Tiger Woods, Viktor Hovland, Xander Schauffele paired at Masters

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Tiger Woods will play the first two rounds of his 25th appearance in the Masters in a featured group with Viktor Hovland and Xander Schauffele.

Woods, a five-time Masters champion, will tee off at 10:18 a.m. ET on Thursday and 1:24 p.m. ET on Friday. Woods, 47, has played in only one official event since missing the cut at the 150th Open Championship at St. Andrews in July. He tied for 45th in the Genesis Invitational outside Los Angeles in February.

Last year, Woods made his return to competitive golf at the Masters. It was his first start in 508 days since he was seriously injured in a car wreck in February 2021. He made the cut for the 23rd consecutive time and finished 47th.

Rory McIlroy, who played a practice round with Woods on Monday, said the 15-time major champion's ability to endure one of the most grueling walks in golf will probably decide how Woods performs this week.

«He looks good,» McIlroy said Tuesday. «You know, if he didn't have to walk up these hills and have all of that, I'd say he'd be one of the favorites. I mean, he's got all of the shots. It's just that physical limitation of walking 72 holes, especially on a golf course as hilly as this. But again, as we all know, we never count Tiger out, and he can do incredible things.»

Defending Masters champion Scottie Scheffler will play the first two rounds in another featured group with Max Homa and Sam Bennett, the 2022 U.S. Amateur champion. The group tees off at 1:36 p.m. ET Thursday and 10:30 a.m. ET Friday. Scheffler will attempt to become the first back-to-back Masters winner since Woods in 2001-02.

The other featured groups Thursday include Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas and Cameron Young (10:42 a.m. ET Thursday, 1:48 p.m. ET Friday) and