TEEING OFF

By THOMAS BONK

May 17, 2007 12 AM PT

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

1. It’s official. Tiger Woods is the No. 1-ranked player for the 443rd week. But checking in at No. 2 is the newly energized and reinvented Phil Mickelson, along with his work-in-progress, controlled swing.

Mickelson, who has two third-place finishes and now a victory at the Players with swing coach Butch Harmon, trails Woods by a landslide in the world ranking points -- 20.49 to 9.34. Mickelson said getting to No. 1 isn’t something he’s plotting.

“There’s such a big lead in the way the points are that it’s a two-year process whenever somebody starts,” he said. “But I haven’t thought about that yet. I still have a lot of work to do to get my ball-striking to where I would give myself a chance to contend.”

2. Mickelson’s next scheduled tournament is the Memorial in two weeks, but he is considering playing at Memphis the next week and leading into the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club. He’s playing at Hartford the week after Oakmont, so if he enters Memphis, Mickelson would play four straight weeks.

Mickelson won the AT&T; Classic by 13 shots last year, but that was when it was called the BellSouth and it was played the week before the Masters. So Mickelson isn’t there this week, but then neither are most of the top players. Henrik Stenson (No. 7) and Zach Johnson (No. 15) are the top ranked players on hand.

3. Spectators would be well advised to keep their heads up this week at the Regions Charity Classic near Birmingham, Ala., where Seve Ballesteros makes his Champions Tour debut. Ballesteros, who turned 50 last month, shot 86-80 at the Masters and was last in the 96-player field.

4. Michelle Wie update: She has accepted a sponsor’s exemption into the Samsung World Championship in October at Bighorn in Palm Desert. Wie, who is recovering from a wrist injury and is scheduled to play at the LPGA’s Ginn Tribute in two weeks, turns 18 on Oct. 11, the first round of the Samsung. Wie played the PGA Tour’s Sony Open in January and missed the cut by 14 shots.

5. It’s not getting any better for Darren Clarke. He pulled out of his country’s national championship, the Irish Open, because of a hamstring injury that also knocked him out of the Wachovia after one round and out of the Players after six holes. He hurt himself playing soccer with his sons, Tyrone and Conor. Clarke, 38, has two missed cuts and two withdrawals in four stroke-play PGA Tour events.

THE TOURNAMENTS

PGA TOUR

AT&T; Classic

* When: Today-Sunday.

* Where: TPC Sugarloaf (7,259 yards, par 72), Duluth, Ga.

* TV: Golf Channel (Today-Friday, noon-3 p.m., 5:30-8:30 p.m.) and Ch. 2 (Saturday-Sunday, noon-3 p.m.).

* 2006 winner: Phil Mickelson.

LPGA TOUR

Sybase Classic

* When: Today-Sunday.

* Where: Upper Montclair Country Club (6,433 yards, par 72), Clifton, N.J.

* TV: ESPN2 (Friday, 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.; Sunday, noon-3 p.m.).