Jones enjoying his Woods moment of fame

Unassuming Australian tour pro Brendan Jones has never officially met Tiger Woods,
although there has been one incident of body contact.
"It was at the Johnnie Walker Classic in Thailand many years ago and we came through
the locker room door at the same time and literally bumped into each other,"
recalled Jones on Monday.
"Now I'm looking forward to meeting him properly."
That meeting is set for Wednesday (0200 Thursday AEDT), with the whole golf world
watching.
That's when Jones goes head-to-head with Woods as the game's finest player makes his
eagerly-awaited return from a left knee reconstruction in the first round of the
World Golf Championships Accenture Match Play Championship.
Jones, the bottom seed and last man into the elite 64-man field, has not played in
more than two months, since the Australian Open in December.
But he is thoroughly enjoying his proverbial 15 minutes of fame, fully aware every
shot of Wednesday's match will be beamed around the globe.
"When Tiger (last week) said he was going to play, I was overjoyed - really very,
very excited to have that opportunity for one of the most anticipated comebacks in
any sport," said Jones, 34 next week.
"To have a front row seat, it's a great honour. I've come a long way and if I get
beat by anybody, I would like to get beat by Tiger."
If it sounds as though the New South Welshman is waving the white flag, he would
point out he's just being realistic.
Jones's world ranking has slipped during his break and he was thankful simply to
scrape into the $A13.23 million event.
"I'm excited, nervous (but) it's the chance of a lifetime really," he said. "I would
probably put the house on Tiger but I didn't fly all this way to try to lose.
"I'm here to try to beat him. Some funny things happen in sport and I'm up against
it, but I'm hoping I'll put in a good effort."
"I have got nothing to lose. I can just go out, be a lot more aggressive than what I
normally would be."
Jones, who has won eight times on the Japan Tour and finished seventh on the money
list there last year, will not have jet lag as an excuse.
He arrived in California last Friday, where he visited the Callaway test centre and
tried out a new set of irons which he will use against Woods.
Jones will have to putt well to have any chance of winning. Alas, putting has long
been the weak link in an otherwise rock solid game.
On the positive side, neither player is familiar with the greens because the
tournament has switched to a new course at Dove Mountain in Arizona after being
played across the road the previous two years.
The odds are Jones will make an early exit, but at least he will one day have a good
story to tell his young son about the day he battled the greatest player of all-time
with the world watching.
And if he wins?
"It would mean everything," Jones said. "I think if I have the round of my life, I'm
going to win."
He's well aware Australians have a history of beating Woods in this event, hoping to
follow in the footsteps of Peter O'Malley (2002) and Nick O'Hern (2005 and 2007).
"I'm an Australian, so I've got some sort of chance," he joked.
He also had the light-hearted fallback plan recommended by friends in Australia.
"Pretty much everybody has said, 'If things don't go your way, just take out his
knee,"' Jones said. "I hope it doesn't get to that."
Australians' first round match ups:-
Rod Pampling v Camilo Villegas (COL)
Mathew Goggin v Kenny Perry (USA)
Aaron Baddeley v Paul Casey (ENG)
Geoff Ogilvy v Kevin Sutherland (USA)
Stuart Appleby v Martin Kaymer (GER
Adam Scott v Sean O'Hair (USA)
Robert Allenby v Ross Fisher (ENG)
Brendan Jones v Tiger Woods (USA)