McIlroy grouped with Scheffler at Masters first round

Rory McIlroy will have pre-tournament favourite Scottie Scheffler for company when he gets his 10th bid to complete the career grand slam under way.

McIlroy, who finished second behind Scheffler in the 2022 Masters, will play alongside the world number one and Xander Schauffele for the first two days at Augusta National, teeing off at 10:42 local time (3:42pm Irish time) on Thursday.

Scheffler is the strongest favourite for a major since Tiger Woods was in his prime after following his victory in the Arnold Palmer Invitational by becoming the first player ever to win back-to-back Players Championship titles.

Jon Rahm gets his attempt to join Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Nick Faldo in winning back-to-back Masters titles under way in the preceding group alongside Matt Fitzpatrick and Nick Dunlap, while Woods himself tees off at 1:24pm local time (6:24 Irish time) with Jason Day and Max Homa.

Weather permitting, Erik van Rooyen will hit the opening tee shot at 8:00an local time (1pm Ireland), while the final group of Dustin Johnson, Collin Morikawa and Tommy Fleetwood will get under way six hours later.