Woods, Oosthuizen and Niemann to start Masters together

Tiger Woods will mark his return to competition at this week’s Masters at 4.34pm SA time on Thursday in a group with South African Louis Oosthuizen and Chilean Joaquin Niemann, according to the starting times released on Tuesday.

Five-time champion Woods, who suffered career-threatening leg injuries in a car crash in February 2021, was in the day’s 14th group set to go off the 445-yard par-four first hole at Augusta National for 2022’s first Major.

Following Woods’s threesome will be defending champion Hideki Matsuyama, who in 2021 became the first Japanese man to win a Major championship, Justin Thomas and amateur James Piot.

The next group off the first tee will feature world No 1 Scottie Scheffler, 2013 champion Adam Scott and Tony Finau, who has three top-10 finishes in four Masters appearances.

Betting favourite and world No 2 Jon Rahm will go out in the third-to-last group along with Will Zalatoris, who in 2021 finished runner-up on his Masters debut, and reigning PGA Tour player of the year Patrick Cantlay.

Playing one group ahead will be 2020 Masters champion Dustin Johnson, Billy Horschel and reigning British Open winner Collin Morikawa.

The days’ final group will feature England’s Matthew Fitzpatrick, four-times Major champion Brooks Koepka and Rory McIlroy, who with a win this week would complete the career Grand Slam of golf’s four majors.

Among the other notable groups is the penultimate threesome of 2015 Masters champion Jordan Spieth, world No 4 Viktor Hovland and Xander Schauffele, who challenged Matsuyama in the final round last year before ending up tied for third.

Reuters