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The Masters: The best first and second round pairings

By Cameron La Fontaine

Feb 5, 2015; La Jolla, CA, USA; Tiger Woods tees off on the 14th during the first round of the Farmers Insurance Open golf tournament at Torrey Pines Municipal Golf Course - North Course. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 5, 2015; La Jolla, CA, USA; Tiger Woods tees off on the 14th during the first round of the Farmers Insurance Open golf tournament at Torrey Pines Municipal Golf Course - North Course. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports /
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Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy were grouped along with some great other featured matchups for the first two rounds of the 2015 Masters tournament.

Some of the best groupings for the Masters we’ve seen for the first two rounds were announced Tuesday and they are sure to create excitement, even early in the tournament. Here are some of the most interesting groupings going into the first two rounds of the PGA Tour’s first major tournament of the year:

The world No. 1, Rory McIlroy, along with three-time Masters champion Phil Mickelson, will create a fantastic featured group for the first two days. Joing Mickelson and McIlroy is Ryan Moore, who is playing great on the PGA Tour this season after a win at the CIMB Classic and two top-10 finishes in his last three events.

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Rory McIlroy, at age 25, is looking to complete the PGA Tour major tournament grand slam after he won the British Open and PGA Championship in 2014. Plus, he has won the U.S. Open twice in his career already. The only major he has left to conquer is the Masters, and he could join the exclusive list of grand slam winners that includes Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan, Gene Sarazen and Gary Player. A lot of pressure is on the young Northern Irishman this week at Augusta National and he’ll share his first two rounds with a guy who has worn the Green Jacket three times before. McIlroy’s best finish at the Masters is a T-8 finish in 2014.

Phil Mickelson won the Masters in 2004, 2006 and in 2010 and will look to win his fourth this week at Augusta National. The 44-year-old lefty is one of the best and consistent players at Augusta National and he’ll look to get off to a great start playing alongside McIlroy, who defeated him by one stroke in the 2014 PGA Championship back in August.

After taking a leave of absence from golf back in February due to his nagging back injury that kept him out of contention in 2014, 14-time major winner and 4-time Masters winner Tiger Woods announced that he will play in the 2015 Masters tournament after missing golf’s greatest event in 2014. Tiger Woods has finished in the top 10 at the Masters in each year he’s played since winning in 2005, except once in 2013.

Joining Tiger Woods is Jimmy Walker and Jamie Donaldson. Jimmy Walker is on the top of the FedEx Cup standings this season after he’s won the Sony Open and Valero Texas Open,  plus he’s added three other top 10 finishes.  Jamie Donaldson of Wales is a golfer who mainly plays on the European Tour, but he has played in seven PGA Tour events this season and has just one top 10 and missed cuts at his last two events. Donaldson was popular in the 2014 Ryder Cup for Team Europe, going 2-1 in paired matches and winning his Sunday singles match against Keegan Bradley to help Europe to a 16.5-11.5 victory.

This may be the best overall grouping for the first two rounds of the Masters. Jason Day, ranked fifth in the world, versus Rickie Fowler, ranked 13th in the world and Sergio Garcia, who is  ranked ninth.

Jason Day has never won a major, but finished second in 2011 in the Masters. He won the Farmers Insurance Open this year on the PGA Tour and has two more top 10 finishes. He’s hoping for that success to continue this week.

Rickie Fowler, 26, placed in the top five of all four PGA Tour majors last season and will look for his first major victory of his career at Augusta National this week, after finishing T-5 in 2014. Fowler has just one top-10 finish on tour this season back in November. He’ll be hoping that he can get his game back on track.

Sergio Garcia of Spain is another guy who has somehow not won a major championship yet in his golf career. Garcia has finished in the top five of each of the four majors in his career and will hope to get his best finish at Augusta National since finishing T-4 back in 2004.

Other notable groupings include the group of young American star Jordan Spieth with Henrik Stenson and Billy Horschel. Spieth has six top 10 finishes and one win this season on tour. Stenson has three top 10’s in the four events he’s played in. They’ll play alongside the 2014 FedEx Cup Champion Billy Horschel, who was a force to be reckoned with at the end of last season.

Bubba Watson, winner of the Green Jacket in 2012 and 2014, is paired with 2013 U.S. Open Champion Justin Rose and 21-year-old amateur Gunn Yang of South Korea.

Thursday and Friday should keep fans’ attention easily at the Masters with these stellar groupings for the first two rounds.

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