Golf:KJ Choi and Matt Kuchar will have to contend with the Tiger Woods factor after being grouped with the world number one for the first two rounds of the US Masters. Woods will be making his highly anticipated return after a self-imposed exile of almost five months.
The 34-year-old American has not competed since winning the Australian Masters in November following startling revelations that he had a string of extra-marital affairs.
Predictably, the comeback of Woods has overshadowed everything else in the build-up to the year's first major and he is scheduled to tee off with Choi and Kuchar at 6.42pm (Irish time) in Thursday's opening round at Augusta.
Kuchar previously partnered Woods in the first round of the Masters in 1998, although the circumstances were somewhat different. On that occasion Woods was defending his first title and Kuchar was the reigning US Amateur champion.
Padraig Harrington will have the current British Open champion, Stewart Cink, and South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel for company over the first two days.
Rory McIlroy has been paired with Camilo Villegas and Kenny Perry while Graeme McDowell will join John Senden and David Toms on the first tee come Thursday.
While Choi and Kuchar digested the prospect of playing alongside Woods, and all it will entail, many other star names were almost certainly breathing a sigh of relief that they had been kept apart from Woods on this occasion.
“It always makes it harder to get a big draw,” said Harrington. “But then again you have to accept that if you want to be contending you’re going to have those draws and deal with it.
“I’m sure some guy playing with me in the Irish PGA feels the same way.”
Harrington also said that if he was in Woods’ position — that is, returning from a break of almost five months — he would be “a hopeless wreck”. Yet he gives Woods a real chance of being a factor come Sunday — and rightly pointed out that he is the clear favourite for the title.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he was contending, but I just don’t know. No matter how he looks or what he says you don’t know fully how this is affecting him inside and how it’s affecting his golf. People react differently, but you have to remember that Tiger, of all the competitive players, has a good ability to bring his game from the practice range to the golf course.
“I have a very poor ability to do that. That’s why it couldn’t work for me. It’s not ideal and I’m sure he doesn’t think it’s ideal either. He would have liked to have played a little bit, but he’s still capable.”
Harrington has been stuck on three majors alongside Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson and Vijah Singh since claiming the US PGA in 2008 and the Dubliner feels it is time to take his game to the next level.
“People have been saying who is going to get the fourth major, break out of that pack of three?” he said today.
“I won two of the four different majors (two Opens and a US PGA) and if I won a fourth I would dearly like it to be The Masters or the US Open, one of the ones I haven’t got.
“The Masters is definitely one of the most special ones to win, I think, because we come back here every year, they do everything so well and it’s the first major of the year. It’s certainly the one you wait the longest for. There are a lot things that build up to Augusta.”
At 38 the Dubliner is the youngest of the four. Singh, the last man to take the world number one spot off Woods, is now 47 and has not lifted a major title since the 2004 US PGA at Whistling Straits. He has been struggling with a back issue recently.
Els turned 40 last October, but although he has been major-less since the 2002 Open at Muirfield, back-to-back wins this season have made him third favourite this week.
The second favourite is Mickelson, winner of The Masters in 2004 and 2006 and of the US PGA the season in between.
The left-hander would be a lot closer in the betting to Tiger Woods — playing his first event since mid-November, of course — but for some really mediocre form this season. In seven starts he has had only one top-10 finish.
Twenty-year-old McIlroy has been going through a rough patch too, not helped by the recurrence of a back problem that limits the amount of time he can put into practising.
But Harrington commented: “I think players are different. Some players can come in and win cold. I’m not one of those, that’s for sure — I need to be showing form. I think Phil and Rory are both capable of turning it around.
“You’d have to look at their past histories and find out whether they have or haven’t done that in the past. Obviously Rory doesn’t have that long a history to look at.
“They are well capable of doing it, but I would like to see a build-up of form in any player — not a peak, but certainly a build-up so they can peak this week.”
Tee-off times in the first two rounds of The Masters
(all times Irish, Irish players in bold)
12.40pmArnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus (honorary starters)
12.50pm (Thursday) and 3.57pm (Friday)Nathan Green (Aus), Heath Slocum, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa)
1.01pm and 4.08pmCraig Stadler, John Merrick, Jerry Kelly
1.12pm and 4.19pmIan Woosnam (Gbr), Brian Gay, Marc Leishman (Aus)
1.23pm and 4.30pmBernhard Langer (Ger), Scott Verplank, (x) Brad Benjamin
1.34pm and 4.41pmJohn Senden (Aus), David Toms, Graeme McDowell(NIrl)
1.45pm and 4.52pmMark O'Meara, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa), (x) Nathan Smith
1.56pm and 5.14pmMartin Kaymer (Ger), Geoff Ogilvy (Aus), Luke Donald (Gbr)
2.07pm and 5.25pmTom Watson, Tim Clark (Rsa), Steve Marino
2.18pm and 5.36pmBill Haas, Todd Hamilton, Anders Hansen (Den)
2.29pm and 5.47pmDustin Johnson, Oliver Wilson (Gbr), Alvaro Quiros (Spa)
2.40pm and 5.58pmMike Weir (Can), Lee Westwood (Gbr), (x) Matteo Manassero (Ita)
3.02pm and 6.09pmChad Campbell, Francesco Molinari (Ita), Paul Casey (Gbr)
3.13pm and 6.20pmErnie Els (Rsa), Anthony Kim, Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn)
3.24pm and 6.31pmAngel Cabrera (Arg), Jim Furyk, (x) Byeong-hun An (Kor)
3.35pm and 6.42pmPhil Mickelson, Robert Allenby (Aus), Yong-eun Yang (Kor)
3.46pm and 6.53pmRetief Goosen (Rsa), Hunter Mahan, Robert Karlsson (Swe)
3.57pm and 12.50pmBen Crane, Simon Dyson (Gbr), Michael Campbell (Nzl)
4.08pm and 1.01pmLarry Mize, Ryan Palmer, Chris Wood (Gbr)
4.19pm and 1.12pmSandy Lyle (Gbr), Justin Leonard, Kevin Na
4.30pm and 1.23pmBen Crenshaw, Steve Flesch, (x) Ben Martin
4.41pm and 1.34pmRyan Moore, Ross Fisher (Gbr), Nick Watney
4.52pm and 1.45pmTrevor Immelman (Rsa), Soren Hansen (Den), John Rollins
5.14pm and 1.56pmVijay Singh (Fij), Jason Dufner, Sean O'Hair
5.25pm and 2.07pmThongchai Jaidee (Thai), Ben Curtis, Soren Kjeldsen (Den)
5.36pm and 2.18pmCamilo Villegas (Col), Kenny Perry, Rory McIlroy(NIrl)
5.47pm and 2.29pmZach Johnson, Henrik Stenson (Swe), (x) Chang-won Han (Kor)
5.58pm and 2.40pmFred Couples, Sergio Garcia (Spa), Shingo Katayama (Jpn)
6.09pm and 3.02pmMiguel Angel Jimenez (Spa), Edoardo Molinari (Ita), Lucas Glover
6.20pm and 3.13pmCharl Schwartzel (Rsa), Stewart Cink, Padraig Harrington(Irl)
6.31pm and 3.24pmYuta Ikeda (Jpn), Ian Poulter (Gbr), Steve Stricker
6.42pm and 3.35pmTiger Woods, Matt Kuchar, KJ Choi (Kor)
6.53pm and 3.46pmAdam Scott (Aus), David Duval, Ricky Barnes
(x) denotes amateurs