Play at Augusta National, for the first major championship of the golf season, starts Thursday with the following groupings (All times Eastern):

8:00 - B. Mayfair, I. Poulter
8:11 - S. Verplank, N. O'Hern, J. Durant
8:22 - L. Mize, T. Clark, T. Matteson
8:33 - S. Lyle, D. Wilson, B. Dredge
8:44 - B. Crenshaw, J. Kelly, D. Love III
8:55 - C. DiMarco, K. Ferrie, S. Stricker
9:06 - G. Player, J. Guerrier, V. Taylor
9:17 - A. Oberholser, N. Fasth, Z. Johnson
9:28 - T. Watson, C. Watabu, F. Funk
9:39 - M. O'Meara, D. Womack, S. Appleby
9:50 - B. Langer, R. Beem, C. Montgomerie
10:01 - C. Campbell, A. Cabrera, J. Henry
10:23 - M. Weir, K. Choi, H. Stenson
10:34 - F. Couples, G. Ogilvy, E. Els
10:45 - S. Garcia, B. Bryant, S. Katayama
10:56 - P. Mickelson, R. Ramsay, A. Scott
11:07 - J. Olazabal, C. Howell III, J. Rose
11:18 - S. Cink, T. Hamilton
11:29 - S. Ballesteros, C. Pettersson, P. Goydos
11:40 - I. Woosnam, T. Herron, R. Karlsson
11:51 - J. Furyk, R. Pampling, B. Curtis
12:02 - R. Floyd , M. Jimenez, J. Sluman
12:13 - R. Allenby, B. Wetterich, L. Westwood
12:24 - S. Micheel, J. Singh , B. Crane
12:46 - C. Stadler, D. Howell, S. Ames
12:57 - R. Goosen, J. Rollins, Y. Yang
1:08 - M. Campbell, L. Glover, R. Sabbatini
1:19 - F. Zoeller, D. Clarke, J. Edfors
1:30 - M. Calcavecchia, T. Bjorn, T. Pernice jr.
1:41 - P. Harrington, J. Kelly, L. Donald
1:52 - T. Woods, P. Casey, A. Baddeley
2:03 - V. Singh, B. Quigley, H. Tanihara
2:14 - T. Immelman, C. Villegas, D. Toms

Cannot wait.

Friday Groupings:

8:00 - S. Cink, T. Hamilton
8:11 - S. Ballesteros, C. Pettersson, P. Goydos
8:22 - I. Woosnam, T. Herron, R. Karlsson
8:33 - J. Furyk, R. Pampling, B. Curtis
8:44 - R. Floyd, M. Jimenez, J. Sluman
8:55 - R. Allenby, B. Wetterich, L. Westwood
9:06 - S. Micheel, J. Singh, B. Crane
9:28 - C. Stadler, D. Howell, S. Ames
9:39 - R. Goosen, J. Rollins, Y. Yang
9:50 - M. Campbell, L. Glover, R. Sabbatini
10:01 - F. Zoeller, D. Clarke, J. Edfors
10:12 - M. Calcavecchia, T. Bjorn, T. Pernice jr.
10:23 - P. Harrington, J. Kelly, L. Donald
10:34 - T. Woods, P. Casey, A. Baddeley
10:45 - V. Singh, B. Quigley, H. Tanihara
10:56 - T. Immelman, C. Villegas, D. Toms
11:07 - B. Mayfair, I. Poulter
11:18 - S. Verplank N. O'Hern J. Durant
11:29 - L. Mize, T. Clark, T. Matteson
11:40 - S. Lyle, D. Wilson, B. Dredge
11:51 - B. Crenshaw, J. Kelly, D. Love III
12:02 - C. DiMarco, K. Ferrie, S. Stricker
12:13 - G. Player, J. Guerrier, V. Taylor
12:24 - A. Oberholser, N. Fasth, Z. Johnson
12:35 - T. Watson, C. Watabu, F. Funk
12:46 - M. O'Meara, D. Womack, S. Appleby
12:57 - B. Langer, R. Beem, C. Montgomerie
1:08 - C. Campbell, A. Cabrera, J. Henry
1:30 - M. Weir, K. Choi, H. Stenson
1:41 - F. Couples, G. Ogilvy, E. Els
1:52 - S. Garcia, B. Bryant, S. Katayama
2:03 - P. Mickelson, R. Ramsay, A. Scott
2:14 - J. Olazabal, C. Howell III, J. Rose

T1 - Justin Rose -3 F -3 69 - - - 69
T1 - Brett Wetterich -3
T3 - David Howell -2
T3 - David Toms -2
T5 - Tim Clark -1
T5 - Vaughn Taylor -1
T5 - Zach Johnson -1
T5 - Rich Beem -1
T5 - J.J. Henry -1
T10 - Davis Love III E
T10 - Henrik Stenson E
T10 - Bart Bryant E
T10 - Tim Herron E
T10 - Jeev Milkha Singh E

A tough opening round, that saw Tiger shoot a one over 73, after finishing bogey, bogey and saw Phil shoot a four over 76, which isn't bad considering at one point he was six over.

