Rory McIlroy confirmed yesterday he will skip the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play for the first time after the field was officially set on Friday evening with 64 of the top 69 players in the Official World Golf Ranking committed.

The Co Down man has played it 12 times since his debut in Tucson in 2009, reaching the final in 2012 before winning at Harding Park in 2015, which was the first year of the round-robin format.

Since then, McIlroy has emerged from his group just once in three outings (2020 was cancelled), losing 2&1 to Tiger Woods in the last 16 in 2019.

Looking for fresh ways to get ready for the Masters, he will play the Valero Texas Open at TPC San Antonio as his warm-up for the Masters with a visit to Augusta National likey at some stage over the next 10 days.

The event returns to Austin Country Club from Wednesday with Séamus Power one of 11 debutants in the field, where he is joined by Shane Lowry, whose best finish came in the original straight knockout format in 2013 when he beat Mcllroy and Carl Pettersson before falling to Graeme McDowell in the third round.

The star-studded field includes each of the top-five ranked players in the world—Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland, Patrick Cantlay, and former Texas Longhorn Scottie Scheffler.

Other notables returning to Austin include 14-time PGA TOUR winner Justin Thomas, 12-time TOUR winner champion Jordan Spieth, 2017 Dell Technologies Match Play winner Dustin Johnson, and defending champion Billy Horschel.

The event annually boasts an international group of players and the 2022 tournament will be no exception, including representation from over 15 different countries across the globe.

The field is comprised of 50 PGA TOUR winners with a collective 227 wins to their credit. Eleven players will make their tournament debut including PGA TOUR winners Sam Burns, Tom Hoge, Lucas Herbert and Power.

Final seeds for the 64-player field will be determined based on the Official World Golf Ranking as of Monday, March 22.

WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play field list as of Friday, March 19 at 5:00 p.m. ET:

Rank Player Country
1 Jon Rahm (Spain)
2 Collin Morikawa (USA)
3 Viktor Hovland (Norway)
4 Patrick Cantlay (USA)
5 Scottie Scheffler (USA)
8 Justin Thomas (USA)
9 Xander Schauffele (USA)
10 Dustin Johnson (USA)
12 Bryson DeChambeau (USA)
13 Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa)
14 Jordan Spieth (USA)
15 Tyrrell Hatton (England)
16 Billy Horschel (USA)
17 Sam Burns (USA)
18 Joaquin Niemann (Chile)
19 Daniel Berger (USA)
20 Abraham Ancer (Mexico)
21 Brooks Koepka (USA)
23 Tony Finau (USA)
24 Paul Casey (England)
25 Sungjae Im (South Korea)
26 Matthew Fitzpatrick (England)
27 Jason Kokrak (USA)
28 Patrick Reed (USA)
29 Will Zalatoris (USA)
30 Kevin Na (USA)
31 Thomas Pieters (Belgium)
32 Talor Gooch (USA)
33 Kevin Kisner (USA)
34 Max Homa (USA)
35 Webb Simpson (USA)
36 Shane Lowry (Ireland)
37 Adam Scott (Australia)
38 Tom Hoge (USA)
39 Russell Henley (USA)
40 Harold Varner III (USA)
41 Corey Conners (Canada)
42 Marc Leishman (Australia)
43 Matthew Wolff (USA)
44 Lucas Herbert (Australia)
46 Cameron Young (USA)
47 Tommy Fleetwood (England)
48 Seamus Power (Ireland)
49 Sergio Garcia (Spain)
50 Cameron Tringale (USA)
51 Justin Rose (England)
52 Lee Westwood (England)
53 Christiaan Bezuidenhout (South Africa)
54 Si Woo Kim (South Korea)
55 Mackenzie Hughes (Canada)
56 Min Woo Lee (Australia)
57 Richard Bland (England)
58 Luke List (USA)
59 Erik van Rooyen (South Africa)
60 Takumi Kanaya (Japan)
61 Bubba Watson (USA)
62 Alex Noren (Sweden)
63 Brian Harman (USA)
64 Ian Poulter (England)
65 Sebastian Munoz (Colombia)
66 Keegan Bradley (USA)
67 Robert MacIntyre (Scotland)
68 Keith Mitchell (USA)
69 Sepp Straka (Austria)

Players who qualified but will not compete include McIlroy, Cameron Smith, Hideki Matsuyama (who missed the Players with injury), Harris English, and Phil Mickelson, who hasn't played since his controversial views on the Saudi-backed SGL were made public and he later apologised saying he needed a break to reflect.

The bracket for the 2022 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play will be unveiled live on PGA TOUR Digital platforms Monday, March 22 at 11 a.m. CT (4pm Irish time). Following the show, fans are encouraged to visit dellmatchplay.com to register for the Dell Technologies Match Play Bracket Challenge.