Masters 2013 tee times and schedule: Tiger Woods paired with Luke Donald, Scott Piercy

Tee times and pairings are now set for the 2013 Masters, which will begin bright and early Thursday morning at Augusta National Golf Club. Tiger Woods, who enters the week as the No. 1 player in the world and a heavy 3/1 favorite to win his fifth green jacket, will play with Scott Piercy and Luke Donald on Thursday and Friday at ANGC. Donald was one of the four players who held the No. 1 ranking during Woods absence, but he’s still searching for his first major victory. Piercy is a Masters rookie who has never been to Augusta, but will play his first competitive rounds there with the largest gallery that has ever surrounded him. They will go off at 10:45 a.m. ET on Thursday and at 1:41 p.m. ET on Friday.

Phil Mickelson, who squandered his shot at a fourth Masters win last year, will play with Louis Oosthuizen and Martin Kaymer through the first two rounds this year. Mickelson tends to play his best in the first quarter of the year rolling into Augusta, and he already has a 2013 victory at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. The veteran lefty will always be a fan favorite at this event, but he’s now one of the elders on the PGA Tour and playing with Oosthuizen, the hard-luck playoff loser to Bubba Watson last year. Mickelson’s group will tee off 1:30 p.m. ET on Thursday and 10:23 a.m. on Friday, highlighting coverage opposite Woods.

Here are some of the other top pairings and their Thursday times (all times ET):

Rory McIlroy, who is playing in the second-to-last group, is fresh off a second-place finish at San Antonio, a solid showing after an ugly first three months of the season. He and Keegan Bradley pair together to form arguably the top two young players in the world, with Bradley attempting to win his second major in the state of Georgia this week.

The Masters has the smallest field of any major, sometimes nearly half the field of the U.S. Open and PGA Championship. With just 93 players in the field, the tournament organizers have greater ability to shift tee times around and dodge inclement weather so it should not be an issue getting the first two rounds in before the weekend. Here are Friday’s tee times, when Tiger will be featured throughout the afternoon coverage: