Masters tee times 2015: Featured groups, pairings for Friday’s round

Augusta National played about as benign as it will get in the first round, and Jordan Spieth cruised to an 8-under score of 64. Sure, Spieth caught a few fortunate bounces but it also looked like the round might set a new major championship record and get to 10-under when he had about four holes to go. A bogey at the 15th tripped that up, but that record-low number was out there, and possible.

Expect no such opportunities in Friday’s second round. Even if a player does get incredibly hot and go three strokes lower than the rest of the field, the green jackets should have things stiffened up for the second loop. Saturday typically presents the toughest setup and conditions. But after some of the scores, and multiple players publicly stating that the greens seemed slow and receptive to approach shots, they’re likely to make Friday more difficult.

Spieth will find out early. After playing Thursday on the afternoon side of the draw, he’ll go with Billy Horschel and Henrik Stenson at 9:57 a.m. ET. At many majors, the morning conditions are generally preferable. The greens are cleaner and unperturbed, and the wind is often not yet up. Charley Hoffman and Justin Rose went out early on Thursday and posted quick 67s to get to 5-under. Hoffman did it in the very first group of the day, playing a twosome and getting into the house before lunch. Spieth is not that early, but he does have an opportunity to run out and really post another statement round for all the guys coming behind him, including world No. 1 Rory McIlroy.

Rory and Phil Mickelson will headline the afternoon side of the draw. They play with Ryan Moore at 1:48 p.m. ET in the penultimate group on the tee sheet. McIlroy had an uneven first round, hitting most of his fairways but playing a ton of loose iron shots. Grinding out a 1-under round is probably something he’d take given some of the struggles he had at the start of his first opportunity to complete the career slam.

Mickelson had his typical Masters round -- a couple birdies, an eagle, some sloppy bogeys to give it back, and a few outstanding par saves. He finished in the red at 2-under, good enough for T12. After missing the cut last year, and not playing well in the intervening months, the three-time champ does appear to be on-track to make the weekend. Whether he can make a run at Spieth and the top of the leaderboard is a different proposition.

Because this is the Masters, the TV coverage will again be archaically restrictive on Friday. ESPN will not come on the air until 3 p.m. ET, after the completion of Spieth’s round and Tiger Woods’ round. Oh, about him (we just got pretty far into this without even mentioning his name): Tiger’s return was a significant improvement over the wreck we saw earlier this year. His short game actually wasn’t the problem in a 1-over 73.

Tiger drove it well enough off the tee, chipped beautifully, and putted just fine. But his irons were a mess and kept him from posting a good score. He’s not going to contend with that game, but at least he can make the cut and not embarrass himself. Tiger goes out with Jimmy Walker and Jamie Donaldson at 10:30 a.m. ET. And no, you won’t be able to see his round. TV won’t be live yet, and he’s not on one of the featured groups streams. All you’ll get are his shots at 11th through the 13th on the Amen Corner stream, his play on the 15th and 16th holes stream, and maybe his last hole of the day if the round goes long and runs into ESPN’s telecast start at 3 p.m.

Here’s the full tee sheet for the second round: