Gavin Cooney reports from Augusta National Golf Club

RORY MCILROY WILL play alongside Tom Kim and Sam Burns on Thursday and Friday as he bids to win the Masters for the first time and complete the career Grand Slam. 

The groups and tee times for the opening two rounds at Augusta National were announced at noon on Tuesday, with McIlroy playing alongside South Korean Kim – with whom he shared a nine-hole practice round yesterday – and Burns, who won the Matchplay event in Austin a fortnight ago, which was McIlroy’s last competitive outing. 

McIlroy tees off as the penultimate group on Thursday afternoon, and will then be out early on Friday morning. 

Elsewhere, Shane Lowry will play alongside Mackenzie Hughes and Thomas Pieters, while Seamus Power has been grouped with two-time champion and LIV Tour member Bubba Watson, along with Argentina amateur Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira. Belfast amateur Matthew McClean will play alongside former champion Vijay Singh and Scott Stallings. 

Tiger Woods, meanwhile, will play with compatriot Xander Schauffele and Norway’s Viktor Hovland. Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, and Cameron Young form one of the highest-profile groups. Defending champion Scottie Scheffler will play with Max Homa and amateur Sam Bennett. 

With 18 LIV players in the field, their playing alongside PGA Tour players was always highly likely, and so it has transpired. Some of the fiercer rivalries have been avoided: Patrick Reed, for instance won’t renew his rivalry with McIlroy, while Freddie Couples hasn’t been grouped with either Phil Mickelson – whom he called a “nutbag” – or Sergio Garcia, whom he dismissed as a “clown.” 

Mickelson will play with Si Woo Kim and Tom Hoge, while Garcia is alongside Kazuki Higa and Keith Mitchell. 

Masters Tee Times – Thursday (all times Irish) 

1:00pm. Mike Weir, Kevin Na

1:12pm. Vijay Singh, Scott Stallings, Matthew McClean

1:24 p.m. Sandy Lyle, Jason Kokrak, Talor Gooch

1:36 p.m. Fred Couples, Russell Henley, Alex Noren

1:48 p.m. Adrian Meronk, Kevin Kisner, Louis Oosthuizen

2:00 p.m. Larry Mize, Min Woo Lee, Harrison Crowe

2:12 p.m. Sergio Garcia, Kazuki Higa, Keith Mitchell

2:24 p.m. Patrick Reed, Adam Svensson, Sahith Theegala

2:36 p.m. Shane Lowry, Mackenzie Hughes, Thomas Pieters

2:48 p.m. Bubba Watson, Seamus Power, Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira

3:06 p.m. Abraham Ancer, Chris Kirk, Keegan Bradley

3:18 p.m. Tiger Woods, Viktor Hovland, Xander Schauffele

3:30 p.m. Adam Scott, Patrick Cantlay, Kurt Kitayama

3:42 p.m. Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm, Cameron Young

3:54 p.m. Hideki Matsuyama, Cameron Smith, Sungjae Im

4:06 p.m. Jose Maria Olazabal, Cameron Champ

4:18 p.m. Charl Schwartzel, Taylor Moore, Aldrich Potgieter

4:30 p.m. J. T. Poston, Francesco Molinari, Bryson DeChambeau

4:42 p.m. Bernhard Langer, Mito Pereira, Ben Carr

4:54 p.m. Danny Willett, Gary Woodland, Brooks Koepka

5:12 p.m. Sepp Straka, Harold Varner III, Kyoung-Hoon Lee

5:24 p.m. Phil Mickelson, Tom Hoge, Si Woo Kim

5:36 p.m. Billy Horschel, Harris English, Ryan Fox

5:48 p.m. Zach Johnson, Jason Day, Gordon Sargent

6:00 p.m. Brian Harman, Joaquin Niemann, Tyrrell Hatton

6:12 p.m. Dustin Johnson, Corey Conners, Justin Rose

6:24 p.m. Matthew Fitzpatrick, Collin Morikawa, Will Zalatoris

6:36 p.m. Scottie Scheffler, Max Homa, Sam Bennett

6:48 p.m. Tom Kim, Rory McIlroy, Sam Burns

7:00 p.m. Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood, Tony Finau