Teenager starts alongside Woods
AUGUSTA, Georgia (Reuters) -- World No. 1 Tiger Woods has been grouped with Dane Thomas Bjorn and 2003 U.S. amateur runner-up Casey Wittenberg for the first two rounds of the U.S. Masters.
Three-times champion Woods will launch his bid for a first major victory since the 2002 U.S. Open at 1330 local time (1730 GMT) on Thursday at Augusta.
Title holder Mike Weir has drawn 1997 British Open champion Justin Leonard and Australia's Nick Flanagan, who edged out Wittenberg for the amateur crown.
They start at 1319 (1719) on Thursday.
British Open champion Ben Curtis will tee off at 0928 (1328) with New Zealand's Michael Campbell and Fredrik Jacobson of Sweden.
Shaun Micheel, who is the U.S. PGA champion, has an 0950 (1350) start with seven-times European No. 1 Colin Montgomerie of Britain and 50-year-old fellow American Jay Haas.
Woods, meanwhile, took a trip down memory lane after learning that he was paired.
"I played with Casey today, and he's 19," Woods told a news conference on Tuesday after completing his second practice round of the week.
"I was trying to remember back when I first played in my first Masters (in 1995) and I was 19 years old. It's hard to believe that it was 10 years ago."
Groupings and tee off times for the first two rounds of the U.S. Masters at the par-72 Augusta National course on Thursday and Friday (all times GMT, U.S. unless stated, x denotes amateur):
1200-1507 - Tommy Aaron, Charles Coody, Sandy Lyle (Britain)
1211-1518 - Fred Funk, Peter Lonard (Australia), Jonathan Kaye
1222-1529 - Chris DiMarco, Justin Rose (Britain), Rocco Mediate
1233-1540 - Gary Player (South Africa), Ben Crenshaw, Larry Mize
1244-1551 - Tom Watson, x-Gary Wolstenholme (Britain), Briny Baird
1255-1602 - Rich Beem, Jerry Kelly, Paul Lawrie (Britain)
1306-1613 - Nick Faldo (Britain), Scott Verplank, Angel Cabrera (Argentina)
1317-1624 - Fred Couples, x-Brandt Snedeker, David Toms
1328-1635 - Ben Curtis, Michael Campbell (N. Z.), Fredrik Jacobson (Sweden)
1339-1646 - Arnold Palmer, x-Nathan Smith, Bob Estes
1350-1657 - Shaun Micheel, Jay Haas, Colin Montgomerie (Britain)
1401-1708 - Craig Stadler, Stuart Appleby (Australia), Kenny Perry
1412-1719 - Phil Mickelson, Shigeki Maruyama (Japan), Darren Clarke (Britain)
1423-1730 - Vijay Singh (Fiji), Padraig Harrington (Ireland), John Daly
1434-1741 - Bernhard Langer (Germany), Sergio Garcia (Spain), Zhang Lian-wei (China)
1456-1200 - Jonathan Byrd, Craig Parry (Australia), Ian Poulter (Britain)
1507-1211 - Chris Riley, Tim Clark (South Africa), Jeff Maggert
1518-1222 - Jeff Sluman, Stephen Leaney (Australia), Paul Casey (Britain)
1529-1233 - Brad Faxon, Trevor Immelman (South Africa), Steve Flesch
1540-1244 - Tim Herron, Phillip Price (Britain), Bob Tway
1551-1255 - Raymond Floyd, Stewart Cink, Craig Perks (New Zealand)
1602-1306 - Ian Woosnam (Britain), Len Mattiace, Todd Hamilton
1613-1317 - Fuzzy Zoeller, Kirk Triplett, Eduardo Romero (Argentina)
1624-1328 - Nick Price (Zimbabwe), Charles Howell, JL Lewis
1635-1339 - Chad Campbell, Adam Scott (Australia), KJ Choi
1646-1350 - Jack Nicklaus, Toshi Izawa (Japan), Alex Cejka (Germany)
1657-1401 - Mark O'Meara, Ernie Els (South Africa), Robert Allenby (Australia)
1708-1412 - Jose Maria Olazabal (Spain), Davis Love, Retief Goosen (S.A.)
1719-1423 - Mike Weir (Canada), x-Nick Flanagan (Australia), Justin Leonard
1730-1434 - Tiger Woods, x-Casey Wittenberg, Thomas Bjorn (Denmark)
1741-1445 - John Rollins, Brian Davis (Britain), Tim Petrovic