Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry among later starters at the Masters

McIlroy will play alongside Ludvig Aberg and Akshay Bhatia for the first two rounds at Augusta National.

LATE START: Rory McIlroy walks up the 10th fairway during a practice round at the Masters golf tournament. Pic: AP Photo/Matt Slocum.

Rory McIlroy will be among the later starters as he bids to win the 89th Masters and complete the career grand slam.

McIlroy, who has won twice ahead of the Masters for the first time in his career, will play alongside Ryder Cup team-mate Ludvig Aberg and American Akshay Bhatia for the first two rounds at Augusta National, teeing off at 1.12pm local time (6.12pm Irish time) on Thursday.

Bryson DeChambeau, who edged out McIlroy to win his second US Open title at Pinehurst last year, is in the following group along with Shane Lowry and Hideki Matsuyama, followed by Jon Rahm, Wyndham Clark and Tommy Fleetwood.

Two-time winner Scottie Scheffler will begin the defence of his title at 10.15am local time (3.15pm Irish time) in the company of Justin Thomas and US Amateur champion Jose Luis Ballester.

With a field of 95 players, the first group of just two players, Davis Riley and Patton Kizzire, will tee off at 7.40am (12.40pm Irish time).

That follows the traditional honorary starters ceremony in which Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson tee off on the first hole.