Defending champion David Howell is relishing the opportunity to defend his HSBC Champions title when the inaugural tournament gets under way in Shanghai on Thursday.

The Englishman pipped world number one Tiger Woods to win the competition last year but is up against a strong field this time round with 10 of the world's top 20 players taking part.

As well as Howell and Woods, also looking to make an impact are Paul Casey, Retief Goosen, Luke Donald, 2006 European Tour Order of Merit winner Padraig Harrington and Jim Furyk - who finished runner up to Adam Scott in the Tour Championship in Atlanta at the weekend.

And 31-year-old Howell, who has been named alongside world number six Goosen and Korea's KJ Choi for the opening two rounds, is under no illusion as to how difficult his task will be at the Sheshan International Golf Club.

"I would like to say what an honour it is to be defending champion of the HSBC Champions tournament," he said. "Obviously it's going to be no easy task defending my title with the calibre of players like Tiger (Woods) and Paul (Casey) sitting here.

"I'm looking forward to the challenge trying to beat these two guys and the rest of the field. Everybody who is here this week has either won a tournament or is ranked as one of the world's top players. It's a great field and a great tournament."

Woods, meanwhile, expressed his delight at returning to the event dubbed the 'Asian major'.

Last year he finished three shots behind Howell after closing with a two-under 70, a 17-under-par 271 in total.

And though determined to go one better this time round, Woods admitted he is just pleased to be taking part in the event.

"It's great to be back here," he said. "This is my second time here in Shanghai, and last year was just a tremendous experience.

"This is a fantastic field and a fantastic event, all of the top players have come from all over the world to play in the event this week, it's going to be a lot of fun for all of the spectators."

Woods has been drawn with HSBC World Match Play champion Casey and India's Jeev Milkha Singh for the opening two rounds.

Elsewhere, Colin Montgomerie will tee off alongside Furyk and China's Liang-Wen Chong, Harrington, who is the only Irishman in the field, joins Michael Campbell and China's Zhang Lian-Wei. while Donald is alongside American Chris DiMarco and Australian Craig Parry.