The 2012 Masters tees off on Thursday morning at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. Tiger Woods will attempt to earn his first green jacket in seven years and his fifth overall, while world number one Rory McIlroy looks to take home his first Masters title and defending champion Charl Schwartzel looks to become the third South African winner in the last five years at Augusta.
While much of the talk early in the week has centered on the early greening of Augusta National – a course normally in full spring regalia of whites, pinks and pastels against the beautifully manicured green of the course – due to the unusually warm spring experienced by the entire East Coast, the talk today shifts to who’s playing when and with whom as the Masters has released the pairings and tee times for the 2012 tournament, the 75th annual Masters Tournament.
The Masters began in 1934, with Horton Smith winning the tournament with a score of four under par. It took three years off (1943, 1944 and 1945) for World War II, but continued again in 1946. The first non-American winner of the tournament was South Africa’s Gary Player in 1961, and Player – who won Augusta three times – was the only international winner until Spain’s Seve Ballesteros won in 1980.
The U.S.A. is still dominant in the Masters, having won seven of the 11 tournaments since 2000, although America has just one winner since 2007. The U.S. hopes don’t ride exclusively on Woods this weekend, but Tiger is the best shot that the Stars and Stripes have to win after earning his first PGA Tour victory in almost three years at the Arnold Palmer Invitational two weeks ago.
Here are the player pairings and tee times for the 2012 Masters Tournament:
GROUP 1 7:50 AM EDT C. Stadler, B. Steele, T. Clark
GROUP 2 8:01 AM EDT J. Olazabal, R. Garrigus, R. Lewis
GROUP 3 8:12 AM EDT L. Mize, P. Lawrie, A. Hansen
GROUP 4 8:23 AM EDT R. Fisher, R. Palmer, H. Frazar
GROUP 5 8:34 AM EDT B. Crenshaw, R. Karlsson, B. Macpherson
GROUP 6 8:45 AM EDT A. Scott, B. Van Pelt, M. Kaymer
GROUP 7 8:56 AM EDT S. Stricker, P. Harrington, S. Cink
GROUP 8 9:07 AM EDT A. Baddeley, K. Kim, L. Glover
GROUP 9 9:18 AM EDT K. Stanley, J. Day, B. Haas
GROUP 10 9:29 AM EDT T. Immelman, R. Fowler, J. Rose
GROUP 11 9:40 AM EDT T. Watson, J. Wagner, H. Matsuyama
GROUP 12 10:02 AM EDT M. Kuchar, G. Ogilvy, Y. Yang
GROUP 13 10:13 AM EDT G. Woodland, H. Stenson, A. Quiros
GROUP 14 10:24 AM EDT C. Schwartzel, K. Bradley, K. Kraft
GROUP 15 10:35 AM EDT T. Woods, M. Jimenez, S. Bae
GROUP 16 10:46 AM EDT L. Donald, F. Molinari, N. Watney
GROUP 17 10:57 AM EDT S. Verplank, S. O’Hair, G. Fernandez-Castano
GROUP 18 11:08 AM EDT M. O’Meara, C. Reavie, M. Laird
GROUP 19 11:19 AM EDT S. Lyle, S. Dyson, C. Mills
GROUP 20 11:30 AM EDT I. Woosnam, E. Molinari, K. Chappell
GROUP 21 11:41 AM EDT L. Oosthuizen, M. Wilson G. McDowell
GROUP 22 11:52 PM EDT Z. Johnson, I. Poulter, P. Cantlay
GROUP 23 12:14 PM EDT K. Na, F. Jacobson, B. Crane
GROUP 24 12:25 PM EDT J. Senden, J. Byrd, P. Casey
GROUP 25 12:36 PM EDT B. Langer, J. Dufner, C. Howell
GROUP 26 12:47 PM EDT M. Weir, B. Snedeker, W. Simpson
GROUP 27 12:58 PM EDT V. Singh, L. Westwood, J. Furyk
GROUP 28 1:09 PM EDT T. Bjorn, S. Stallings, R. Sabbatini
GROUP 29 1:20 PM EDT F. Couples, D. Clarke, R. Ishikawa
GROUP 30 1:31 PM EDT D. Toms, K. Choi, S. Garcia
GROUP 31 1:42 PM EDT A. Cabrera, R. McIlroy, B. Watson
GROUP 32 1:53 PM EDT P. Mickelson, H. Mahan, P. Hanson
