Top security will be provided for Tiger Woods when he plays in the Dubai Desert Classic, following the world No 1's collision with a fan at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am in California on Wednesday.

Woods was besieged by fans on the course and one fan crossed in front of him, then stopped, resulting in Woods stepping on the man's ankle and injuring his own knee.

"We would not like anything like that to happen to Woods here," Dubai Desert Classic Tournament Director Bob Wilkinson told Gulf News yesterday. "We are making arrangements to ensure that Woods is given enough space to play his game and that golf etiquette is followed by the fans during the tournament.

"We will have about 25 stewards divided into three teams of eight each to ensure that the players can carry on their game without any hindrance. We request the spectators not to approach Woods, or any other player, for autographs while they are playing. Woods will be available to sign autographs after his game is finished," said Wilkinson.

"We also like to request spectators not to click photographs while he is playing. A photo session has been arranged for February 28 during the Pro-Am," he added.

Woods has often expressed his worries over course security. This is the fourth instance of unusual fan behaviour affecting the American during a tournament. Once, during the 1999 Phoenix Open a loaded gun was found in the backpack of a man heckling Woods. After this incident, whenever he plays in tournaments plain clothes police officers and private security men are among the spectators.

"We expect no untoward behaviour from the spectators here. Dubai has a reputation of having disciplined spectators," said Wilkinson.

"Our job this time is to ensure that no player finds himself blaming a spectator for a poor shot. We will be printing some instructions to be followed by the spectators on the tickets.

"No mobiles and cameras will be allowed. If we find any spectator not following our instructions, our stewards will ask them to leave. We expect the eyes of the world to be on the Desert Classic during the event and we want to maintain our reputation of having an excellent golfing community here."

According to Wilkinson, one of the main reasons behind the increasing popularity of the Desert Classic has been the praise it has received from the players.

"We want spectators to allow not only Woods, but also other players to concentrate and do their job without any disturbance. We want Woods to say that he enjoyed playing here and that he wants to come back to play here," he said.