A match made in heaven?

Some will see it as good news, bad news. Brett Quigley sees only the first half of that equation.

A possible first-round match with Tiger Woods in next week's Accenture Match Play Championship outside of Tucson? The Rhode Islander embraces such a scenario in his first berth in the event.

"Hey, if you think you can win the tournament, you know you'll have to face Tiger sometime," said Quigley. "So why not on the first day, on a golf course [The Gallery at Dove Mountain] no one knows?"

Ever the optimist, and why not? Quigley, 37, is coming off of his best year on the PGA Tour, a $2,617,419 bonanza that placed him 20th on the money list as he finished top 10 on 10 occasions. OK, so he's still searching for that first PGA Tour win, but he doesn't have to go around asking questions about Woods.

"I've seen him up close. I know what to expect," said Quigley, who was paired with Woods in the third round of the Buick Open last summer, then in the final round of the American Express Championship in the fall. Woods, of course, won both those tournaments, which is no surprise because he hasn't failed to win a tournament since the niblick was introduced.

That's an exaggeration, of course, because Woods's PGA Tour winning streak only goes back to last summer's British Open. He'll go for No. 8 at the Accenture, currently locked in to play the 64th player in the world rankings -- Quigley. If there is a withdrawal before 5 p.m. tomorrow, Quigley will move up and probably draw No. 2 Jim Furyk, but if not he's got a date with arguably the game's greatest player Wednesday, so perhaps it's time to brush up on match play.

He has played that format before, hasn't he?

Quigley laughed. "I love the format, because it fits my style. I make some bogeys, but I make a lot of birdies, too." But, no, he hasn't played it recently, not since the Rhode Island Amateur in 1990. Recalling that affair for Doug Ferguson of the Associated Press, Quigley laughed about beating his father, Paul, in the semifinals and said, "I don't think Tiger is going to go down quite that easily."

From Riviera in Los Angeles, where he's playing in this week's Nissan Open, Quigley laughed again because when some Rhode Islanders read that quote. "I think my father got about 30 phone calls giving him a hard time," said Quigley. Any passionate Ocean State golf fan knows Paul Quigley is the consummate bulldog, a three-time State Amateur champ who is competitive to the bone.

"Really, it was a tough situation for him," said Brett, then between his junior and senior years at the University of South Carolina. "I never had beaten my dad before head to head, but I played really well that day."

Brett then rolled, 10 and 9, to win the Rhode Island Amateur in his only attempt.

He hasn't played match play since, but if things remain status quo, he'll have quite an opponent welcoming him back into it Wednesday.

Different name, same game. That pretty much sums up the situation for minitour enthusiasts in New England, many no doubt relieved to hear they'll again have a place to play this summer.

Brian Hebb of Littleton is again involved in this developmental circuit, which will go by the name of North American Pro Golf Tour. Matt Hoeske and Alan Stewart have formed the Northeast Sports Management Group and they will manage all aspects of the NAPGT, said Hebb, who will serve as president. The tour has a website (naprogolftour.com) and a 10-tournament schedule, with only two sites to be determined.

"I wasn't going to do it, but I decided at the last minute that I wanted to," said Hebb, who six years ago formed the New England Pro Golf Tour.

In the world of minitours, things are often in turmoil, but Hebb and Co. for several summers ran an operation that earned rave reviews from players, who were signed up 120 strong for the 2006 season. That is when things began to change. Hebb sold his interest to Greens Worldwide of Hertford, N.C., a group that had ambitious plans to purchase a string of developmental tours that would be used as a feeder system into the US Pro Golf Tour, in theory a rival to the Nationwide Tour. Hebb still oversaw the operations, but he began to have doubts about Greens Worldwide. Players, too, grew skeptical, and last fall their fears were realized. Greens Worldwide CEO Thomas Kidd claims he fired Hebb, who insists he resigned out of frustration over the direction in which things were going. (That legal battle is still ongoing, but it remains to be seen how Kidd's departure -- he's now CEO of Lextra Management Group, Inc. -- will affect those proceedings. Hebb said he and William Conwell, the interim CEO of Greens Worldwide, "have had an open dialogue" regarding the suits.)

In the meantime, Hebb, who said he did not have a noncompete clause with Greens Worldwide, has teamed with Hoeske and Stewart to form the NAPGT, and many of the same names are expected back. "It's good news, from my perspective," said Geoff Sisk of Marshfield, consistently the tour's best player. "I know it's kind of late in the game to be getting this going, but they're doing the best they can to make sure players don't get shut out." The NAPGT schedule will commence June 6-8 at the Atkinson Resort in Atkinson, N.H.

