TEEING OFF

Five things to look for on the professional golf scene:

1. Even though Tiger Woods gets most of the attention when anybody talks about the Masters and who could win it, you can be sure that Phil Mickelson is amping up his own preparations, and right now too.

Last week, Mickelson had one good round and three so-so rounds at Doral and got out of town with a tie for 20th. He’s off this week, but next week, Mickelson is playing the Shell Houston Open to get his putting game in order. But he’s also showing up with a couple of other wrinkles to iron out.

It’s actually this problem: He’s hitting it shorter and shakier than last year.

Mickelson has found only 55% of his fairways, down slightly from 2007 and far off his 62.9% in 2004 when he won the Masters for the first time.

He’s also averaging 292.3 yards in driving distance, more than eight yards shorter than in 2006 when he won the Masters for the second time.

The good news is that Mickelson has already won this year at Riviera, he could have won at Phoenix but lost in a playoff to J.B. Holmes and his scoring average of 69.39 is fifth best on the PGA Tour.

So Mickelson is managing to get it done, regardless of the stats. His putting figures to be a strength once again, because it usually is.

And there’s one more thing. Since Nick Faldo won his third green jacket in 1996, the only player not named Tiger who has won the Masters more than once goes by the nickname of Lefty.

2. John Daly update: No, he’s not in the Masters, but he is in New Orleans this week on another sponsor’s invitation, two weeks after he was disqualified at Bay Hill when he misunderstood his pro-am time and showed up too late. That was the week after he shot 77-80 and missed the cut at the PODS Championship, spending a portion of the first-round rain delay in a hospitality tent.

Daly’s world ranking is 570th.

3. Jose Maria Olazabal has picked this week to start playing again, after missing the last four months of last year because of rheumatism. Olazabal, 42, is making his 2008 debut at the European Tour’s Andalucia Open in Spain.

He indicated he isn’t necessarily going to play in the Masters, which he has won twice, and said Wednesday he’s probably not going to play in the Ryder Cup in September.

“This is just a test, nothing else,” he said. “It does not mean I am back on a regular basis. I don’t want anybody to get the wrong idea.”

Olazabal played only five PGA Tour events after the 2007 Players and was a combined 84 over.

Four years before he won the 1999 Masters, Olazabal watched the event on television from his bed. He had been forced to take 18 months off after rheumatoid arthritis in his feet was diagnosed, but a specialist found the source of his pain was a disk in his lower back. His rheumatism is in his shoulders and his groin.

4. The gates to Augusta National are closing fast. It’s the last week to snag a place in the top 50 in the world rankings and earn a place in the Masters (although the winner at Houston would qualify).

And unless he wins this week at New Orleans, enters at Houston and wins that or somehow sneaks into the top 50, 99th-ranked Davis Love III is going to miss the Masters for the first time since 1990.

Love was second to Ben Crenshaw in 1995 and second to Olazabal in 1999. He has played five PGA Tour events this year, missed two cuts and tied for 62nd in his last tournament, at Bay Hill.

5. Four players already in the LPGA Hall of Fame -- Annika Sorenstam, Juli Inkster, Karrie Webb and Se Ri Pak -- are in the 144-player field at the lame-duck Safeway International in Arizona. Safeway is pulling out as title sponsor after this week’s tournament.

They’re all getting ready for next week’s $2-million Kraft Nabisco, the year’s first major, where Morgan Pressel will defend her title.

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THE TOURNAMENTS

PGA TOUR

Zurich Classic

When: Today-Sunday.

Where: Avondale, La.

TV: Golf Channel (Today-Friday, noon-3 p.m., 5:30-8:30 p.m.) and Ch. 4 (Saturday-Sunday, noon-3 p.m.).

LPGA TOUR

Safeway International

When: Today-Sunday.

Where: Superstition Mountain, Ariz.

TV: Golf Channel (Today-Friday, 3:30-5:30 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 3:30-6 p.m.).

CHAMPIONS TOUR

Ginn Championship

When: Friday-Sunday.

Where: Palm Coast, Fla.

TV: Golf Channel (Friday, 10 a.m.-noon; Saturday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.).

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All times Pacific

Associated Press

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STAT OF THE WEEK

Bubba Watson, above, leads the PGA Tour in driving distance, averaging 311.2 yards, but there are only five other players averaging at least 300 yards -- 16 players averaged at least 300 yards last year, once again led by Watson (315.2).

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SLICE OF LIFE

Geoff Ogilvy, who won at Doral and ended Tiger Woods’ streak of five PGA A Tour victories:

‘It was going to end at some point. I’m very glad that I did it. He just had one of those weeks that -- he just made nothing.’