Player notes: Adam Scott looks to start strong

With top-10 finishes in his past two Masters Tournament appearances, Adam Scott is hoping to get off to a positive start this year.

“I think I’ve said here in the past the first six or seven holes are probably the most difficult to play on this golf course starting out on Thursday with the nerves on the first tee and then getting yourself to calm down and they are very demanding holes on the first seven,” Scott said. “Getting off to a solid first seven holes is very important. You just play your way through that and you just set yourself up for good opportunities on this golf course.”

Scott had a shot at winning in 2011, finishing tied for second two shots back after Charl Schwartzel birdied the final four holes.

“There was not much else for me to do other than birdie the last four holes, also like Charl did,” Scott said. “I feel like – I’ve watched a lot of Masters, seen a lot of finishes, when you’re a one-shot lead on 17 and you make two 4s, that usually puts you somewhere in a playoff or maybe win, but I wasn’t even close.”

Scott had a British Open in his sights in 2012 before bogeying the final four holes to finish one shot behind Ernie Els. Both experiences have made an impression.

SOUTH AFRICANS: Three-time Masters champion Gary Player is retired from competition. Still, he got in a full practice round with fellow South Africans Branden Grace and George Coetzee.

Player said he hit every fairway. One of his other highlights came when he fired an 8-iron to eight feet at No. 12.

“That hole has ruined many a score,” said Player, proud of his tee shot.

Player has walked the course countless times, but he always keeps Augusta National in high regard. Playing his first round in two months, he said walking 18 was difficult. But Player added he soaked in the experience of playing the meticulous course.

“I’m sure if somebody found a weed here,” he said, “the greenskeeper would be fired.”

A VETERAN, RELATIVELY: At age 23, Rory McIlroy is certainly young. But with this being his fifth Masters Tournament, in some ways he’s a veteran.

Compared to Tianlang Guan, everyone is.

Much has been made about 14-year old Guan, the youngest participant in Masters history, and rightfully so. He played a practice round Monday with his idol, Tiger Woods, who won the first of four Masters in 1997, one year before Guan was born. So Guan’s youth isn’t lost on anyone.

“If I had any advice for him: just enjoy it. You’re playing in the Masters at 14; I mean, he could potentially play, I mean, I don’t know, 60 Masters. What’s this, the 77th, so he could actually double it nearly,” McIlroy said, drawing laughs.

MR. 59 SIGHTING: Al Geiberger, the 1966 PGA Championship winner, teed off No. 10 by himself in the afternoon. After fading a drive on the downhill, dogleg left hole, Geiberger asked for a do-over.

“Do I get a mulligan?” he asked to the gallery, drawing a favorable response.

Geiberger said he couldn’t hit a draw, but closed his stance and blasted another shot down the fairway. This time he hit his drive straight.

“That’s a big hook for me,” Geiberger dead-panned.

AN ASSIST TO KUCHAR: Georgia Tech graduate Tracy Rye of Atlanta is a huge Matt Kuchar fan. But it was an admiration that began long before Kuchar began playing golf professionally.

Rye worked at Georgia Tech students services after graduating in 1993. A year later, Kuchar was a Georgia Tech freshman and came to Rye with a request.

“He needed a longer bed in his dorm room,” Rye said of the 6-foot-4 Kuchar. “We managed to help him. He was as nice and polite then as he is with fans now.”

PHIL’S PHRANKENWOOD: The first time Mickelson hit Callaway’s new X Hot 3-wood, he couldn’t believe the results.

“I hit it as far as my driver,” he said. “It shot off the face and it had the optimum spin that a driver would have. … It’s so easy to hit and it just bores through the air. I don’t have to manipulate it and it just goes so far.”

Mickelson used the club almost exclusively off the tee at the World Golf Championships at Doral and again at the Shell Houston Open. In the meantime, he was in touch with Callaway’s engineers about taking the same technology from the 3-wood and transferring it to a driver.

The result is Phrankenwood, which Mickelson jokingly likened to a 3-wood on steroids. Essentially, it’s a driver that carries the same technology of the X Hot 3-wood and has a head that’s smaller than most of today’s drivers, but bigger than most 3-woods. The loft is still 8.5 and has a driver shaft of 45 inches.

In using it during practice rounds at Augusta National, Mickelson has noticed a considerable difference.

“Tee shots on nine are getting down to the bottom of the hill, and I haven’t been able to do that in years,” he said. “The tee shot on 10 is getting another 15 to 20 yards, giving me a club or two less than I’ve had in years. The tee shot on 15 is getting down to where I have one or two clubs less.

“Because it comes off fast, as well as low spin, it’s running, which is exactly what I wanted here.”