Tiger paired with Cabrera and Appleby

Tiger Woods will launch his bid for a 14th major title in the company of U.S. Open champion Angel Cabrera of Argentina and Australia's Stuart Appleby at this week's U.S. Masters.

A four-times winner of the year's opening major, Woods is scheduled to tee off at 10:45 a.m. local (3:45 p.m. British time) in Thursday's opening round at Augusta National Golf Club.

"I'm looking forward to this week," the American world number one told reporters after playing nine holes in practice on Tuesday.

"It's our first major and the golf course is a little soft right now but I'm sure it will speed up come Thursday. Overall, this golf course, as usual, is in pristine shape."

Overwhelming favourite to claim the title for a fifth time, Woods has been virtually unstoppable this year, winning his first four tournaments before finishing fifth at last month's WGC-CA Championship in Miami.

"It's just another week," said Woods, who has triumphed nine times in 11 starts worldwide since last August. "You've got to be focused and ready to come on Thursday and get everything going the right way."

Twice Masters champion Phil Mickelson has been drawn with Argentina's Andres Romero and K.J. Choi of South Korea for the first two rounds. They start at 1341 (1731) on Thursday in the third-last group.

Fijian Vijay Singh, who won the 2000 Masters, will tee off with Americans Steve Stricker and Stewart Cink at 1330, one group in front of Mickelson and company.

British Open champion Padraig Harrington has a 1034 start with 2003 Masters winner Mike Weir of Canada and India's Jeev Milkha Singh.

South African world number three Ernie Els has been grouped with seventh-ranked American Jim Furyk and Shingo Katayama of Japan. They tee off in the penultimate group at 1352.

First off following a ceremonial tee shot by golfing great Arnold Palmer will be 2003 British Open champion Ben Curtis and fellow American Shaun Micheel, winner of the 2003 PGA Championship.

Groupings for the first two rounds of this week's U.S. Masters at Augusta National Golf Club (for GMT add four hours, U.S. players unless stated):

First round: Thursday, April 10
Second round: Friday, April 11

0800 - 1107 - Ben Curtis, Shaun Micheel
0811 - 1118 - Fuzzy Zoeller, Brett Wetterich, Heath Slocum
822 - 1129 - Mark O'Meara, *Trip Kuehne, Ian Poulter (Britain)
0833 - 1140 - Larry Mize, Peter Lonard (Australia), Hunter Mahan
0844 - 1151 - Gary Player (South Africa), Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain), D.J. Trahan
0855 - 1202 - Justin Leonard, Charles Howell III, Nick Watney
0906 - 1224 - Scott Verplank, Robert Allenby (Australia), Michael Campbell (New Zealand)
0917 - 1235 - Ben Crenshaw, *Michael Thompson, Nick O'Hern (Australia)
0928 - 1246 - Steve Lowery, Robert Karlsson (Sweden), Nick Dougherty (Britain)
0939 - 1257 - Fred Couples, Jerry Kelly, Anders Hansen (Denmark)
0950 - 1308 - Vaughn Taylor, Martin Kaymer (Germany), Arron Oberholser
1012 - 1319 - Jose Maria Olazabal (Spain), Liang Wen-Chong (China), Rory Sabbatini (South Africa)
1023 - 1330 - Zach Johnson, Luke Donald (Britain), Geoff Ogilvy (Australia)
1034 - 1341 - Mike Weir (Canada), Padraig Harrington (Ireland), Jeev Milka Singh (India)
1045 - 1352 - Tiger Woods, Angel Cabrera (Argentina), Stuart Appleby (Australia)
1056 - 1403 - Justin Rose (Britain), Henrik Stenson (Sweden), Toru Taniguchi (Japan)
1107 - 0800 - Todd Hamilton, Brian Bateman
1118 - 0811 - Craig Stadler, Johnson Wagner, Steve Flesch
1129 - 0822 - Ian Woosnam (Britain), Richard Green (Australia), Stephen Ames (Canada)
1140 - 0833 - Boo Weekley, Trevor Immelman (South Africa), Sean O'Hair
1151 - 0844 - Sandy Lyle (Britain), John Rollins, J.B. Holmes
1202 - 0855 - Soren Hansen (Denmark), Daniel Chopra, Richard Sterne (South Africa)
1224 - 0906 - Tom Watson, Brandt Snedeker, John Senden (Australia)
1235 - 0917 - Tim Clark (South Africa), David Toms, Niclas Fasth (Sweden)
1246 - 0928 - Raymond Floyd, *Drew Weaver, Jonathan Byrd
1257 - 0939 - Bernhard Langer (Germany), Prayad Marksaeng (Thailand), Woody Austin
1308 - 0950 - Bubba Watson, Sergio Garcia (Spain), Mark Calcavecchia
1319 - 1012 - Adam Scott (Australia), Paul Casey (Britain), Retief Goosen (South Africa)
1330 - 1023 - Vijay Singh (Fiji), Steve Stricker, Stewart Cink
1341 - 1034 - Phil Mickelson, Andres Romero (Argentina), K.J. Choi (South Korea)
1352 - 1045 - Ernie Els (South Africa), Shingo Katayama (Japan), Jim Furyk
1403 - 1056 - Aaron Baddeley (Australia), Camilo Villegas (Colombia), Lee Westwood (Britain)