The sun’s shining, the air is fresh, the grass is short. And that’s only in Ireland.
Imagine the scenes in Augusta.
It’s Masters week and the entire golfing nation has the fever – as well as fans of a comfortable distraction on a Sunday night watching beautiful scenery in a competitive environment. God, the golf’s great.
The first major of the golfing calendar gets underway on Thursday and there are some fascinating match-ups lined up for the first two rounds of the tournament.
Rory McIlroy tees off last on Thursday at 7.01pm Irish time and he’s grouped with Martin Kaymer and Bill Haas.
Shane Lowry is just before that at 6.50pm along with Angel Cabrera and American JB Holmes.
Graeme McDowell is out at 6.17pm with Fabian Gomez and Scott Piercy.
Darren Clarke tees off at the earlier time of 4.38pm (BST) with Billy Horschell and Englishman Matthew Fitzpatrick.
Here are the groupings for rounds one and two (tee times in Irish time).
1.20pm – Jim Herman, Steve Bowditch
1.31pm – Trevor Immelmen, Robert Streb, Derek Bard
1.42pm – Larry Mize, Victor Dubuisson, Kevin Streelman
1.53pm – Sandy Lyle, Bernd Wiesberger, Vaughn Taylor
2.04pm – Webb Simpson, Chris Wood, Thongchai Jaidee
2.15pm – Tom Watson, Charley Hoffman, Lee Westwood
2.26pm – Zach Johnson, Rickie Fowler, Cheng Jin
2.37pm – Louis Oosthuizen, Jason Dufner, Patrick Reed
2.48pm – Jordan Spieth, Paul Casey, Bryson Dechambeau
2.59pm – Justin Thomas, Emiliano Grillo, Dustin Johnson
3.21pm – Vijay Singh, Hideki Matsuyama, Chris Kirk
3.32pm – Harris English, Andy Sullivan, Kevin Na
3.43pm – Phil Mickelson, Marc Leishman, Henrik Stenson
3.54pm – Justin Rose, Jamie Donaldson, Daniel Berger
4.05pm – Adam Scott, Kevin Kisner, Brooks Koepka
4.16pm – Mike Weir, Cameron Smith, Sammy Schmitz
4.27pm – Ian Woosnam, Troy Merritt, Byeong-hun An
4.38pm – Darren Clarke, Billy Horschel, Matthew Fitzpatrick
4.49pm – Mark O’Meara, David Lingmerth, Paul Chaplet
5.00pm – Keegan Bradley, Brandt Snedeker, Kiradech Aphibarnrat
5.22pm – Charl Schwartzel, Davis Love III, Rafael Cabrera-Bello
5.33pm – Danny Lee, Russell Knox, Smylie Kaufman
5.44pm – Bubba Watson, Branden Grace, Ian Poulter
5.55pm – Bernhard Langer, Hunter Mahan, Romain Langasque (A)
6.06pm – Jason Day, Matt Kuchar, Ernie Els
6.17pm – Graeme McDowell, Fabian Gomez, Scott Piercy
6.28pm – Jimmy Walker, Soren Kjeldsen, Anirban Lahiri
6.39pm – Danny Willett, Sergio Garcia, Ryan Moore
6.50pm – Angel Cabrera, Shane Lowry, JB Holmes
7.01pm – Rory McIlroy, Martin Kaymer, Bill Haas
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