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Struggling golfer Michael Campbell has being given a generous draw away from the spotlight for the opening two rounds of the US Masters.
Augusta National organisers have grouped Campbell with South African Rory Sabbatini and American Lucas Glover.
The trio will tee-off at 1.08pm local time on Thursday (6.08am Fri NZT) and five groups ahead one of the star trios of Tiger Woods, England's Paul Casey and Australia's Aaron Baddeley.
Defending champion, Phil Mickelson -- as is customary -- has been grouped with the reigning US Amateur champion, Richie Ramsay of Scotland along with Australia's in-form world No 3 Adam Scott.
That group will tee-up at 10.56am local time.
Campbell, accompanied by long-time caddy Michael Waite, played a nine-hole practice round from the 10th tee of the Augusta course today as he strives to get to grip with new swing changes introduced into his game by long-time coach, Jonathon Yarwood.
He was in trouble on a couple of occasions off the tee including hitting trees with an errant drive off the par five, 13th tee.
Yarwood disclosed last week during the Houston Open he has been working with Campbell in altering his down-swing so as to keep his legs a lot more stable and also seeking to get him to fire his right side better.
But Campbell arrived at Augusta last weekend for his seventh appearance with his game in disarray after Houston rounds of 80 and 75 left him second last.
The former US Open champ will tee-up on Thursday having missed the halfway cut in all previous six Augusta showings.
"It's been a rough start to this year, you could say, as I haven't broken 75 for a while but I am making some huge changes to my swing and hopefully they bear fruit this week," he said.
"So my scores don't really reflect on how I am feeling right now but this week is a new week so we'll see what happens.
"The thing is when you go through swing changes, like I have been the last few weeks, it's hard to take to the golf course some times.
"I'm hitting the ball perfect on the range so all I need now is a bit of confidence."
Meanwhile, Campbell was to be presented with a "No 1" Devonvale Football Club strip ahead of his final Augusta practice round.
Campbell's interest in the little-known Scottish Highlands soccer team spawned during February's Dubai Desert Classic.
He got so involved a mobile in phone coverage of one of the team's matches that Campbell immediately paid £5 ($13.90) to be an official supporter of the club and the news appeared in major Scottish morning newspapers.
The media attention given to the club resulted in Devonvale's sponsors signing on for an additional year.
Scott Crockett, a media official with the European Tour and the person responsible for Campbell's interest in Devonvale, brought with him from Britain a club strip emblazoned with Campbell's name on the back.
- NZPA