Augusta is my favorite tournament, but it's turning into another U.S. Open now; not sure if I like that. The Sunday back-nine excitement was visibly missing last year, where Mickelson pretty much won by default.

You'll get winners by default occasionally in every tournament, usually the Masters is pretty good for excitement on the back nine, and with the tight scoring today, which is also expected tomorrow, I'm thinking it will be a close weekend.

Did anyone catch Tiger yelling "God Damn't" and throwing his club right in front of th camera? This guy has the worst mouth and temper of any professional golfer. I still love watching him though. This week should be great.

Tiger is just a real person, unlike the other drones...

If you have ever played golf, you know how god damn frustrating it is when everything is going wrong.

I applaud him for not covering it up.

The guy's got no class. Ever since he started the childish stuff on the course, I've been rooting for him to lose.

I'd like to see David Toms win on Sunday...

I don't mind Tiger, it's his caddie I can't stand.

Cut day at Augusta and the same tough conditions. The cut was made at +8, the highest it has been in a fair bit. Notable names missing the cut: Ernie Els, Colin Montgomerie and Sergio Garcia. Here are the top 10:

T1 B. Wetterich -2
T1 T. Clark -2
3 V. Taylor -1
T4 J. Kelly E
T4 V. Singh E
T4 Z. Johnson E
T4 J. Rose E
T8 D. Howell 1
T8 L. Glover 1
T8 P. Harrington 1
T8 B. Dredge 1
T8 S. Appleby 1
T8 G. Ogilvy 1

T15 T. Woods 3
T15 M. Weir 3
T27 P. Mickleson 5

Should be a very interesting weekend.

I'm sooooo glad that Sergio Garcia missed the cut. After that Eurotrash moron spit in the cup, I hope he never wins a major or any tournament to be exact.

Hooray for Fred Couples and Gary Player!

Holy shit...

+2 is the LEADER!!!

Tiger only 1 back...

I can't believe Tiger lost two strokes and he only had about 4-5 holes left to play yesterday when I quit watching otherwise he'd be at +1 and tied for the lead. I still think he's probably going to win this now that everyone else is playing so badly and leaders seem to have trouble holding up when Tiger is just a couple strokes behind on the final day. I see Tiger by a stroke!

This might be Tiger's first come from behind major win and it's the 10th anniversary of his first Masters win.

Woods is playing terrible golf, he has IMO wasted all the multiple chances his opponents gave him and won't win his fifth jacket. Appleby kicked himself out with the tee shot into the water, that leaves Johnson, Sabbatini and Goosen. My money is on Goosen

I would still bet on Tiger.

But yeah, it's gonna be him... or Goosen, unless he chokes.

Good lord!

And that's why you can't count Tiger out!

Looks like it's over. That guy just is on fire and can't miss anything and Tiger just bounce a shot right into the water. I know he prolly had to go for it since your 3 shots back but damn that was disappointing!

Tiger could go +2 with a birdie right here...

And Johnson just hit a bogey on 17, so he is +1...

Tiger can still get him!

Well thank goodness anybody but Tiger won -- he's surely the biggest baby in professional sports with his cursing, whining, spitting, club throwing, and tantrums.

Though I coulda gone with somebody other than Zach "Jesus Loves Me" Johnson...

LOL, Zach Johnson was funny with all of his praises to Jesus. I'm actually glad Tiger didn't win. Let someone else get paid. Did you guys see when Tiger hit his shot over that group of bystanders in Saturday's round? He went right over their heads and it looked like if he mis-hit the ball, a couple of them would have been killed. Man is this guy good or what. Strange though that Tiger kept hitting that pos driver of his. That guy is so ripped he could hit a 2 iron off the tee on every hole and be fine. I have no clue why he likes hitting all of his shots form behind trees.

I wonder why Jesus hates all the other golfers?

I was so pulling for Goosen. I thought if he had made that birdie at No. 9 and gone on to shoot a 66, it'd be considered one of the best major final rounds ever. The way he played the front nine was as good as it gets; too bad he couldn't follow it with Johnson's back nine.

Still, Sunday finally felt like Masters, unlike all the trainwrecks on Saturday.

If only Tiger had gotten that birdie on the 16th hole.