Woods and Mickelson are the game's two biggest stars

The pair, who have a frosty relationship, will play with Geoff Ogilvy in the traditional union of the year's major winners.

Mickelson, however, was full of praise for his American rival ahead of only their second match-up in a major.

"The career that Tiger has had deserves respect. He is the number one player - I would never question that," he said.

Mickelson, the world number two, last played with his Ryder Cup team-mate in a major at the 2001 Masters, the event that saw Woods complete his "Tiger Slam" sweep of golf's biggest events.

This season, Woods has won the Open, Mickelson - the defending champion this week - claimed the Masters and Ogilvy took the US Open.

European Tour leader David Howell plays with US Ryder Cup captain Tom Lehman.

It is intimidating, especially with the recovery shot, and the greens are so tough Mickelson on Medinah

Other notable groupings see Spain's Sergio Garcia, American Fred Couples and South Africa's Ernie Els playing together, while popular American John Daly will partner world number three Vijay Singh.

Scotland's Colin Montgomerie, runner-up in the US Open, will play with Australian Stuart Appleby and America's JB Holmes.

Mickelson, who missed his first halfway cut of the year at last week's PGA International, admits the Medinah course will provide a stern test.

The course, which is 7,561 yards, will be the longest ever used for a major.

"It's going to be important to get the ball in play, but you can't do it with irons," said Mickelson.

"You've got to drive your golf ball well and driving it 300 yards and keeping it between a 25-yard fairway is a very small miss.

"You just don't have much margin for error there. It is intimidating, especially with the recovery shot, and the greens are so tough."

Eight players have now pulled out of the Chicago event.

Darren Clarke's wife died on Sunday and Paul McGinley will be at Thursday's funeral - while Japan's Shingo Katayama and Australian Wayne Grady are injured, Bo Van Pelt's wife has just given birth and Chris Starkjohann has chosen to play on the US Seniors Tour.

Australians Steve Elkington and Mark Hensby have have also withdrawn citing "personal reasons".

Filling the gaps are Swede Daniel Chopra and Americans Joey Sindelar, Craig Barlow, Harrison Frazar, Jonathan Byrd, Bob Estes, Billy Andrade and Charles Warren.

Groupings and starting times (rounds one and two. All times BST. US unless stated):
(Tee, start time)
1 1300 10 1805 M Small (Eng), R Palmer, A Andres (Arg)
1 1310 10 1815 S Flesch, G Bisconti, A Hansen (Den)
1 1320 10 1825 T Purdy, J Kane, C Schwartzel (SA)
1 1330 10 1835 P Perez, C Howell, J Sindelar
1 1340 10 1845 J Kelly, H Slocum, P Harrington (Ire)
1 1350 10 1855 C Barlow, M Weir (Can), T Hamilton
1 1400 10 1905 L Glover, R Allenby (Aus), T Immelman (SA)
1 1410 10 1915 SK Ho (Kor), B Wetterich, JM Olazabal (Spa)
1 1420 10 1925 Z Johnson, B Curtis, P Lonard (Aus)
1 1430 10 1935 KJ Choi (Kor), R Pampling (Aus), T Herron
1 1440 10 1945 G Owen (Eng), T Weinhart, G Fernandez-Castano (Spa)
1 1450 10 1955 H Frazar, J Edfors (Swe), R Moore
1 1500 10 2005 S Khan (Eng), S Arnold, B Mayfair

10 1300 1 1805 B Van Pelt, M Brown, D Wilson
10 1310 1 1815 K Ferrie (Eng), J Aber, H Tanihara (Jap)
10 1320 1 1825 MA Jimenez (Spa), T Clark (SA), T Pernice
10 1330 1 1835 R Beem, D Toms
10 1340 1 1845 F Funk, S Cink, T Bjorn (Den)
10 1350 1 1855 R Goosen (SA), C Campbell, D Duval
10 1400 1 1905 M Calcavecchia, L Donald (Eng), V Taylor
10 1410 1 1915 M Campbell (NZ), C DiMarco, L Westwood (Eng)
10 1420 1 1925 JJ Henry, G McDowell (NIre), A Baddeley (Aus)
10 1430 1 1935 P Mickelson, T Woods, G Ogilvy
10 1440 1 1945 J Senden, N Dougherty (Eng), S Verplank
10 1450 1 1955 B Faxon, D Yrene, C Villegas (Col)
10 1500 1 2005 S Schneiter, B Dredge (Wal), B Crane

1 1805 10 1300 N Green (Aus), L Rinker, R Johnson (Swe)
1 1815 10 1310 K Mitchum, J Parnevik (Swe), B Jobe
1 1825 10 1320 A Oberholser, J Gore, B Bryant
1 1835 10 1330 A Scott (Aus), K Perry, R Sabbatini (SA)
1 1845 10 1340 S Micheel, B Tway, D Love
1 1855 10 1350 J Furyk, A Cabrera (Arg), S Maruyama (Jap)
1 1905 10 1400 T Lehman, D Howell (Eng), R Gamez
1 1915 10 1410 S Garcia (Spa), F Couples, E Els (SA)
1 1925 10 1420 C Montgomerie (Sco), S Appleby (Aus), JB Holmes
1 1935 10 1430 J Daly, J Sluman, V Singh (Fij)
1 1945 10 1440 C Pavin, B Langer (Ger), J Rollins
1 1955 10 1450 S Lowery, A Schulte, R Green (Aus)
1 2005 10 1500 C Wiemers, S Stricker