The American first triumphed at Augusta in 2012 and repeated his victory last year, winning by three shots, with the Championship the only one of the four majors to be played on the same course annually.

Watson will now hope to become join Jack Niklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods as the only golfers to win back-to-back green jackets in the Masters' 79-edition history.

Watson will begin his pursuit of his third green jacket and the $1.62 million (£1.09 million/€1.50 million) first place prize money alongside England’s Justin Rose and South Korean amateur Gunn Yang, with the trio teeing off tomorrow at 9:24am ET.

World number one Rory McIlroy is likely to prove to be one of Watson’s main challengers for the title, as the Northern Irishman attempts to complete a career grand slam, having won the U.S Open in 2011, The Open Championship in England in 2014 and the US PGA Championship in both 2012 and 2014.

The 25-year-old, who will represent Ireland rather than Britain at next year's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, will hope to avoid a repeat of the 2011 Masters, where he endured the worst round by a professional golfer leading after the third round of the tournament, eventually finishing 15th.

McIlroy has been paired with Americans Ryan Moore and Phil Mickelson for the opening two rounds of the four-day tournament, with the trio set to tee-off for the first 18 holes at 10.41am ET.

The trio are the headline group of the opening day and 44-year-old Mickelson will be hoping to continue his excellent record at Augusta, having won the title on three occasions, in 2004, 2006 and 2010.

Out of the 98 golfers in the field only Tiger Woods has won the Masters on more occasions than Mickelson, having triumphed four times at Augusta.

Unsurprisingly, the American will attract widespread attention as he returns to the sport after ending a two month break, which followed a period of poor form, resulting in the former world number one slipping out of the top 100 for the first time since 1996 in March.

Fans will be made to wait for Woods appearance, as the 14-time major winner will feature in the second from last group on the course, alongside fellow American Jimmy Walker and Welshman Jamie Donaldson, with the trio due to get underway at 1.48pm ET.

Woods is one of 19 Masters champions in the field who will be hoping to reclaim the title, with Australia’s Adam Scott, winner in 2013, tipped as one of the favourites.

America’s Jordan Speith and Sweden’s Jonas Blixt and will be hoping to go one step further than they did in 2014 after two men finished as runners-up to Watson.

Sweden’s world number two Henrik Stenson and 2011 runner up Jason Day of Australia are also viewed as other likely contenders to be crowned Masters champion, when the tournament is due to draw to a close on Sunday (April 12).