Adrian Lewis will begin his defence of the Auckland Darts Masters against debutant Stuart Leach tomorrow night.
The two-time world champion beat Gary Anderson, Phil Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld on his way to winning the inaugural staging of the World Series event in August last year.
Leach was the last player to book his place at Auckland after beating Casey Matthews 6-1 to win the final qualifier on Tuesday.
World champion Anderson starts his bid for back-to-back World Series titles against another debutant in Bernie Smith, who beat Leach 6-2 in Monday’s qualifying event.
Elsewhere, James Wade will take on the third new face to the tournament, Ken Moir, while world number one Michael van Gerwen has been drawn against DPA Australian Singles champion Damon Heta.
Dave Chisnall will meet the tournament’s other Australian qualifier, Clinton Bridge, who famously knocked out van Barneveld in the first round of the Sydney Darts Masters back in 2013.
Van Barneveld faces one of the toughest tests in the first round tomorrow when he takes on New Zealand’s emerging star Cody Harris, while newly-crowned Austrian Darts Open champion Taylor takes on Rob Szabo and Peter Wright meets Warren Parry.
2016 Auckland Darts Masters, presented by TAB and Burger King, first round draw
Gary Anderson (1) v Bernie Smith
Peter Wright (6) v Warren Parry
Dave Chisnall (4) v Clinton Bridge
Raymond van Barneveld (8) v Cody Harris
Michael van Gerwen (2) v Damon Heta
James Wade (7) v Ken Moir
Phil Taylor (3)v Rob Szabo
Adrian Lewis (5) v Stuart Leach
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