Seen and heard on a San Diego sports weekend:

TORREY PINES ... Lefty is alright, both of them. Phil Mickleson put on a spirited late round run and finished second at the Farmers Insurance Open, chasing down but falling one stroke short of the other lefthander in the field, Bubba Watson. Talk about pressure. Watson, feeling the heat from the field coming down the stretch, hit amazing shots on the 17th and 18th holes to hold off Mickelson. When you ram a shot into a bunker, then hit it out onto the rough, you normally don't survive. Watson did on 17. Then he put an 18th hole shot into another sand bunker and rallied back to nail a 15-foot to win the tourney.

Mickelson, chasing the top guy all day, was ultra-agressive on the 17th, a strong drive off the tee, and an agressive wedge shot to get to the green for a birdie. He closed to within one. On 18, he put one into the rough, made a great shot to get to the green, but then fell a stroke short. It was the best tourney finish ever for Mickelson at Torrey Pines.

Johnny Vegas, the Venezualan sensation, was equally agressive but wilted on the final two holes. He was a passion play, yelling at the ball on a couple of fairway drives before knocking a shot into the water that knocked him out of the running.

Tiger Woods may think his game is back, but it is obviously not. After two good days, Thursday-Friday, his Saturday-Sunday outings were poor. Erratic off the tee, struggling on the green, he went 74-75 on the final two days. Included were nine bogeys, and he hit just 10 fairways on 36 holes played.

John Daly was dynamite the opening two sessions, dreary after that. Daly wound up going 76-79, just caving in, after an entertaining first two rounds.

SAN DIEGO STATE ... Some 72 hours of college basketball madness took place, involving the Aztecs and everyone around the Aztecs in the college basketball polls. The sting of the mid-week loss at BYU, which snapped State's 20-game winning streak, was lessened. Brigham Young promptly went into the Pit and got pounded at New Mexico on Saturday. So much for BYU staying in first place in the Mountain West very long.

This week's polls should be something to witness. Ohio State, the only unbeaten left, won by one at Northwestern. Second-ranked Pitt lost at home, 3rd-ranked Duke was beaten, 5th-ranked U-Conn lost, and so did 7th-rated Villanova. Syracuse's free fall continued with their fourth loss in a row.

Suddenly the Aztecs loss does not look so damaging.

PADRES ... Two weeks until spring training camp opens, and GM-Jed Hoyer likes his team. You would expect him to say that, even if he had to trade off power hitter Adrian Gonzalez. Missing will be a .298-hitting, 32-home-run-batting, gold glove first baseman. But Hoyer believes he has added diversity across his lineup, even with the parting of Gonzalez.

Brad Hawpe put up nice power numbers up until last year in Colorado, then was dealt away. Second baseman Orlando Hudson is a gold glove guy who can hit .280 to .300. New shorstop Jason Bartlett has some power and has hit .280 or better in 4 of 6 seasons. None will be All Stars though. None are a threat to do what Gonzalez did, but possibly there will be more basehits and more baserunners.

Through all the wheeling and dealing, Hoyer left untouched the cornerstone pitching staff. He added Aaron Harang, an innings guy, to replace Jon Garland. He added veteran reliever Chad Qualls. His mound corps goes to the Cactus League with seven established starters and six proven relievers.

The biggest concern though has to be a farm system now that has virtually no experienced talent at Triple A-Tucson. If anybody gets hurt up top, the Padres depth becomes an issue.

CHARGERS ... Back in town, GM AJ Smith and his staff begin evaluations of a roster that was as big an underachiever as there was in the NFL in 2010. Next year -- whenever it starts after a threatened lockout -- will have the Bolts facing a much tougher schedule. Road games at New England, and against New York Jets and Jacksonville. Green Bay, in the Super Bowl this year, comes here along with the Baltimore Ravens and the improved AFC West. Not making the playoffs this year, against the NFL's third easiest schedule, was a disgrace.

Raiders owner Al Davis, feeling good about his improved team, is full of predicitions. The latest: his team, which was 8-8, will win the AFC West this coming year and become the bully in the division. And Davis says Norv Turner is "under fire to keep his job," for letting the Chargers slip as a team. That's something coming from an owner whose Raiders are 50-97 over the last decade or so, while the team he criticized is 83-53 under the leadership of the current GM.

Of course not everyone loves Turner's work in San Diego, despite a 44-26 record since replacing Marty Schottenheimer. A Bolt fan, in a letter to the editor in San Francisco, put it specifically. Jon Gruden won a Super Bowl in Tampa with journeyman Brad Johnson at QB. Brian Billick won a Super Bowl with Trent Dilfer as Baltimore's QB. San Diego gave Norv Turner a 14-2 team, Philip Rivers, LaDainian Tomlinson and Antonio Gates, and he never got to a Super Bowl. Ouch.

This is the best time of the year for the leadership of the Bolts, the GM and his scouts. San Diego has five of the top 89 picks in the April NFL Draft. They need to hit homeruns on the early choices. They still need a pass-rusher and an impact linebacker. This might be the best draft the NFL has had in decades, in that 56 underclassmen, an all-time record, have filed for this draft.

Seen and heard on a San Diego sports weekend.