Nicklaus,
Palmer & Player paired together
A total of 13
Masters titles will be featured in one group as Jack Nicklaus, Arnold
Palmer and Gary Player tee it up together on Thursday and Friday
at Augusta National.
The groupings
and tee times for the first two rounds of the 65th annual Masters
Tournament were released Tuesday.
Nicklaus won
the prestigious title six times, while Palmer won four Masters titles
and Player captured the coveted crown three times.
The trio is
set to start play at 12:35 p.m. (et) on Thursday and will tee it
up on Friday at 9:50 a.m. (et).
Defending champion
Vijay Singh will play with U.S. Amateur champion Jeff Quinney and
Loren Roberts, starting at 12:13 p.m. (et) on Thursday and 9:28
a.m. (et) Friday.
Singh earned
a three-shot victory last year over Ernie Els for his first Masters
title. The native of Fiji has not won this year, but has been the
runner-up at Pebble Beach and The Players Championship.
Els, who has
been in a bit of a slump this year, will play with Phil Mickelson
and Denmark's Thomas Bjorn. They will start play at 10:34 a.m. (et)
on Thursday and tee off Friday at 1:30 p.m. (et).
Tiger Woods,
who won the 1997 Masters in record-setting fashion, has been grouped
with Canada's Mike Weir and Mikko Ilonen of Finland.
Woods, as usual,
enters the first major of the year as the favorite. He has won each
of his last two starts, capturing the Bay Hill Invitational and
The Players Championship in consecutive weeks. The No. 1 player
in the world is also trying to win his fourth consecutive major
title, as he won the U.S. and British Opens and the PGA Championship
last summer.
David Duval,
who has tied for third, sixth and second in each of the past three
Masters, will participate this week after recovering from a wrist
injury. He will play with Scotland's Colin Montgomerie and Jonathan
Kaye.
Other featured
groups include three-time champion Nick Faldo, Scott Hoch and Jeff
Maggert; two-time runner-up Davis Love III, Padraig Harrington and
Chris Perry; Jim Furyk, Jesper Parnevik and Rocco Mediate; two-time
champion Ben Crenshaw, Nick Price and Franklin Langham; and 1991
winner Ian Woosnam, Sergio Garcia and PGA runner-up Bob May, who
is making his Masters debut.
Three-time
champion Sam Snead and two-time winner Byron Nelson will hit the
ceremonial tee shots to open play at 8:00 a.m. (et) on Thursday.
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