AUGUSTA, Ga. » Past Sony Open in Hawaii champion K.J. Choi once said he wanted to be the first Asian to win the Masters. Not bloody likely this year.

About 30 minutes after Tiger Woods was done touring the back nine of the expansive course filled to the edge of the fairways with interested fans, the groupings and starting times for the 74th annual Masters were announced. Woods will be in the next-to-last group tomorrow with Matt Kuchar and, you guessed it, Choi.

Despite playing some of the best golf of his career the past two months, Choi drew the black marble yesterday when the pairing sheets were passed around the media room and to the golfers on the course. Choi was on the back nine of his practice round when hearing his fate, but said through a translator that he was excited about playing with Woods the first two days.

A lot has been made about the poor unsuspecting souls selected to tee it up with Woods the opening 36 holes, since so many patrons will be following Tiger's exploits. Some golf writers suggested blinders would be a good thing for Choi and Kuchar as they try to block out the periphery scrambling of patrons trying to position themselves for Woods' next shot.

Most folks like to stake out a favorite location, particularly on the closing holes, rather than attempting to navigate all 18 with any one golfer. But this year will be an exception with Woods playing for the first time since his self-imposed exile five months ago.

Woods' reception yesterday at the first tee of his practice round was warm, if a bit subdued. The ovations aren't like the ones a rock star receives when called back for an encore, but there has been no heckling, either.

A boisterous fan yelled, “;Go get 'em champ”; after Woods' opening drive shot down the left side of the fairway and into the rough near the dogleg. But once they play for real on Thursday, it's going to be a madhouse for nearly every shot the threesome makes. Woods is used to this, but Kuchar and Choi are not.

Woods tees it up at 7:42 a.m. Hawaii time tomorrow and 4:35 a.m. Hawaii time on Friday. The broadcast window for ESPN for the opening round is 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Hawaii time, which means most of Woods' back nine will be broadcast live. For Friday, the broadcast window is 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Hawaii time, which means Woods will be done by the time ESPN comes on air.

Being paired with Woods at the Masters is not a good thing. The average score for Woods' playing partners in the opening round is 74.71 on the par-72 course. Only three times has a playing partner shot better than Woods over the first 18 holes, including 2009 British Open champion Stewart Cink last year.

“;I've been paired with him a lot here,”; Cink said yesterday. “;It's always a little different playing with Tiger at the Masters than it is anywhere else, because the patron anticipation of his round and the scrutiny and everything is so intense here, that it just feels a little different than other places.”;

It is equally difficult for the group in front of Woods as patrons scramble to get a look at Woods' next shot. When Castle High product Dean Wilson teed it up here in 2007, he played his third round in front of Woods' group, but said afterward he was not distracted by all the commotion behind him.

Wilson remains the only golfer from Hawaii to make the cut. He just missed being paired with Woods in that third round and said he would not have minded playing with him on such a grand stage. This year, it promises to be an even bigger distraction, one the Masters committee has prepared for in some detail.

There are spots on the front nine, particularly the par-3 fourth, where watching Woods will prove troubling. The back nine, even Amen Corner, has plenty of room for the patrons. Hopefully for them, Woods will be around for the weekend. His two practice rounds have produced mixed results, but as many of the golf writers have said here this week, expect Woods to be in contention on the closing nine come Sunday.

As for Kuchar and Choi, they have played well the past few months as well. They also have had some success here on the famed 18-hole course and may even have been considered a long shot to win prior to yesterday's pairing announcement. But those odds just went up.

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Sports editor Paul Arnett covers golf for the Star-Bulletin. Watch for his reports from the Masters every day this week.