The Masters have announced Thursday's pairings

World number one Dustin Johnson faces a lengthy wait before beginning his bid for a fourth straight victory and a second major title in this week's Masters.

Johnson will be the penultimate player in the 94-man field to hit his opening tee shot at Augusta National after being drawn in the final group at 2.03pm (7.03pm Irish Time) local time on Thursday.

The US Open champion, who has finished sixth and fourth in the last two years, will partner two-time Masters winner Bubba Watson and US PGA champion Jimmy Walker in the opening two rounds of the year's first major.

Rory McIlroy will start his bid to become the sixth player to complete the career grand slam at 1.41pm, 6.41pm Irish time, in the company of Spain's Jon Rahm and Japan's Hideto Tanihara.

Around 20 minutes before McIlroy's group get underway, Shane Lowry will tee off with Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood at 6.19pm.

And defending champion Danny Willett, who is looking to join Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Nick Faldo in winning back-to-back titles, gets his campaign under way at 12.24pm alongside Matt Kuchar and Australian amateur Curtis Luck.

Matt Fitzpatrick tees off at 10.34am alongside 2015 champion Jordan Spieth and former world number one Martin Kaymer.

Spieth held a five-shot lead with nine holes to play 12 months ago, but bogeyed the 10th and 11th before running up a quadruple-bogey seven on the 12th.

See the tee times and groupings for the first two rounds of #themasters. https://t.co/E9C3FRDhd1 pic.twitter.com/4ugdRevwxT

— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 4, 2017

Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus will act as honorary starters at 7.40am, with Masters officials opting not to bring in a replacement for the late Arnold Palmer, who performed the role from 2007-2016 before his death last September.

American Russell Henley, who was the last man into the event by virtue of his victory in the Shell Houston Open, is in the first group out in the tournament proper at 8am alongside compatriot Daniel Summerhays.