Woods, Day highlight WGC-Bridgestone featured pairings

Eight-time WGC-Bridgestone Invitational champion Tiger Woods has been paired with Jason Day for the opening two rounds of this year's event.

Tiger Woods and Jason Day make up the featured pairing for the opening round of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational on Thursday.

Eight-time champion Woods returns to Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, for the first time in four years after his tied-sixth finish at The Open Championship earlier this month.

Day's form has dipped since early May, when he won the Wells Fargo Championship and finished tied-fifth at The Players.

Since then, the Australian missed the cut at the U.S. Open and finished joint-17th  at The Open.

Thursday's other featured pairing is defending champion Hideki Matsuyama and Rory McIlroy , who finished just two strokes behind Open winner Francesco Molinari at Carnoustie .

Molinari  will be featured in Friday's round alongside Dustin Johnson, while the pairing of Justin Thomas and Phil Mickelson will also attract plenty of attention.