Rory McIlroy will begin his quest for Masters glory alongside a player who taught him a lesson in accepting defeat after last year’s US Open. The Northern Irishman is hoping to end an 11-year wait for his fifth major title, having failed to win one since his triumph at the PGA Championship in 2014. He will get his campaign underway on Thursday evening, with the tee times now confirmed.

McIlroy will be grouped with Ludvig Aberg, last year’s runner-up who ended up four strokes adrift of champion Scottie Scheffler. He will also play the first two rounds alongside Akshay Bhatia, who showed him up just weeks after his painful US Open choke last summer.

It looked like McIlroy would end his lengthy wait for a major title at Pinehurst, but a dramatic collapse saw him falter at the final hurdle. He was two strokes up with five holes to play but went on to make three bogies in quick succession.

McIlroy’s errant putting allowed Bryson DeChambeau to leapfrog him to the title. He was understandably gutted as he watched the American hole the decisive putt from the clubhouse before storming off without congratulating his rival.

Afterwards, McIlroy was widely criticised for showing a lack of sportsmanship by refusing to acknowledge DeChambeau’s victory and skipping his media duties. Two weeks later, he was given a masterclass in accepting defeat when Bhatia suffered a similar collapse.

At the Rocket Mortgage Classic, the 23-year-old missed a birdie putt on the final hole before failing with the par attempt from only a few yards. His crucial mistakes allowed Cam Davis to win the tournament for the second time in four years.

Rather than storming off as McIlroy did, Bhatia was gracious in defeat as he put his frustrations to one side and spoke to the media afterwards.

Reflecting on the last hole, he said: “That green’s old school, so a lot of slope, downhill left to right. It’s a tricky putt just to get the speed correct and I did such a good job all day of my speed being really good until that last hole.”

McIlroy will be hoping to put the disappointment of last year’s US Open behind him when it comes to performing at Augusta this weekend. On Tuesday, he insisted that he was ready to ‘block out the noise’ and deliver on the biggest stage once again.

“It’s just narratives, it’s noise,” said McIlroy. “It’s just trying to block out that noise as much as possible. I need to treat this tournament like all the other tournaments that I play throughout the year.

“I understand the narrative and the noise. There’s a lot of anticipation and build-up coming into this tournament each and every year, but I just have to keep my head down and focus on my job.”