Colin Montgomerie takes on world number seven Jim Furyk when the WGC Match Play Championship starts in Tucson, Arizona on Wednesday.

Top-ranked Briton Justin Rose faces Rod Pampling, while Luke Donald and Nick Dougherty come up against each other.

Their pairing is one of three all-European clashes, with Ian Poulter playing Soren Hansen, and Paul Casey meeting Robert Karlsson of Sweden.

An injury to Brett Wetterich sees JB Holmes come in to face Tiger Woods.

The world number one will start that match as favourite, having won his last five tournaments, but with Holmes being one of the few players who hits the ball farther than him, Woods says he faces a tough test.

"Under these conditions, he'll probably be hitting it past me all day," said Woods.

"I know he doesn't spin the ball a lot with his driver, and that's one of the reasons it goes as far as it does."

Open champion Padraig Harrington faces Jerry Kelly, Lee Westwood takes on Brandt Snedeker and Bradley Dredge, who beat Ernie Els last year, will try to claim another South African scalp when he plays Rory Sabbatini.

Els was not expected to play in the tournament this year but had a change of heart and faces Jonathan Byrd.

"I had a nice long break in December and January and I felt like I had enough rest," Els said.

"I was supposed to be holidaying with the kids, and while they would have loved to be in South Africa right now, they are here with me this week."

Montgomerie admits his game is lacking consistency but said the competition was more wide open than ever.

"When I started, 15 to 20 players could win. Now it's 50 to 60. They're not frightened and they work harder on all aspects of the game," he said.

The 44-year-old also said the tournament is a great chance to score ranking points ahead of the Masters in April and September's Ryder Cup.

"I've got four more events before Augusta and I need a couple of top-10s or one big week," said Montgomerie.

"Win your first two rounds in the Match Play and that's joint ninth place, which is incredible really. It's the easiest top-10 of the year and that would give me a bunch of points."

"Being a Ryder Cup year I'd be losing out on precious points not competing (in the Masters) and it puts you on the back foot.

"I don't know whether Nick (Faldo) is playing this year, but to have the non-playing captain there and one of his potential team members not playing does not look great." 

First round draw for the tournament (numbers denote seedings) as follows:

1-Tiger Woods (U.S.) v 64-J.B. Holmes (U.S.)

32-Mike Weir (Canada) v 33-Arron Oberholser (U.S.)

16-Zach Johnson (U.S.) v 49-David Toms (U.S.)

17-Aaron Baddeley (Australia) v 48-Mark Calcavecchia (U.S.)

8-Rory Sabbatini (South Africa) v 57-Bradley Dredge (Britain)

25-Paul Casey (Britain) v 40-Robert Karlsson (Sweden)

9-K.J. Choi (South Korea) v 56-Camilo Villegas (Colombia)

24-Ian Poulter (Britain) v 41-Soren Hansen (Denmark)

4-Ernie Els (South Africa) v 61-Jonathan Byrd (U.S.)

29-Retief Goosen (South Africa) v 36-Andres Romero (Argentina)

13-Henrik Stenson (Spain) v 52-Robert Allenby (Australia)

20-Trevor Immelman (South Africa) v 45-Shingo Katayama (Japan)

5-Adam Scott (Australia) v 60-Brendan Jones (Australia)

28-Toru Taniguchi (Japan) v 37-Woody Austin (U.S.)

12-Sergio Garcia (Spain) v 53-John Senden (Australia)

21-Martin Kaymer (Germany) v 44-Boo Weekley (U.S.)

2-Phil Mickelson (U.S.) v 63-Pat Perez (U.S.)

31-Stuart Appleby (Australia) v 34-Tim Clark (South Africa)

15-Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) v 50-Justin Leonard (U.S.)

18-Lee Westwood (Britain) v 47-Brandt Snedeker (U.S.)

7-Justin Rose (Britain) v 58-Rod Pampling (Australia)

26-Scott Verplank (U.S.) v 39-Nick O'Hern (Australia)

10-Vijay Singh (Singh) v 55-Peter Hanson (Sweden)

23-Niclas Fasth (Sweden) v 42-Richard Green (Australia)

3-Steve Stricker (U.S.) v 62-Daniel Chopra (Sweden)

30-Richard Sterne (South Africa) v 35-Hunter Mahan (U.S.)

14-Angel Cabrera (Argentina) v 51-Anders Hansen (Denmark)

19-Luke Donald (Britain) v 46-Nick Dougherty (Britain)

6-Jim Furyk (U.S.) v 59-Colin Montgomerie (Britain)

27-Stephen Ames (Canada) v 38-Charles Howell III (U.S.)

11-Padraig Harrington (Ireland) v 54-Jerry Kelly (U.S.)

22-Stewart Cink (U.S.) v 43-Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain)