TEEING OFF

1_There are some changes in store for the Masters -- no, females won’t be invited any time soon -- but first-year Chairman Billy Payne shook up the tournament again Wednesday when he announced alterations in qualifying for the 2008 event.

Winners of PGA Tour regular-season and playoff events, up to the Tour Championship, will receive invitations. The Masters had halted that practice in 2000.

Also, players who qualify for the previous year’s Tour Championship will be invited to the Masters. The top 30 players from the final official PGA Tour money list will receive invitations, down from the 40 previously allowed. And the qualification of the 10 leaders on the official PGA Tour money list the week before the Masters has been eliminated.

Payne said a five-year study, initiated under the regime of chairman Hootie Johnson, indicated that the Masters field would increase by only one or two players in the new qualification scenario.

Payne said the changes will improve the quality of the Masters field, and that the automatic invitation to PGA Tour winners was a missing ingredient.

“We missed the excitement of the winner of a PGA Tour event immediately qualifying for the Masters,” he said.

Payne said those winning players sometimes appreciated the automatic invitation to the Masters as much or more than winning the tournament that earned them the invitation.

2_With his tee time of 7:57 a.m. PDT, Phil Mickelson has an opportunity to get a jump on Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh. If Mickelson gets off to a hot start, he will give Woods and Singh something to think about when they tee off, nearly three hours later.

3_Can Ernie Els catch a break at the Masters? In 2000, he closed with a 68 to finish at seven under and lost to Singh by three shots.

Els really had his heart broken in 2004. He shot a five-under 67 on Sunday and still lost to Mickelson when Mickelson birdied the 16th and 18th holes to win by one shot.

4_Can Woods do something he has never done at the Masters? Can he break 70 in the first round?

It’s hard to believe Woods could win the Masters four times and never start with a score in the 60s, but it’s true. Woods’ first-round scoring average at Augusta National in 12 appearances is the worst of his four rounds -- 72.67. His second-round average is 70.25, his third round is 69.40 and his fourth round 71.

5_He’s 35 and a veteran of the European Tour, but Jeev Milkha Singh is a rookie at the Masters -- the first player from India to play in the tournament.

Maybe it would be wise to keep an eye on him. Singh went to college at Abilene Christian College on a Byron Nelson golf scholarship and is making his Masters debut in the first Masters since Nelson died in September.

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-- THOMAS BONK