Notebook: Mickelson to skip WGC- Accenture Match Play next month

LA QUINTA, Calif. -- Phil Mickelson will skip next month's WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in favor of a family holiday.

"I'm going to end up missing the Match Play this year as we're going to go on a family trip," Mickelson revealed Sunday at the Humana Challenge.

Mickelson's withdrawal leaves an extra place available in the 64-man field and that's a boost to three-time major champion Padraig Harrington's hopes of qualifying.

Harrington now needs to climb to 65th in the world rather than 64th to earn a place in the Arizona tournament. No. 64 is, at present, Alex Noren.

Harrington is currently 88th in the rankings following a 10th-place finish at the Volvo Golf Champions in South Africa. He plays in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship this week.

Mickelson has never won the Accenture Match Play. World No. 1 Luke Donald is the defending champion.

OLLY TO ABU DHABI: Jose Maria Olazabal found himself one of the beneficiaries of a decision to increase the field for this week's Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship from 126 to 129.

Europe's Ryder Cup captain was already heading there for a press conference on Tuesday to talk about September's match, but now will be staying on to compete against Tiger Woods and Europeans Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy and Martin Kaymer. He was listed as second reserve, but then received the news that he, German Alex Cejka and Swede Niclas Fasth were all in.

Olazabal hadn't been given one of the seven sponsor's invitation. They had gone to Woods, Henrik Stenson, Jason Day, K.J. Choi, China's Liang Wen-chong, England's Challenge Tour winner Tommy Fleetwood and locally-based professional Stuart Fee, a 34-year-old Englishman who last month won a qualifying event.

Stenson is making a late decision whether to play following knee surgery late last year and now it is England's Sam Little, winner of three Challenge Tour events last season, who is on stand-by.

Olazabal thought he might have needed to win the Volvo Champions to earn a spot. He was tied for the lead with 16 holes to play, but even sixth place was enough to move the 45-year-old up in the world rankings from 596th to 413th.

MR BIG SHOT: Rory McIlroy's 6-iron to the 10th hole on the final day of his runaway U.S. Open victory has been voted by fans as the European Tour Shot of the Year for 2011.

The towering tee shot over water came to rest just a few inches from the cup and for most people removed any lingering fear that the young Ulsterman would collapse like he did at the Masters two months earlier.

"I thought that shot was probably the most important in the round because Y.E. Yang had just stuck it in there close," he said. "To follow that up with mine was pretty cool.

"I had a big lead, but there was always the chance that if I had hit it in the water or done something silly and Y.E. had made his birdie, then it would have put a bit of pressure on me," he explained. "Hopefully I can produce a few more of those in 2012."

With 30 percent of the vote, McIlroy was an overwhelming winner. Miguel Angel Jimenez had 21 percent for his 250-yard second shot to the long 17th -- again over water -- at Valderrama in the Andalucia Masters, while McIlroy also took third place for his holed bunker shot on the final hole of his Hong Kong Open win.