Sixty-four of the biggest names in golf are teeing it up this week in the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship. First-round play began on Wednesday, February 22nd, at the par-72, 7,022-yard course at La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif.

Tiger Woods is joined by Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen and Ernie Els as the four top seeds in the event. The field is divided into 16-man brackets named after four of the game's greats: Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Sam Snead.

In the Bobby Jones bracket, the matches to watch are Woods vs. Stephen Ames and defending champion David Toms vs. Ian Poulter. In the Ben Hogan section, first-round intrigue could be found in the Els vs. Bernhard Langer match, reigning U.S. Open champion Michael Campbell vs. Geoff Ogilvy, and the Phil Mickelson-Charles Howell III haggle.

In the Gary Player bracket, interest-piquing matches include Singh vs. Graeme McDowell and Padraig Harrington against Rod Pampling. In the Sam Snead group, Goosen will be tested by Paul Broadhurst and Fred Couples will test the skills of the 2005 PGA Tour's rookie of the year, Sean O'Hair. Also in this bracket is perennial match-play force Colin Montgomerie, who starts off against Nicolas Fasth.

The champion will take home the Walter Hagen Cup and a whopping $1.3 million of the $7.5 million total purse. In the U.S., the tournament will be broadcast through Friday and Saturday morning on ESPN, and by ABC-TV on Saturday and Sunday. For additional information, visit www.worldgolfchampionships.com.