Hey, Vinod in Singapore and David C in Texas …

According to the pairings that just came out, this shapes up as a key opening round for Tiger Woods. He tees off at 10:45 a.m. and has the morning stage all to himself, what with most of the "marquee" players grouped in the afternoon.

I know you can’t win the Masters on Thursday, but Woods has never broken 70 in the first round. If he breaks that streak and posts a low number, he already puts pressure on the other contenders, especially these rivals who have four start times in a row:

1:19 p.m. – Adam Scott (with Paul Casey and Retief Goosen).

1:30 p.m. – Vijay Singh (with Steve Stricker and Stewart Cink).

1:41 p.m. – Phil Mickelson (with Andres Romero and K.J. Choi).

1:52 p.m. – Ernie Els (with Shingo Katayama and Jim Furyk).

By the time those guys finish, Woods might be lounging on a couch at his house, as well as sitting comfortably atop the leader board.