World's No. 1 and 14-time Grand Slam champion Tiger Woods and two-time majors winner Rory McIllroy, arguably the two biggest names in golf, will tee off together in the first two rounds of the Dubai Desert Classic.

After missing the second cut in Torey Pines last week, Woods looks to bounce back big in his seventh appearance - his second in the last four years - in the European Tour event in the Middle East. McIlroy, on the other hand, will try to kick off the 2014 season on an emphatic note at the site of his very first professional win.

The two top golfers will be joined by 2013 Dubai Desert Classic champion Stephen Gallache. The trio is scheduled to tee off at 11:05 p.m. EST on Wednesday (8:05 a.m. Thursday in Dubai).  

It was a rough season-opening tournament for Woods at the Farmers Insurance Classic. The world's most popular golfer seemed unprepared to deliver his best game in Torrey Pines as he missed the second cut by shooting a 79 - one stroke shy of hitting 80 for the second time in his legendary professional golfing career.

"At the end of the day, I wanted to shoot the lowest score I could,'' Woods said Wednesday during the pro-am at Emirates Golf Club via ESPN. "I wasn't going to make the cut anyway, but I was trying hard to shoot as low as I could, and 79 was the best I could do."  

Confident Tiger

Despite his struggles last week, Woods is very confident heading into Wednesday's opening round in Dubai after a smooth practice session on the golf course.

"I hit it a lot better today, which was nice," Woods said. "I feel like I even putted a lot better, too. That was the whole idea. I made a few changes a little bit last night and felt pretty good about what I was doing out there today."

"I practiced Monday, and I was better on Tuesday than I was Monday and better on Wednesday than I was Tuesday. Hopefully tomorrow that trend continues," he added.

Tee Times, Pairings & Live Stream

First round of the Dubai Desert Classic 2014 will kick off at 10:15 p.m EST. Pairing, Tee Times and Leaderboard information is available on ESPN Golf while Day 1 of the tournament can be watched on the Golf Channel.