1 week Ago By Alex Young
Scottie Scheffler is among the earlier starters as he begins his Masters defence today, with Rory McIlroy set to go out in one of the final groups. McIlroy, who with a win would become the sixth player to complete the career Grand Slam of golf's four majors, will tee off in the fourth-to-last group at 6.12pm BST, alongside 2024 runner-up Ludvig Aberg and Akshay Bhatia.
World number one Scheffler is bidding to become only the fourth player to secure back-to-back Masters win, is in the 14th group alongside Justin Thomas and Spanish amateur Jose Luis Ballester. He will take to the course at 3.15pm UK time.
Playing one group behind will be a high-profile threesome of major champions that consists of Japan's Hideki Matsuyama, LIV Golf's Bryson DeChambeau and Ireland's Shane Lowry. Former Masters champion Jon Rahm, one of 12 players from the Saudi-backed LIV Golf circuit in the field at Augusta National this week, will head out in the day's penultimate group with Wyndham Clark and England's Tommy Fleetwood. World number three Xander Schauffele, seeking his third victory in four majors this week, will follow McIlroy's group around the course in the company of Australia's Adam Scott and Norwegian Viktor Hovland.
Masters debutant Davis Riley will hit the first competitive shot of the week when he sets out at 7:40 a.m. ET alongside Patton Kizzire after honorary starters Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson hit shots off the first tee.
The forecast for Thursday is for a low of 48 degrees Fahrenheit (8.9 degrees Celsius) and a high of 76 F with a 60% chance of showers and isolated thunderstorms during the night. (All times BST) 1240: Davis Riley, Patton Kizzire 1251: Kevin Yu, Jhonattan Vegas, Nicolai Hojgaard 1302: Mike Weir, Michael Kim, Cameron Young 1313: Zach Johnson, Joe Highsmith, Chris Kirk 1324: Danny Willett, Nico Echavarria, Davis Thompson 1335: Bernhard Langer, Will Zalatoris, Noah Kent (a) 1352: Cameron Smith, J.
T. Poston, Aaron Rai 1403: Fred Couples, Harris English, Taylor Pendrith 1414: Corey Conners, Brian Harman, Stephan Jaeger 1425: Patrick Reed, Max Greyserman, Byeong Hun An 1436: Robert MacIntyre, Billy Horschel, Nick Dunlap 1447: Collin Morikawa, Joaquin Niemann, Min Woo Lee 1458: Phil Mickelson, Jason Day, Keegan Bradley 1515: Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas, Jose Luis Ballester (a) 1526: Jordan Spieth, Tom Kim, Tyrrell Hatton 1537: Tony Finau, Maverick McNealy, Thomas Detry 1548: Cam Davis, Rafael Campos, Austin Eckroat 1559: Angel Cabrera, Laurie Canter, Adam Schenk 1610: Jose Maria Olazabal, Thriston Lawrence, Brian Campbell 1621: Bubba Watson, Matthieu Pavon, Evan Beck (a) 1638: Tom Hoge, Matt McCarty, Christiaan Bezuidenhout 1649: Charl Schwartzel, Denny McCarthy, Hiroshi Tai (a) 1700: Max Homa, Justin Rose, J.J.
Spaun 1711: Dustin Johnson, Nick Taylor, Justin Hastings (a) 1722: Sergio Garcia, Lucas Glover, Daniel Berger 1733: Patrick Cantlay, Rasmus Hojgaard, Matt Fitzpatrick 1750: Brooks Koepka, Russell Henley, Sungjae Im 1801: Adam Scott, Xander Schauffele, Viktor Hovland 1812: Rory McIlroy, Ludvig Aberg, Akshay Bhatia 1823: Hideki Matsuyama, Bryson DeChambeau, Shane Lowry 1834: Jon Rahm, Wyndham Clark, Tommy Fleetwood 1845: Sahith Theegala, Sepp Straka, Sam Burns (All times BST) 1240: Cam Davis, Rafael Campos, Austin Eckroat 1251: Angel Cabrera, Laurie Canter, Adam Schenk 1302: Jose Maria Olazabal, Thriston Lawrence, Brian Campbell 1313: Bubba Watson, Matthieu Pavon, Evan Beck (a) 1324: Tom Hoge, Matt McCarty, Christiaan Bezuidenhout 1335: Charl Schwartzel, Denny McCarthy, Hiroshi Tai (a) 1352: Max Homa, Justin Rose, J.J. Spaun 1403: Dustin Johnson, Nick Taylor, Justin Hastings (a) 1414: Sergio Garcia, Lucas Glover, Daniel Berger 1425: Patrick Cantlay, Rasmus Hojgaard, Matt Fitzpatrick 1436: Brooks Koepka, Russell Henley, Sungjae Im 1447: Adam Scott, Xander Schauffele, Viktor Hovland 1458: Rory McIlroy, Ludvig Åberg, Akshay Bhatia 1515: Hideki Matsuyama, Bryson DeChambeau, Shane Lowry 1526: Jon Rahm, Wyndham Clark, Tommy Fleetwood 1537: Sahith Theegala, Sepp Straka, Sam Burns 1548: Davis Riley, Patton Kizzire 1559: Kevin Yu, Jhonattan Vegas, Nicolai Hojgaard 1610: Mike Weir, Michael Kim, Cameron Young 1621: Zach Johnson, Joe Highsmith, Chris Kirk 1638: Danny Willett, Nico Echavarria, Davis Thompson 1649: Bernhard Langer, Will Zalatoris, Noah Kent (a) 1700: Cameron Smith, J.
T. Poston, Aaron Rai 1711: Fred Couples, Harris English, Taylor Pendrith 1722: Corey Conners, Brian Harman, Stephan Jaeger 1733: Patrick Reed, Max Greyserman, Byeong Hun An 1750: Robert MacIntyre, Billy Horschel, Nick Dunlap 1801: Collin Morikawa, Joaquin Niemann, Min Woo Lee 1812: Phil Mickelson, Jason Day, Keegan Bradley 1823: Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas, Jose Luis Ballester (a) 1834: Jordan Spieth, Tom Kim, Tyrrell Hatton 1845: Tony Finau, Maverick McNealy, Thomas Detry Additional reporting by Reuters..
