Tiger Woods to play with Justin Thomas at Hero World Challenge

Tiger Woods will begin his latest comeback alongside Justin Thomas in the opening round of the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.

The tournament host has been paired with the reigning FedExCup champion at Albany for the elite 18-player tournament, which features eight of the world's top 10 players.

Woods, who has been out of action for 10 months after undergoing a fourth major back operation, tees off at 5:05pm (GMT) on Thursday as he makes the 10th comeback of his career from an unscheduled break of over two months.

The 14-time major champion returned after 16 months out in the same event 12 months ago, when he led the field in birdies over 72 holes but a number of mistakes prevented him from contending over the final round.

Woods struggled on his return to full-field PGA Tour action in January as he missed the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open, and he managed only one round at the following week's Dubai Desert Classic before his ailing back forced him to withdraw, leading to more surgery.

The 41-year-old has been posting regular video updates of his swing in recent months, although his participation in this week's tournament came as a surprise to many who believed he would not be able to return to competitive golf until deep into 2018.

Defending champion Hideki Matsuyama will strike the opening shot of the star-studded event, while last season's Race to Dubai rivals Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose form an all-English pairing at 4:43pm.

World No 1 Dustin Johnson has been paired with US Open winner Brooks Koepka, with Open champion Jordan Spieth playing in the final group of the day alongside Ryder Cup team-mate Matt Kuchar.

First round tee times (all times GMT):

1610 Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn), Francesco Molinari (Ita)

1621 Charley Hoffman, Kevin Chappell

1632 Patrick Reed, Daniel Berger

1643 Justin Rose (Eng), Tommy Fleetwood (Eng)