Masters golf 2022: When does Tiger Woods begin bid for glory? McIlroy, Rahm Thursday and Friday tee times, Augusta odds

Updated 06/04/2022 at 09:25 GMT

Tiger Woods will be roared on by a huge crowd at the 86th Masters on Thursday morning in Augusta. The 15-time major winner confirmed his plan to return to competitive tournament play only 14 months after suffering serious leg injuries in a life-threatening car crash. Woods is chasing a record-equalling sixth Green Jacket. For the latest news and sharpest analysis on golf, visit GolfDigest.com

As it stands, I'm playing and I can win says Woods ahead of Masters

Tiger Woods is due to play alongside 2010 Open champion Louis Oosthuizen and Los Angeles Open winner Joaquin Niemann as he begins his quest for a sixth Green Jacket at the 86th US Masters.

Woods has been handed a morning tee time for the first round on Thursday with his group out at 10:34am (3:34pm BST) before resuming for the second round at 1:41pm (6:41pm BST) on Friday afternoon.

The 15-time major winner will equal Jack Nicklaus' six wins around Augusta National between 1963 and 1986 if he can emerge triumphant on Sunday, but it is a miracle that 46-year-old Woods has managed to resume his professional career only 14 months after suffering life-threatening injuries in a car crash.

Masters

'Cried like a baby' – Scheffler wins 86th Masters as McIlroy roars back to claim second

11/04/2022 at 09:24

The global sporting icon suffered open fractures to both the tibia and the fibula in his right leg after losing control of his vehicle outside of Los Angeles on 23 February 2021.

He was rushed to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and subsequently transferred to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he spent three weeks and faced possible amputation.

Woods – Masters champion in 1997, 2001, 2002, 2005 and 2019 – admits the prospect of resuming his gilded 26-year professional career had looked doomed after being consigned to a hospital bed for three months.

"Well, at that time I was still in a hospital bed, and I was out for the next three months," he told a media conference on Tuesday.

I never left that hospital bed even to see my living room for three months. So that was a tough road.

"To finally get out of that where I wasn't in a wheelchair or crutches and walking and still had more surgeries ahead of me, to say that I was going to be here playing and talking to you guys again, it would have been very unlikely."

Rory McIlroy begins his latest quest to complete the career Grand Slam when he goes out with European Ryder Cup colleague Matthew Fitzpatrick and fellow four-time major winner Brooks Koepka in the final group on Thursday at 2:03pm (7:03pm BST).

Tournament favourite and US Open champion Jon Rahm starts out at 1:41pm (6:41pm BST) alongside Will Zalatoris and Patrick Cantlay.

Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson – with an astonishing 35 majors and 240 years between them – officially begin the tournament as honorary starters at 7:40am (12:40pm BST) on Thursday in Georgia.