At 36, Matt Gogel has decided he's done with the PGA Tour grind. Last week's AT & T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am was his farewell, and a fitting choice it was given his ties to that event. He was the player who had the lead there in 2000 when Woods came from seven shots back with seven holes left to win for a sixth straight time on the PGA Tour. And it was at Pebble two years later where Gogel won his only PGA Tour event. So, why not exit from such a glamorous stage? Except as farewells go, it wasn't quite Ted Williams hitting a home run in his final at-bat. Gogel played 54 holes and made 23 bogeys, two doubles, one triple, one quad, and just four birdies. In finishing 30 over par, Gogel had a 47 on the back at Spyglass and a 47 on the front at Pebble . . . There was a sparkling second round of net 61 for Rhode Islander Billy Andrade and his partner, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, but sandwiched by a pair of 71s the duo failed to make the cut at Pebble Beach. One notable amateur who did make the grade was Seth Waugh, the CEO of Deutsche Bank Americas and the prime force behind the Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston in Norton. Waugh teamed with lefthander Steve Flesch to shoot 67-66-65 before a final-round 70 left them tied for 23d. Only 24 pro-am teams made it into the final round, with arguably the most popular entry, Bill Murray, left out of the final day when he and partner Scott Simpson were eliminated in a tiebreaker as 10 teams were deadlocked for the last six spots. Tom Ryan, the CEO of CVS, played once again with Brad Faxon, while Bill Scannell of EMC played with Carlos Franco. Both teams missed the cut . . . Give Arron Oberholser credit. Though he's out of action with back pain and was unable to defend his title at Pebble Beach, he showed up to be part of the festivities. He hosted a party for one of his sponsors, Dockers.

For knocking the winter rust off her game, Karrie Webb did it in an extraordinary fashion, which is not something you can say about Natalie Gulbis. As for Paula Creamer? Who knows, given the unconventional manner in which she started. Michelle Wie, meanwhile, is concerned not only about rust, but plaster. Those are just some of the story lines as the LPGA Tour season prepares to tee off today in Oahu, where Webb arrives having won back-to-back tournaments in her native land. Apparently intent on regaining the top spot in the world order, Webb was seven shots back when a second-round 62 put her into overdrive to win the Australian Ladies Masters, one week after cruising to victory in the Australian Women's Open. For Gulbis, we trust the trip down under rewarded her with a tidy appearance fee, because with finishes of T-48 and T-53, her play didn't pay. After eight rounds, Gulbis was a whopping 43 shots higher than Webb. Creamer was more competitive after shooting 76-70-73 to finish tied for second, but it was only the Hooters Tour's women's winter series in Florida, so who knows where her game stands? Then there's 17-year-old Wie, who fell while running and now has a cast on her left wrist, thus she won't be in this week's LPGA Tour field, nor next week's, even though both are being staged not far from her home. It remains to be seen whether Wie will be ready to play March 29 in the Kraft Nabisco Championship . . . This week's SBS Open field will include North Andover native Briana Vega, in on an exemption for winning The Golf Channel's latest "Big Break" show, as well as South Dennis's Carri Wood, who is back as a fully-exempt member of the tour. Vega warmed up by playing in four of those Hooters Tour stops, her best finish a fifth . . . And for those keeping score at home, there are nine Kims in the SBS field -- Birdie, Christina, In-Kyung, Joo Mi, Kimberly, Mi Hyun, Na Ri, Song-Hee, and Young.

The annual National Golf Expo will be held for three days starting March 2 at the Bayside Expo Center in Dorchester. To the first 500 spectators, Bank of America Championship officials will present coupons for a buy one, get one free ticket to the June 22-24 Champions Tour event at Nashawtuc Country Club in Concord. The expo hours are 1-8 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $10, $9 for seniors, with children under 12 admitted free. For information, refer to GolfExpoBoston.com . . . PGA master professional Rick DePamphilis is offering a spring golf workshop Wednesdays and Saturdays at the Golf Workshop, 289 Main Street, North Reading. Refer to glfwrkshp.com, or call 978-664-2783 . . . A careless bogey must be accounted for -- the International tournament mentioned in last week's notes actually used the modified Stableford system.

Jim McCabe can be reached at jmccabe@globe.com.