Masters 2016: Tee times, pairings for Sunday’s final round at Augusta

There is no bigger day in golf than Sunday at the Masters. It’s the most prestigious, intense round of golf of the season and Jordan Spieth has made it his second home.

For the third straight year, Spieth will go out in the final Sunday pairing at Augusta National. He’s quite used to it, that last weekend time, and he said as much on Friday night when he told ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi, “We’ve got a long time until we tee off tomorrow at 2:45ish. I know that tee time, we’ve had it the last two years.” It’s his third Masters and all he’s ever known was the anchor tee time on Sunday. It’s an astounding start to what could be decades of dominance at the season’s first major.

For the seventh straight round, Spieth will start with sole possession of the lead at the Masters. As familiar as that spot may be, he’s in a much more precarious position at the start of this Sunday. The first year, he was the young upstart without much pressure against Bubba Watson, who already had a green jacket and was the favorite. Last year, he had an insurmountable four-shot lead that was way too much for even the most world-class chasers like Phil Mickelson, Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy, and Tiger Woods. The lead gave those other guys absolutely no margin for error. This Sunday, he’ll start with a narrow one-shot lead and with a horrible taste in his mouth following a bogey-double bogey finish to end his third round. He threw three shots back to the field and when it was over, he said he planned to “break something” before moving on to the rest of his Saturday evening.

It’s not Bubba or Rose who will play with Spieth this time around in that final pairing, but a fresh-faced Augusta rookie that has never even played on a Sunday at a major championship. While he may be just two years older than Spieth, Smylie Kaufman is playing just his 18th PGA Tour event. He’s never been in the final group in any of those. Now he’s playing alongside the defending champ in the last tee time of the last round of the biggest golf event on the planet. We’re big fans of Smylie, so here’s hoping he can cast aside all that immense pressure given his limited experience.

It’s going to be a wild afternoon at Augusta. Spieth’s late stumble totally opened things up for the chasers, who include Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Hideki Matsuyama, Danny Willett, and still McIlroy, who is now out six groups earlier after fading Saturday next to Spieth.

Here’s the full tee sheet for Sunday’s final round:

Be sure to subscribe to SB Nation’s YouTube channel for highlight videos, features, analysis and more