Grace, McIlroy a power pair on Day 1 of 'Africa's Major'

Cape Town - Golf fans are in for a treat as Branden Grace, the defending champion in the Nedbank Golf Challenge, and Rory McIlroy will tee off in the same three-ball in Thursday's first round of "Africa's Major".

The draw for the 2018 tournament has been announced and features a number of top groupings for fans to choose from.

Grace and McIlroy will have the in-form Haotong Li in their group, which tees off on the first hole at the Gary Player Country Club at 10:51.

Martin Kaymer and Danny Willett, both former winners of the Nedbank Golf Challenge, will lead the action off the first tee alongside Sam Horsfield at 08:50.

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South Africa's Erik van Rooyen, making his debut in the Nedbank Golf Challenge, has the company of three-time Major champion Padraig Harrington in his three-ball at 09:34, and off the first tee.

And there is a Masters theme to the 10:07 group off the first, with Charl Schwartzel and Sergio Garcia in the same three-ball.

Round 1:

Hole 1

08:50 - Danny Willett, Martin Kaymer, Sam Horsfield

09:01 - Jordan Smith, Lee Westwood, Tom Lewis

09:12 - Marcus Kinhult, Mikko Korhonen, Shane Lowry

09:32 - Lucas Herbert, Ross Fisher, Dylan Frittelli

09:34 - Padraig Harrington, Erik van Rooyen, Thomas Detry

09:45 - Richard Sterne, Andrea Pavan, Julian Suri

09:56 - Shubhankar Sharma, Alexander Levy, Jorge Campillo

10:07 - Charl Schwartzel, Sergio Garcia, Andy Sullivan

10:18 - Adrian Otaegui, Matt Wallace, Alexander Bjork

10:29 - Matthew Fitzpatrick, Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Louis Oosthuizen

10:40 - Brandon Stone, Ryan Fox, Lucas Bjerregaard

10:51 - Branden Grace, Haotong Li, Rory McIlroy

Hole 10

08:50 - Mike Lorenzo-Vera, Ashun Wu, Wade Ormsby

09:01 - Hideto Tanihara, Lee Slattery, Paul Dunne

09:12 - Joakim Lagergren, Joost Luiten, Matthew Southgate

09:23 - Benjamin Hebert, Nacho Elvira, Chris Paisley

09:34 - Pablo Larrazabal, Robert Rock, Dean Burmester

09:45 - George Coetzee, Jens Dantorp, Oliver Fisher

09:56 - Thomas Aiken, Ashley Chesters, Matthias Schwab

10:07 - Aaron Rai, Richard Mcevoy, Darren Fichardt

10:18 - Thomas Bjorn, Tapio Pulkkanen, Andrew Johnston

10:29 - Gavin Green, Jason Scrivener, Stephen Gallacher

10:40 - Maximilian Kieffer, Nicolas Colsaerts, Trevor Immelman

10:51 - Renato Paratore, Paul Waring, Matthieu Pavon