Phil Mickelson has done a lot of things in his career at Augusta National Golf Club, but Sunday marked the first time he's carded a hole-in-one - and still lost money.

Playing only the back nine with U.S. Amateur champion Richie Ramsay, Mickelson aced the par-3 16th hole using an 8-iron.

"That's my first hole-in-one at Augusta National," said Mickelson, not minding a bit that it came a week too soon to help win him a second straight green jacket. "I don't know if I get crystal for that."

Mickelson didn't even get any money from it in his friendly round with an amateur. The ace squared their match, but Ramsay collected $10 in the end after Mickelson 3-putted the 18th hole.

Mickelson has been in Augusta since Thursday, preparing for the Masters. He'll probably play only one more practice round, on Tuesday before the tournament starts. He was impressed with Ramsay's game and the Scotsman's personality.

"He's very talented and a fun guy to be around," Mickelson said.

"He was great, and you couldn't ask much more from him," Ramsay said of the round followed by lunch with Mickelson and his entourage in the clubhouse grill room. "Just picked his brain about a few things around the greens. Who better to ask than the Masters champion? ... Huge fun but productive at the same time."

SEVE RETURNS: After three years in health-imposed exile, Seve Ballesteros returned to his "spiritual home" Saturday.

Ballesteros, a Masters winner in 1980 and '83, hasn't played in the Masters since 2003 because of back problems that took him out of competitive golf. But he comes back to Augusta National healthier and fitter than he's been in years.

"It's always great to come to this place," he said Sunday before heading out to play a couple of practice holes. "It's a wonderful place, it's been four years and I'm really happy to be here."

"In life, things not always go as planned and not always great things happen," Ballesteros said of his frustration missing the past four Masters. "So you have to take things as they come. Things were not good those years, and everything now is starting to be good, and I'm very happy."

Ballesteros has been working out vigorously the past month, losing a lot of weight and getting in shape so he could handle his return on a course that has been stretched even farther and tightened by new trees since he last played. The changes made an impression on the five-time major winner who will turn 50 on the Monday after the Masters ends. He played 18 holes Saturday.

"Pretty long," Ballesteros said with a laugh before carefully citing the significant alterations to Nos. 4, 7 and 11 as the most jarring. "It's more difficult now. The golf course is playing certainly much more longer, and you have to play the conditions as they are. I think it's fair, and the condition is always great. The greens have the tournament speed already. It's great."

Ballesteros hasn't made a cut in a major in more than a decade. However, he got a renewed taste of the major atmosphere last July at the British Open, where he was cheered around Hoylake by European fans who embrace him as American crowds embrace Arnold Palmer. He made a more than respectable showing after a four-year layoff in the British, missing the cut but showing his heart and flashes of his former glory to the adoring galleries.

"It's been a long time since I play competitive golf," he said. "Let's hope that I keep steady my nerves on the first tee on Thursday."

EARLY START: This was a sight that had never been seen before: Tiger Woods at Augusta National Golf Club on the Sunday before the Masters.

In his previous 12 appearances, the four-time Masters champion had never played a practice round on Sunday, Woods said after playing nine holes.

Another first-of-its-kind scene came after Woods teed off on the first hole. He and caddie Steve Williams, along with instructor Hank Haney, walked down the hill of the first fairway without a gallery in tow.

Which is exactly why Woods showed up when he did.

"For peace and quiet," he said.

Woods played the front nine in the early afternoon, another change for him. In his normal practice rounds, Woods tees off before 7 a.m.

"It's good," Woods said of his game. "Every ball went forward, which is good."

Woods, the world's No. 1 player and a two-time winner this season, is seeking his third consecutive major championship victory this week.

SAVORING THE WEEK: Jeff Sluman hopes this isn't his final trip to Augusta National as a participant, but he knows it very well might be.

Sluman, who is making his 17th Masters appearance this week, turns 50 on Sept. 11 and plans to concentrate on the Champions Tour in 2008.

"Unless I finish in the top 16 (this week), I'll have very, very limited opportunities to get in anymore," Sluman said Sunday. "It's just a fact. I can go over to the Champions Tour and win every event and I don't think you get in here.

"From that aspect, I'm probably not going to have many more of them, so I'm going to really enjoy this week," he said.

Part of that enjoyment will come during Wednesday's Par-3 Contest, Sluman said.

"My 8-year-old daughter (Kathryn Doreen) is coming down to caddie for me in the Par-3," he said. "Phil (Mickelson) and Chris (DiMarco) and I are all having our 8-year-olds caddie for us. It will be fun."

Sluman is playing the Masters for the first time since 2004. He qualified by finishing among the top eight in last year's U.S. Open (he tied for sixth).

His best Masters finish is a tie for fourth place in 1992, the year he scored a hole-in-one on the fourth hole. He's still the only player in tournament history to do that.