Phil Taylor will begin the defence of his Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship title against Gary Mawson or Juanito Gionzon on Thursday December 16.

Taylor – the 15-time World Champion – drew the winner of the preliminary round clash between American number two Mawson and Philippines national champion Gionzon for his opener in this year’s £1 million event at Alexandra Palace in London.

Taylor will compete on the opening night of the event on December 16, with the world’s biggest tournament coming to a climax on Monday January 3 2011, when the two finalists compete for the £200,000 first prize.

World number two James Wade drew Spanish debutant Antonio Alcinas, while five-time World Champion Raymond van Barneveld, the number three seed, will play Steve Hine.

Simon Whitlock, the Australian who has moved up to fourth in the PDC Order of Merit since reaching last year’s final at Alexandra Palace, plays Wales’ Steve Evans, and 2010 semi-finalist Mark Webster drew Steve Maish.

The 72-player event features the PDC’s top 32 alonside 40 qualifiers who have won their place through the series of 37 Players Championships held around this year or international knockouts.

Holland’s Roland Scholten won the West Europe Qualifier and plays Finland’s Veijo Viinikka, with the winner going on to face number eight seed Ronnie Baxter.

John Part, the three-time World Champion who took the 2008 title at Alexandra Palace, could face Taylor in round two should he overcome Per Laursen or Boris Krcmar.

Adrian Lewis drew Tony Eccles, Terry Jenkins faces debutant Joe Cullen, Colin Lloyd faces Germany’s Andree Welge and Mervyn King comes up against either Magnus Caris or Dietmar Burger.

Debutants Steve Farmer, Nigel Heydon and Mark Hylton will take on Paul Nicholson, Robert Thornton and Steve Beaton respectively, while PDPA Qualifier Alex Roy drew 2005 finalist Mark Dudbridge in another tasty encounter.

The first round will be played from December 16-23, with the last 32 returning after Christmas to compete in the remainder of the event.

The schedule of play will be confirmed in due course.

Ladbrokes.com World Darts Championship
Preliminary Round Draw
Magnus Caris (Sweden) v Dietmar Burger (Austria)
Devon Petersen (South Africa) v Norman Madhoo (Guyana)
Gary Mawson (USA) v Juanito Gionzon (Philippines)
Michael Mansell (Northern Ireland) v Preston Ridd (New Zealand)
Roland Scholten (Netherlands) v Veijo Viinikka (Finland)
Jyhan Artut (Germany) v Scott MacKenzie (Hong Kong)
Per Laursen (Denmark) v Boris Krcmar (Croatia)
Matt Padgett (England) v Morihiro Hashimoto (Japan)

First Round Draw Bracket
Phil Taylor (1) v Mawson/Gionzon
John Part (32) v Laursen/Krcmar
Paul Nicholson (16) v Steve Farmer
Co Stompe (17) v Peter Wright
Ronnie Baxter (8) v Scholten/Viinikka
Mark Webster (25) v Steve Maish
Colin Lloyd (9) v Andree Welge
Steve Beaton (24) v Mark Hylton
Adrian Lewis (5) v Tony Eccles
Mark Dudbridge (28) v Alex Roy
Andy Hamilton (12) v Dennis Smith
Robert Thornton (21) v Nigel Heydon
Simon Whitlock (4) v Steve Evans
Denis Ovens (29) v Artut/MacKenzie
Wayne Jones (13) v Rob Modra
Vincent van der Voort (20 v Mansell/Ridd
James Wade (2) v Antonio Alcinas
Michael van Gerwen (31) v Mensur Suljovic
Wes Newton (15) v Darin Young
Kevin Painter (18) v Brendan Dolan
Terry Jenkins (7) v Joe Cullen
Jelle Klaasen (26) v Steve Brown
Mark Walsh (10) v Justin Pipe
Alan Tabern (23) v Richie Burnett
Mervyn King (6) v Caris/Burger
Andy Smith (27) v Shane Tichowitsch
Gary Anderson (11) v Padgett/Hashimoto
Dennis Priestley (22) v Bernd Roith
Raymond van Barneveld (3) v Steve Hine
Barrie Bates (30) v Kevin McDine
Colin Osborne (14) v Chris Thompson
Jamie Caven (19) v Petersen/Madhoo