Colin Montgomerie has taken up the offer of a place at next week's Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill as he tries to secure a place at the Masters.

Montgomerie is trying to move from 59th in the world rankings to the top 50 and so qualify for Augusta next month.

The Scot will now head to Florida rather than the Ballantines Championship in South Korea next week.

He was to have played on Jeju Island in the European Tour's first-ever visit to South Korea.

More world ranking points will be up for grabs in Orlando than Korea.

The competition will see Tiger Woods seeking a seventh successive tournament win in an event and on a course where he won four times in a row from 2000-03.

Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els, second and third in the rankings, join a European contingent that also includes Lee Westwood, Luke Donald, Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia.

Montgomerie will spend two weeks in Florida as he plans to line up in the following week's CA Championship in Miami.

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