Woods and Duval favourites for World Cup

America's Tiger Woods and David Duval will tee-off in the World Cup of golf in Japan on Thursday as overwhelming favourites to retain the title they won in Argentina last season.

World number one Woods and number-three ranked Duval are among 24 national teams who will be competing for the one million dollars first prize at the Taiheiyo Club in Shizuoka.

Duval, the reigning British Open champion, won a playoff for the Dunlop Open in Miyazaki at the weekend and is determined to continue his winning form in Japan.

"Any time you go as a team, and you go around the world, it's great to compete well and to win," Duval told the tournament's official website.

"I don't like to speak for anyone else, but I will speak for Tiger in that we have no intention of not winning.

"Certainly we may very well get beat but we are going to do our best to play hard because we want to win."

Last year Woods and Duval held off a spirited late challenge from the Argentinian pair of Eduardo Romero and Angel Cabrera to win at the Buenos Aires Golf Club.

Cabrera and Romero will represent Argentina again this week, though the strongest challenge to the Americans is likely to come from South Africa and Ireland.

European number one and U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen lines up for South Africa alongside world number four Ernie Els, while the in-form pair Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley will be looking to reclaim the title they won in 1997 at Kiawah Island in South Carolina.

Harrington ended a run of seven runner-up placings this season with victory in the Volvo Masters at the weekend, while his team mate finished second in what was the European Tour's season-closing event in Spain.

Each of the 24 teams will play two days of fourballs and two days of foursomes for the John J. Hopkins Cup.