AUGUSTA, Georiga, April 7 (Reuters) - Rory McIlroy will launch his Masters title defense on Thursday alongside world number three Cameron Young and amateur Mason Howell.
McIlroy, bidding to become only the fourth player to repeat as Masters champion, will go out in the 15th group at 10:31 a.m. ET (1431 GMT), two groups behind Bryson DeChambeau, Matt Fitzpatrick and Xander Schauffele.
World number one Scottie Scheffler, looking to hold three major titles at the same time following wins at last year's
PGA Championship and British Open, will tee off in the day's penultimate group with Scotland's Robert MacIntyre and 2019 U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland.
Former Masters champion Jon Rahm, one of 10 players from the Saudi-backed LIV Golf circuit in the field at Augusta National this week, will set off at 1:08 p.m. ET in the company of Masters debutant Chris Gotterup and Sweden's Ludvig Aberg.
They will be followed around the course by a trio consisting of five-time major winner Brooks Koepka, who is playing his first major since leaving LIV, 2025 Masters runner-up Justin Rose and Jordan Spieth.
Masters debutant John Keefer will hit the first competitive shot of the week when he sets out at 7:40 a.m. ET alongside China's Li Haotong after honorary starters Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson hit shots off the first tee.
The forecast for Thursday is for a low of 46 degrees Fahrenheit (7.8 degrees Celsius) and a high of 73 F with partly cloudy skies and breezy conditions.
McIlroy beat Rose in a playoff at last year's Masters to become the sixth man to complete the career Grand Slam of golf's four majors.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
