Weir draws morning start for Masters Opening Round

by Golf Canada

Phil Mickelson will begin defence of his Masters title at 1:48 pm ET on Thursday in a group that includes Australian Geoff Ogilvy and top amateur Peter Uihlein.

Former U.S. Open champion Ogilvy will be competing in his sixth Masters while U.S. amateur champion Uihlein will be making his debut.

Mickelson, who completed his preparations for the season's opening major with victory at the Houston Open on Sunday, was scheduled in the penultimate group of the day with the trio of Jhonny Vegas, Gary Woodland and Alvaro Quiros the final pairing of the first round.

Canada's Mike Weir has a 9:35 tee time. The 2003 champion will be joined by Hiroyuki Fujita of Japan, making his Masters debut, and South Africa's Retief Goosen.

Tiger Woods is paired with U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell, who scored a come-from-behind win at Tiger's Chevron championship last year. Australia's Robert Allenby rounds out the threesome at 10:41 am ET.

In a trio of young guns, Rickie Fowler and Rory McIlroy are joined by Jason Day of Australia while world number one Martin Kaymer is joined by number two Lee Westwood and American Matt Kuchar.

Another pairing of note will see Ryder Cup captains Jose Maria Olazabal and Davis Love III joined by amateur Lion Kim.

Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus again will be honorary starters.

Thursday - Friday Masters Pairings (All Times EDT)

a - denotes amateur

(first time listed is Thursday, second time listed is Friday)

7:45 a.m.-10:52 a.m. - Jonathan Byrd, Ross Fisher, Sean O'Hair

7:56 a.m.-11:03 a.m. - Sandy Lyle, Alexander Cejka, a-David Chung

8:07 a.m.-11:14 a.m. - Jerry Kelly, Camilo Villegas, Jeff Overton

8:18 a.m.-11:25 a.m. - Ben Crenshaw, Brandt Snedeker, Kevin Na

8:29 a.m.-11:36 a.m. - Mark O'Meara, Anders Hansen, Heath Slocum

8:40 a.m.-11:47 a.m. - Dustin Johnson, Adam Scott, Nick Watney

8:51 a.m.-12:09 p.m. - Vijay Singh, Tim Clark, Aaron Baddeley

9:02 a.m.-12:20 p.m. - Gregory Havret, Carl Pettersson, Ryan Palmer

9:13 a.m.-12:31 p.m. - Martin Laird, Mark Wilson, Bo Van Pelt

9:24 a.m.-12:42 p.m. - Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler, Jason Day

9:35 a.m.-12:53 p.m. - Mike Weir, Hiroyuki Fujita, Retief Goosen

9:57 a.m.-1:04 p.m. - Padraig Harrington, Ryo Ishikawa, Bill Haas

10:08 a.m.-1:15 p.m. - Larry Mize, Rory Sabbatini, a-Jin Jeong

10:19 a.m.-1:26 p.m. - Martin Kaymer, Lee Westwood, Matt Kuchar

10:30 a.m.-1:37 p.m. - Hunter Mahan, Ernie Els, Francesco Molinari

10:41 a.m.-1:48 p.m. - Tiger Woods, Graeme McDowell, Robert Allenby

10:52 a.m.-1:59 p.m. - Arjun Atwal, Sergio Garcia, Robert Karlsson

11:03 a.m.-7:45 a.m. - Charl Schwartzel, Stuart Appleby, Charley Hoffman

11:14 a.m.-7:56 a.m. - Ian Woosnam, D.A. Points, Ben Crane

11:25 a.m.-8:07 a.m. - Craig Stadler, Kevin Streelman, a-Nathan Smith

11:36 a.m.-8:18 a.m. - Peter Hanson, Kyung-Tae Kim, Ryan Moore

11:47 a.m.-8:29 a.m. - Angel Cabrera, Ian Poulter, David Toms

12:09 p.m.-8:40 a.m. - Trevor Immelman, Lucas Glover, a-Hideki Matsuyama

12:20 p.m.-8:51 a.m. - Zach Johnson, Yong-Eun Yang, Miguel Angel Jimenez

12:31 p.m.-9:02 a.m. - Jose Maria Olazabal, Davis Love III, a-Lion Kim

12:42 p.m.-9:13 a.m. - Tom Watson, Ricky Barnes, Jason Bohn

12:53 p.m.-9:24 a.m. - Fred Couples, Luke Donald, Steve Stricker

1:04 p.m.-9:35 a.m. - Anthony Kim, Henrik Stenson, Steve Marino

1:15 p.m.-9:57 a.m. - Bubba Watson, Paul Casey, Edoardo Molinari

1:26 p.m.-10:08 a.m. - Stewart Cink, Jim Furyk, Yuta Ikeda

1:37 p.m.-10:19 a.m. - Justin Rose, K.J. Choi, Louis Oosthuizen

1:48 p.m.-10:30 a.m. - Phil Mickelson, Geoff Ogilvy, a-Peter Uihlein

1:59 p.m.-10:41 a.m. - Jhonattan Vegas, Gary Woodland, Alvaro Quiros