MICKELSON MISSES CUT\Tour's hot star stumbles again on Riviera course.

Byline: Johannes Tesselaar Daily News Assistant Sports Editor 

The hottest golfer on the PGA Tour didn't feel so hot entering the Nissan Open.

"I probably should not have played," Phil Mickelson said Friday after a second consecutive round of 4-over-par 75. "I pretty much knew I wasn't ready or fresh."

So Mickelson left Riviera Country Club with a frown after failing to make the cut for the first time this season.

Throw out the past two days and Mickelson has cut up golf courses at a staggering rate in 1996.

Phenomenal Phil opened the year with a 28th-place finish at the Mercedes Championships, then won the Nortel Open and the Phoenix Open and finished second at the Buick Invitational.

He skipped last week's Hawaiian Open and thought of bypassing the Nissan. But his ties with a couple of tournament sponsors convinced him to play.

"I wanted to come out to L.A. and see the people, see the guys," said Mickelson, who decided to commit the Thursday before the tournament began. "And I like the layout."

Even if the layout hasn't been kind to Mickelson.

He has missed the cut in three straight events at Riviera - the past two Nissan Opens and last summer's PGA Championship. In 1993 and '94, he tied for 19th and 27th, respectively, in the Nissan.

"I just haven't played well here, there's nothing else to it," Mickelson said, dismissing the notion the course isn't suited to his left-handed game.

"I really didn't work hard enough and prepare for the tournament," he added, "so it was my fault."

In two days, Mickelson birdied just one hole, No. 10 on Thursday. He finished Friday with bogeys on No. 16 and No. 18 and missed the cut by five strokes.

Instead of preparing for the weekend run at another title, Mickelson was planning his return home to Scottsdale, Ariz.

"It's a little disappointing," he said. ". . . I expect to do well. I expect to compete and have an opportunity to be in contention."

And that's where he has been most of the year. The two victories in 1996 leave him with seven PGA Tour wins at the age of 25.

He has won $603,650 this year, more than double anybody else.

"I'm not saying I've raised my expectations," Mickelson said, "because they've always been fairly high. Now it just seems like I'm playing the way I expect to."

And much is expected of him.

He won his first title (the Northern Telecom Open in 1991) as an amateur. When he won that championship again last year, Mickelson become the first player in tour history to capture the same tournament as both an amateur and a professional.

He had top-10 finishes in two majors (the Masters and U.S. Open) and many expect this to be the year he wins one.

"I've given myself an opportunity on Sundays to win a lot this year," Mickelson said.

Except this Sunday.

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PHOTO

Phil Mickelson, who shot a 4-over-par 75 Friday, hits out of the rough on the 18th hole. Phil McCarten / Daily News