Masters 2020 Tee Times and Pairings for Augusta National Golf Club Announced

Tiger Woods will begin defense of his fifth Masters title Thursday at 7:55 a.m. ET alongside Shane Lowry and Andy Ogletree at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia.

The tournament announced the tee times and pairings for the first two rounds Tuesday. Players will play off split tees, Nos. 1 and 10, a break from tradition necessitated by a lack of daylight. Thursday features a 6:57 a.m. sunrise and a 5:26 p.m. sunset, leaving just 10 hours and 29 minutes of possible light.

Here's a look at the start times for some high-profile groups:

• 7:33 a.m./11:38 a.m.: Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, Louis Oosthuizen
• 7:44 a.m./11:49 a.m.: Patrick Reed, Paul Casey, Tony Finau
• 7:55 a.m./noon: Tiger Woods, Shane Lowry, Andy Ogletree
• 11:27 a.m./7:22 a.m.: Phil Mickelson, Abraham Ancer, Bernd Wiesberger
• 11:38 a.m./7:33 a.m.: Adam Scott, Collin Morikawa, Tyrrell Hatton
• 11:49 a.m./7:44 a.m.: Justin Thomas, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Brooks Koepka
• Noon/7:55 a.m.: Dustin Johnson, Patrick Cantlay, Rory McIlroy
• 12:11 p.m./8:06 a.m.: Zach Johnson, Justin Rose, Cameron Champ

Woods' triumph in last year's Masters capped one of the greatest comebacks in golf history. He posted a two-under par 70 in the final round to overcome a two-shot deficit for his first major championship since the 2008 U.S. Open, bringing him to 15 in his Hall of Fame career.

"I had serious doubts [about my golf future] after what transpired a couple years ago," he told reporters after the Masters win about the back problems that limited him to 19 PGA Tour starts from 2014 through 2017. "I could barely walk. I couldn't sit. Couldn't lay down. I really couldn't do much of anything."

Woods' form has dipped throughout much of 2020, though. He's finished no better than 37th since February, including a missed cut in September's U.S. Open and a 72nd place in the Zozo Championship last month after winning that event in 2019, albeit on a different course.

It makes the 44-year-old fan favorite a relative long shot heading into his 23rd appearance at Augusta.

Bryson DeChambeau, who won the U.S. Open and is threatening to revolutionize the game with his distance off the tee much in the way Tiger did in his prime, is the player to beat in the year's final major.

It's a loaded field, however, with Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm among the other chief contenders.

Fans have become accustomed to unique nature of the 2020 sports calendar amid the coronavirus pandemic. Whether it was a Kentucky Derby in early September, the NHL crowning its champion in late September, the NBA Finals in October or a 60-game MLB season, it's been a year unlike any other.

So perhaps it's fitting that one of the final marquee stops is the Masters, long called a "tradition unlike any other." It happens during the changing colors of fall rather than dawn of spring, but the quest for the green jacket will still be one of the hallmark moments of the sports year.