Tiger paired with Leishman, Fleetwood to start Masters

AUGUSTA, United States, April 3, (AFP): Tiger Woods makes his much-anticipated return to the Masters alongside Britain’s Tommy Fleetwood and Australian Marc Leishman on Thursday in the opening round of the 82nd Masters, according to tee times released Tuesday.

Augusta National Golf Club will send off the 14-time major winner, a four-time Masters champion who has missed the past two years battling back injuries, and his playing partners off the first tee at 10:42 am (1442 GMT).

Excitement has swirled around Woods this week after strong Masters tuneup efforts, including Day.

Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson, Jordan Spieth and Justin Rose highlight the four final groups of the opening round.

Three-time Masters winner and five-time major champion Mickelson tees off fourthfrom-last at 1:27 pm Thursday alongside fellow Americans Rickie Fowler and Matt Kuchar.

McIlroy, trying to complete a career Grand Slam by winning his first green jacket, follows at 1:38 alongside Spain’s third-ranked Jon Rahm and Aussie Adam Scott, the 2013 Masters winner.

Spieth, the 2015 Masters winner, goes off at 1:49 alongside South African Louis Oosthuizen, the 2010 British Open winner, and Sweden’s Alex Noren.

And the final Thursday trio includes world number one Dustin Johnson — who missed last year’s Masters after falling down a staircase on the eve of the first round — plus England’s Rose and Spain’s Rafael Cabrera-Bello.

Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama tees off Thursday at 10:09 am with American Patton Kizzire and England’s Paul Casey.

England’s Ian Poulter, the last Masters qualifier after winning the PGA Houston Open on Sunday, tees off at 11:48 am Thursday alongside American Patrick Cantlay and South Africa’s Trevor Immelman.

The first group off after honorary starters Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player tee off at 8:15 am will be an all-American 8:30 lineup of Austin Cook, Ted Potter Jr and Wesley Bryan. outside the top two places while Shanghai are eliminated, despite sitting three points behind second-placed Suwon, because of their inferior head-to-head record.

Two-time champions Guangzhou Evergrande also endured a frustrating evening as Fabio Cannavaro’s team were pegged back to a 1-1 draw by Buriram United in Group G.

Zheng Long put Evergrande in front and on course for a place in the next phase, only for Yoo Jun-soo to score two minutes into stoppage time to keep Buriram’s last 16 hopes intact.

Evergrande lead the group with nine points, one more than Cerezo Osaka, who defeated South Korea’s already eliminated Jeju United 2-1 to revitalise their own chances of advancing.

Meanwhile, last year’s beaten finalists Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia are already out after a 2-1 loss at Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates.

Al Ain are now in second place in Group D, with Iran’s Esteghlal progressing as a result of their 2-0 win over Qatar’s Al Rayyan. Al Hilal are bottom with two points.

In Group C, Iranian side Persepolis joined Al Sadd of Qatar in the next round with a 0-0 draw against Nasaf Qarshi from Uzbekistan.

Al Sadd defeated Al Wasl of the UAE 2-0 to move to the top of the group and into the last 16.

Earlier, Marcus Berg scored from the penalty spot twice as UAE’s Al Ain sent last year’s runners-up Al Hilal crashing out of the Asian Champions League on Monday.

The 2-1 defeat saw Al Hilal fail to add to their two points after five matches in Group D, as the Saudi giants exited in the group phase of the tournament for the first time since 2006.

It was Al Hilal who drew first blood, however, when Mohamed al-Burayk’s cracking freekick from 25 yards in the seventh minute beat Al Ain goalkeeper Khalid Eissa all ends up.