Brandt Snedeker, Ryo Ishikawa, Justin Rose
2.17pm BST (all times Thursday)
World number five Brandt Snedeker plays alongside the world number three — and many people’s fancy to win a green jacket and break his Major duck at Augusta this week — Justin Rose. Throw 21-year-old Ryo Ishikawa into the mix as well and you’ve got the first marquee grouping of this year’s tournament. Tasty.
Zach Johnson, KJ Choi, Graeme McDowell
2.50pm BST
One of the “Major” pairings sees 2007 Masters champ Zach Johnson alongside Nothern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell, winner of the US Open at Pebble Beach in 2010. The third man, perennial dark horse KJ Choi, is quite fond of Augusta; he had top-10 finishes here in 2010 and 2011 and comes into this on the back of finishing sixth at the Texas Open last week.
Bubba Watson, Ian Poulter, Steven Fox
3.34pm BST
You couldn’t ask for a more colourful pairing than defending champion Bubba Watson and eye-popping intensity of Ian Poulter. They’re joined by 2012 US amateur Steven Fox, who will hopefully be drilled on the best way to act if something like this happens again.
YouTube Credit: GolfNowau
Tiger Woods, Luke Donald, Scott Piercy
3.45pm BST
The dust will hardly have a chance to settle on “Bubba and Poulter-mania” when the prohibitive favourite for this year’s Masters takes to the tee box. Tiger Woods is as short as 4/1 in places to win his fifth green jacket and he’ll be playing alongside a man desperate for his first, world number four Luke Donald, and Scott Piercy.
Jason Day, Rickie Fowler, Padraig Harrington
3.55pm BST
Hot on the heels of Woods and co is a three-ball of players who will all quietly fancy their chances of causing a shock this weekend. Australia’s Jason Day finished as joint runner-up on his Augusta debut back in 2011 while Harrington, a three-time Major winner, shook off some iffy form last season to finish in a tie for eighth. Fowler, who is currently hovering inside the world’s top 30, was tied for third at the Arnold Palmer a fortnight ago.
Phil Mickelson, Louis Oosthuizen, Martin Kaymer
6.30pm BST
If you’re looking for some prime time viewing when you get home from work on Thursday evening, how about this? Three Major winners combine as Phil Mickelson, fresh from his putting practice with Condoleezza Rice earlier this week, joins 2010 Open champion (and last year’s Masters runner-up) Louis Oosthuizen and former US PGA champ Martin Kaymer. Let’s hope Louis has one of these in his back pocket:
Rory McIlroy, Keegan Bradley, Frederik Jacobson
6.41pm BST
The penultimate playing group on Thursday sees world number two Rory McIlroy join former PGA champion Keegan Bradley, who already has five top-ten finishes to his name this season. Sweden’s Frederik Jacobson, a 100/1 shot, will be hoping to cause a shock.
