The first major golf tournament of the year begins Thursday at Augusta National, and all eyes will be on Tiger Woods as he competes in his first Masters tournament since 2015.
If you told any golf fan six months ago that Woods would be playing in the Masters and would be considered one of the favorites to win, they would more than likely call you crazy. But after two straight top-5 finishes at the Valspar Championship and Arnold Palmer Invitational, Woods is considered among the favorites to win the green jacket.
Besides the four-time winner Woods, 2015 Masters winner Jordan Spieth is another overall favorite at 10-1 odds. Spieth is coming off a top-3 finish at the Houston Open and is looking to win his second green jacket.
Top-ranked golfer in the world Dustin Johnson, 2018 FedEx Cup leader Justin Thomas, and Rory McIlroy are next at 12-1.
Thomas hasn’t played since losing to Phil Mickelson in a playoff at the WGC-Mexico Championship in early March but was the PGA Tour wins leader in 2017, including his first major championship at last year’s PGA Championship, so look for him to be in contention come Sunday.
Mickelson has failed to make the cut in two of his last four Masters, but the three-time Masters champion has been playing well lately and is among the favorites at 15-1 after winning his first tournament since 2013 at the WGC-Mexico Championship.
Defending champ Sergio Garcia is back to defend his title after defeating Justin Rose in a playoff in last year’s tournament. It was Garcia’s first major championship in 74 major starts – the most by any pro before winning.
Coverage of the Masters begins Thursday at 8:30 a.m. on CBS Sports Network and CBSSports.com as well as ESPN from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The final two rounds can be seen on CBS starting at 2 p.m.
Thursday/Friday Tee Times (all times ET)
8:30 a.m./11:15 a.m. -- Austin Cook, Ted Potter, Jr., Wesley Bryan
8:41 a.m./11:26 a.m. -- Ian Woosnam, Ryan Moore, Jhonattan Vegas
8:52 a.m./11:37 a.m. -- Mike Weir, Brendan Steele, Matt Parziale (a)
9:03 a.m./11:48 a.m. -- Jose Maria Olazabal, Kevin Chappell, Dylan Frittelli
9:14 a.m./11:59 a.m. -- Bryson DeChambeau, Bernd Wiesberger, Matthew Fitzpatrick
9:25 a.m./12:10 p.m. -- Mark O'Meara, Brian Harman, Harry Ellis (a)
9:36 a.m./12:32 p.m. -- Vijay Singh, Satoshi Kodaira, Daniel Berger
9:47 a.m./12:43 p.m. -- Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Pat Perez, Francesco Molinari
9:58 a.m./12:54 p.m. -- Danny Willett, Kyle Stanley, Jason Dufner
10:09 a.m./1:05 p.m. -- Hideki Matsuyama, Patton Kizzire, Paul Casey
10:31 a.m./1:16 p.m. -- Zach Johnson, Martin Kaymer, Branden Grace
10:42 a.m./1:27 p.m. -- Tiger Woods, Marc Leishman, Tommy Fleetwood
10:53 a.m./1:38 p.m. -- Sergio Garcia, Justin Thomas, Doc Redman (a)
11:04 a.m./1:49 p.m. -- Bubba Watson, Henrik Stenson, Jason Day
11:15 a.m./2 p.m. -- Patrick Reed, Charley Hoffman, Adam Hadwin
11:26 a.m./8:30 a.m. -- Billy Horschel, Chez Reavie, Cameron Smith
11:37 a.m./8:41 a.m. -- Sandy Lyle, Si Woo Kim, Doug Ghim (a)
11:48 a.m./8:52 a.m. -- Trevor Immelman, Ian Poulter, Patrick Cantlay
11:59 a.m./9:03 a.m. -- Angel Cabrera, Ross Fisher, Jimmy Walker
12:10 p.m./9:14 a.m. -- Fred Couples, Haotong Li, Joaquin Niemann (a)
12:32 p.m./9:25 a.m. -- Larry Mize, Russell Henley, Shubhankar Sharma
12:43 p.m./9:36 a.m. -- Bernhard Langer, Tony Finau, Yuta Ikeda
12:54 p.m./9:47 a.m. -- Charl Schwartzel, Webb Simpson, Yuxin Lin (a)
1:05 p.m./9:58 a.m. -- Kevin Kisner, Thomas Pieters, Xander Schauffele
1:16 p.m./10:09 a.m. -- Gary Woodland, Yusaku Miyazato, Tyrrell Hatton
1:27 p.m./10:31 a.m. -- Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler, Matt Kuchar
1:38 p.m./10:42 a.m. -- Adam Scott, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm
1:49 p.m./10:53 a.m. -- Jordan Spieth, Alex Noren, Louis Oosthuizen
2:00 p.m./11:04 a.m. -- Justin Rose, Dustin Johnson, Rafa Cabrera Bello
