WGC MATCHPLAY:THE GUARD has well and truly changed. Once upon a time, Colin Montgomerie strutted his stuff in the WGC-Accenture Matchplay – even if he never took the title – but now the Scot, who has slipped to 287th in the world rankings, will have no more than a watching brief as the numerically strongest contingent of European players goes in quest of the title here in Arizona, starting tomorrow.

“This is a great opportunity for all European players to show me, in a matchplay format, just exactly what they can do and I will be watching every shot hit,” said Montgomerie, Europe’s Ryder Cup captain for the match with the Americans at Celtic Manor in October.

“I’ll be looking out for the results of all the European players, but also, perhaps even more importantly, how they achieve those results. I want to see guys who show guts and determination, guys who are maybe two or three down with four or five holes to play but who battle back to win.”

There’s no shortage of European firepower in the desert: there are 25 Europeans – including three Irishmen: Pádraig Harrington, Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell – in the field, where Australian Geoff Ogilvy will be defending his title.

World number one Tiger Woods and world number three Phil Mickelson are absentees, with Woods on an “indefinite break” and Mickelson going on a “planned family break”.

Harrington has been drawn against India’s Jeev Milkha Singh in tomorrow’s first round, while McIlroy, who made such an impressive maiden appearance in the event last year by reaching the quarter-finals, has been given a meeting with American Kevin Na.

McDowell, meanwhile, has been handed a tough draw with England’s Luke Donald.

While McIlroy and McDowell took a break from tournament play last week, Harrington competed in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and, despite faltering over the weekend to eventually finish in tied-16th, the Dubliner believes the recent work he has done with coach Bob Torrance has been fruitful and he has a positive outlook on the coming season.

If Harrington manages to overcome Singh in the Bobby Jones bracket, he would meet the winner of the Anthony Kim-Matt Kuchar match. Steve Stricker, the top seed in the absence of Woods, is also in this bracket.

McIlroy would face the winner of the Miguel Angel Jimenez-Oliver Wilson match if he overcomes Na, while the winner of the McDowell-Donald encounter will come up against Robert Allenby or Peter Hanson.

And if McIlroy and McDowell win their opening two matches in the Ben Hogan bracket, then they would meet in the third round.

McDowell, incidentally, had a slightly unusual preparation for his trip across the Atlantic when he played a number of holes with former tour player Neil Coles at Wentworth last week on the occasion of the launch of the Ballantine’s championship. The pair used Coles’ original persimmon woods and steel-shafted irons, along with the old 1.62in Slazenger ball, before playing the same holes with McDowell’s Callaways.

This will be McDowell’s second appearance in this event, having made a first-round exit a year ago.

McIlroy, however, professes to loving the Dove Mountain course, designed by Jack Nicklaus, though the greens have been tweaked after complaints from players last year that the undulations were too severe.

McIlroy is glad to be back on a course where he introduced himself to the American golfing public last year en route to the quarter-finals. “The more you play a golf course, the more comfortable you feel on it. You know, even when you are not playing that well, that you can still get it around. At the Matchplay, you have to get off to a fast start. I always try to be two up after five (holes). It is more like a sprint, and you have to get out of the traps fast.”

The 20-year-old Ulsterman likes the course and the conditions, particularly the fact he can hit the ball extraordinary distances in the desert air.

“I remember I played Hunter Mahan in the second round last year and I was two down with five to play and got to one up playing the last. Between the warm air and the adrenalin, I hit a good drive on the last and was left with 230 yards to the pin . . . . and I got there with a seven-iron!”

This will be Harrington’s 11th time competing in this event, with his best finishes coming in 2004 and 2006 – when the event was played at La Costa – where he reached the quarter-finals.

Against that, he has been a first-round loser four times, most recently, of course, last year.