted by Swede Henrik Stenson. Argentina’s Masters champion Angel Cabrera and England’s Simon Dyson make up the rest of his group.

This gives McIlroy a great opportunity to repeat his Vivendi Trophy win last month over Stenson. The 20 year old won on the final green, taking four points out of five during the week as Britain and Ireland beat Continental Europe in Paris.

All of the group matches at the Finca Cortesin near Marbella will be played over 18 holes, while Saturday’s semi finals and the final on Sunday will be played over 36 holes. To ensure all three group games fit into two days the players in the first two groups play twice on Thursday and those in the last two groups play twice on Friday.

Of course Casey’s injury has not been tested in competition for 11 weeks while Kaymer and Singh are both battling foot problems. Peter Hanson from Sweden is on standby by if one of them doesn’t make it.

Draw (seeded positions in brackets):

Group A – (1) Paul Casey, (8) Retief Goosen, (9) Anthony Kim, (16) Scott Strange

Group B – (4) Sergio Garcia, (5) Martin Kaymer, (12) Robert Allenby, (13) Oliver Wilson

Group C – (3) Henrik Stenson, (6) Rory McIlroy, (11) Angel Cabrera, (14) Simon Dyson

Group D – (2) Lee Westwood, (7) Camilo Villegas, (10) Ross Fisher, (15) Jeev Milkha Singh