Augusta, Georgia: Six-time Masters champion Jack Nicklaus, who won his first Green Jacket 50 years ago, will give 14-year-old Chinese newcomer Guan Tianlang some advice on the eve of his Masters debut.

“I don’t know what I’m going to say to him,” Nicklaus said on Tuesday. “I don’t have many 14-year-olds ask for golf advice.”

Guan is set to become the youngest player in Masters history when he tees off Thursday afternoon alongside two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw, with whom he shared a Monday morning practice round, and Italy’s Matteo Manassero.

Manassero had been the youngest Masters starter at age 16 from his 2010 appearance, but he will be erased from the spot by Guan, who qualified for the Masters by winning the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship last November.

“I don’t know anything about him, other than he’s got a great future ahead of him,” Nicklaus said.

Their conversation figures to be a generational passing of the torch as Nicklaus recalled his early days at Augusta National and conversations as a young player with tournament founder and amateur golf legend Bobby Jones.

“I’ll be a little like Jones was to me,” Nicklaus said. “Anything I can impart to him, I will be glad to help. I’m honoured anyone would ask me for advice.”

Guan will be the second-youngest starter in major golf history, only a month older than “Young” Tom Morris when the Scot made his British Open debut at age 14 in 1865.

Nicklaus, 73, was impressed that Guan would make personal e-mail requests for a chance to chat once lines of communication had been opened between the Asian novice and the holder of a record 18 major titles.

“I thought that was pretty sharp,” Nicklaus said.

Guan has sought and received advice from a host of golf legends over the past few days, starting with Crenshaw.

He played a practice round over the back nine with 14-time major champion Tiger Woods on Monday, earning high praise from the four-time Masters champion.

On Tuesday, Guan met World No 2 Rory McIlroy in the locker room and then went around the course with two-time Masters winner Tom Watson, an eight-time major champion.

On Wednesday, Guan will play in the Masters Par-3 Contest alongside three-time Masters champion Nick Faldo of England in addition to speaking with Nicklaus, whose Masters titles came in 1963, 1965, 1966, 1972, 1975 and 1986, when he became the oldest winner in Masters history at age 46.

“It’s kind of a neat thing somebody would want to get advice from a 73-year-old,” Nicklaus said.