Woods in second-last group for Masters

The sporting world will have to wait until 1.42pm on Thursday - 6.42pm British Summer Time - to see the first shot that Tiger Woods has hit in competition for 144 days.

Woods, out of golf since his life was turned upside down by a sex scandal at the end of November, has been put in the penultimate group for the opening round of The Masters at Augusta.

The world number one will tee off with fellow American Matt Kuchar and Korean KJ Choi, both of whom should prepare themselves for one of the toughest day's work they have ever had.

But it will not be easy for England's Ian Poulter either. The World Match Play champion is in the group immediately ahead - and that inevitably means having to deal with a lot of crowd distractions too as everyone tries to get in position to see Woods on his return to action.

Poulter is paired with world number two Steve Stricker and also Japan's Yuta Ikeda at the start of an event he hopes will see him complete an incredible journey from four-handicapper when he turned professional in 1994 to major champion.