Defending champion Rory McIlroy and world number one Scottie Scheffler are in headline groups for the first two rounds of the Players Championship.

McIlroy triumphed at the event last year, before going on to finally end his wait for a fifth grand slam title by winning the Masters for the first time.

The Northern Irishman has struggled to hit those same heights since that triumph at Augusta, and was forced to withdraw from the Arnold Palmer Invitational due to a back injury.

He has been named in a stellar group alongside Xander Schauffele and Hideki Matsuyama for the first two rounds of his title defence at TPC Sawgrass.

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McIlroy, who is just the eighth player to have won the Players Championship on multiple occasions, is aiming to become only the second player, after Scheffler, to win the event back-to-back.

Scheffler, meanwhile, will start in a group with Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Thomas, who has only just returned from injury.

The only golfer to win the Players Championship three times is the great Jack Nicklaus, with Scheffler looking to emulate him.

"Any time you get mentioned with somebody like Jack Nicklaus it means you're doing something right," Scheffler said.

"I'm not going to step into the tournament thinking about winning – I'm going to be stepping on the first tee trying to execute and do what I normally do."