CONDITIONING WILL BE `CORE' FOR MICKELSON.

Byline: DAVE SHELBURNE Golf

Phil Mickelson is back, and if not quite buff yet, he's headed in that direction. Mickelson, who tied for ninth in last week's Phoenix Open and on Wednesday opened defense of his title in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, entered the 2003 PGA Tour season stronger and longer off the tee. He gives a lot of credit to his commitment to conditioning.

``I haven't missed a day,'' he said last week of a workout regimen that puts an emphasis on strengthening the smaller support and stabilizing muscles.

``It's been a lot of core and core speed,'' Mickelson said. ``The physioball, which is that big round fat ball, that does a lot of the core strength. And the medicine ball, which is that heavy basketball-looking ball, is used to create a lot of core speed.''

Mickelson said he first experimented with core strengthening at the end of the 2001 season and felt a difference, although he didn't stay with the program.

``This year,'' he said, ``I've committed to doing it.''

He says he feels stronger, although he might not look it.

``I will always have fat on me,'' he said. ``There's nothing I can do about it, (it's) just genetics. I've got subcutaneous fat, and most people who are ripped have visceral. There's nothing I can do about it.''

But with a stronger core, he's not as concerned about the show-me muscles.

``As long as I feel better and get stronger, then I can't really worry about, you know, body fat,'' he said.

Mickelson said he didn't buy into the concept of core strengthening when he first heard of it nearly 10 years ago but admits he's now a serious convert.

``It's critical,'' he said. ``And it won't go away. It's not a fad. It's just we're learning biomechanically the downswing is started by the core muscles. And to create speed, that's the area you need to create more strength.''

Being able to swing a driver faster, in control, Mickelson said, is a big contributor to being able to hit more approach shots from 130 to 140 yards. That's an area on which he has worked hard to improve the past few years, and one he feels is now a strength.

The next step? ``I need to drive it better,'' he said.

He's pursuing that goal from the inside out this year.

--And the champion is ...: Pacific Grove resident Scott Houston, who left a full-time job as executive director of the Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce to become a full-time caddie at Pebble Beach eight years ago, has been named 2002 Golf Nut of the Year by the Salt Lake City-based Golf Nuts Society.

Houston, a member of the Professional Caddies Hall of Fame, is the first professional caddie to be named Golf Nut of the Year. En route to his winning Nut point total of 59,736, he once hit a golf shot in seven states on the same day. Houston lists as family his wife, dog and Arnie the Divot, a divot Arnold Palmer once hit at Pebble Beach. Houston planted the divot in a flowerpot and takes it with him to the practice range.

Encino resident Nobbie Orens was Golf Nut of the Year in 1999, the year he made the Guinness Book of World Records by playing 18 holes of golf in London, New York and Tarzana on the same day. Other recent champions have been 2000 Nut Mike Noyes of Fountain Valley, who played 18 holes of golf only one and a half months after quintuple heart-bypass surgery, and 2001 winner Ivan Morris of Ireland, who asked his expectant wife to induce labor so he could play in the Interprovincial Championships. She agreed, and Morris earned 1,000 bonus points.

One of the society's greatest champions was 1992 winner Merle Ball. In 1988, he played golf in all 50 states, right-handed. In 1989, he played golf in all 50 states, left-handed, in 51 days. And in 1990, he played 220 holes in a single day - 110 right-handed and 110 left-handed.

--Names in the game: David Toms, ranked No. 6 in the world golf rankings, Davis Love III (No. 9) and Colin Montgomerie (No. 11) lead a contingent of 31 players from the world's top 50 who will compete at Riviera Country Club in the Feb. 20-23 Nissan Open presented by Countrywide. Len Mattiace is defending champion in the event, which will include past champions and former area collegiate stars Corey Pavin (UCLA) and Craig Stadler (USC). Ticket information: [phone]. ...

Seniors Catherine Pease of La Reina of Thousand Oaks and Brandon Olsson of Highland of Palmdale were girls' and boys' division winners in a Junior Amateur Golf Scholars tournament at Shandin Hills, where Olsson overcame a six-stroke deficit in the final round of his 36-hole competition, then birdied twice in a two-hole playoff.