PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — For all the fuss over Tiger Woods taking another week off, perhaps the Nissan Open should consider this possibility: It still might have the hottest player in golf at Riviera.

True, one victory by Phil Mickelson still leaves him six short of the PGA Tour winning streak Woods is riding.

And despite a five-shot victory at Pebble Beach, some perspective is in order.

Lefty usually wins at least once before leaving his native West Coast, and this was the 11th time in 15 seasons that he won before the PGA Tour reached Florida. Plus, the only serious competition he faced Sunday came from Kevin Sutherland and rookie John Mallinger, whose world ranking last week was, respectively, No. 256 and No. 454.

But there was something about Mickelson's game that indicated he is ready to step back into the ring.

In years past when his game has slipped a notch, Mickelson has devoted time to scoring shots — specifically, 150 yards and in — and sharpening his putting stroke by staying on the practice green until he made 100 straight putts from 3 feet.

But after the debacle at Winged Foot — not just the double bogey on the 18th hole, but hitting only two fairways in the final round of the U.S. Open — he was consumed by becoming a better driver off the tee.

Mickelson hit 81 percent of his fairways in two rounds at Pebble Beach and one each at Poppy Hills and Spyglass. PGA Tour statistics show him missing only one fairway in his final round of 66, although he said he also missed the fairway at No. 9 by a foot.

Don't get the idea Fred Funk, a guy who picks out stripes left by the lawn mower, has anything to fear.

"I will never lead the stat is driving accuracy. Let's not overdo this," Mickelson said. "But if I could improve 20 or 25 percent in my accuracy, that's going to make a big difference in my scores."

His score at Pebble Beach was 20-under 268, tying the tournament record set by Mark O'Meara in 1997 when he won by one shot. Mickelson won by five, matching the largest margin of victory at Pebble.

Sutherland is good friends with Mickelson and sees him plenty. And he was impressed.

"He drove it for the most part on a string, right down the middle of the fairway," Sutherland said. "If he is driving the ball like that, there's not a player in the world that is not going to have a hard time beating him."

This is the first time Mickelson can remember hitting a tee shot and not being overly concerned when he looked to see where it was headed.

"I've never had this type of feeling on the tee box," he said. "I just feel so confident right now."