By strange co-incidence Martin Laird finds himself playing the opening two rounds of the Masters in the company of first player he met at Augusta National.

The Scot, who won last month’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, will make his Masters debut teeing-up at 9.13am local time alongside the American pair of Mark Wilson and Bo Van Pelt.

Martin Laird making his Masters debut

Wilson heads the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Series courtesy of two victories this season, winning the Hawaiian Open in his first event of 2011 and then capturing the Phoenix Open two weeks later.

It was the 36-year old North Carolina-born Wilson who Laird joined last month in playing Augusta National for a first occasion.

“Mark’s a great guy and he was the first person I bumped into when I came up here to Augusta a few weeks ago,” said Laird.

“We had a great day then and it’s going to be fun playing with Mark again for the first two days.

“I have played with him a bunch of times before in competition but while it’s great we have been drawn together, it doesn’t really matter who I am playing with this week.  It’s just that he’s a nice guy and someone who puts you really at ease.”