Five things to keep an eye on this weekend on the pro golf scene:

1_She’s on the shelf, maybe for as long as six weeks, but the first major injury in Annika Sorenstam’s career isn’t that unusual, according to Dr. Robert Watkins, an orthopedic expert in sports injuries.

Watkins, director of Centinela Freeman Hospital’s Marina Spine Center in Marina del Rey, said the nonsurgical options for Sorenstam’s type of injury -- ruptured disk in her neck and a bulging disk in her back -- are local injections, oral anti-inflammatory drugs and rehabilitation.

“For golfers, this is just a huge part of their lives,” he said. “Everybody has those types of problems.”

Watkins, who started the Centinela Hospital fitness trailer on the PGA Tour in 1981 and has worked with more than 100 pros, said the golf swing requires a high torque motion that travels from the legs to the club and affects the back.

“You don’t even have to be doing anything, it’s just a vulnerable area of injury for golfers,” he said.

Mark Steinberg, Sorenstam’s agent, said she has seen two specialists and that surgery is unlikely.

2_John Daly isn’t playing in New Orleans this week, but he’s still in business. He’s singing -- or at least that’s what it sounds like on a Maxfli commercial making its debut this week, called “Go Long or Go Home.”

In the music video, Daly plays guitar and warbles onstage, performs a couple of neat spins in a cart and also uses a beer can for a tee.

3_After a tie for 24th at the Masters, Phil Mickelson is at home in Rancho Santa Fe trying to get his swing smoothed out.

At the same time, Mickelson is trying to balance his coaching situation between incumbent Rick Smith and apparent successor Butch Harmon, who’s on the job on a part-time basis.

Mickelson, who won at Pebble Beach and then lost in a playoff at Riviera, has played his last three stroke-play events in a combined 17 over par.

His schedule heats up soon. Beginning next week, Mickelson plays three straight -- the Byron Nelson, the Wachovia and the Players Championship.

Through his foundation Monday, Mickelson gave his third contribution of $250,000 to Hurricane Katrina relief.

4_Someone should post this on the bulletin board in the locker room at the Zurich Classic: The PGA Tour season is 16 tournaments old and there are already four first-time winners, including Boo Weekley, who won Monday at Hilton Head. The others are Mark Wilson at the Honda, Henrik Stenson at the Accenture Match Play and Charley Hoffman at the Bob Hope.

5_Seve Ballesteros, last at the Masters, is moving ahead. He will play for the first time on the Champions Tour next month at the Regions Charity Classic in Birmingham, Ala. Ballesteros is also planning to play the Senior PGA Championship the following week at Kiawah Island and the British Senior Open at Muirfield in late July.

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--THOMAS BONK

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* Americans have won five of six events on the LPGA Tour this year. Americans won only six times last year. Brittany Lincicome became the fifth American winner last weekend, finishing first at the Ginn Open in Reunion, Fla.