Quick 18: No. 1 still up for grabs; Ryder Cup buzz

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Tiger Woods was at Whistling Straits early Monday, hoping to improve on his performance in Akron.

Editor's note: PGATOUR.COM's Melanie Hauser will be shaking out the mental lint and pulling together the "Quick 18" on Mondays this year.

1. There's no need to belabor the stats. Or the seven previous wins at Firestone. Bottom line, Tiger Woods looked like -- and played like -- a man who just wanted last week to be over. Everyone's been there. Some of those approaches looked like we hit them. Whether he'll find something in the next few days is anyone's guess. If not, that long year he talked about Sunday night -- his poor performance made the nightly world, not just golf news, and Monday morning news shows -- will just get longer.

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2. Q-18 isn't one for percentages, but finishing 30 shots behind Hunter Mahan at the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational isn't all in the swing. Partially, yes. And some of those closest to him are saying he's not that far away to pulling that piece of the puzzle together. The larger part is what has gone on off the course. Get that behind him, find some peace and . . . he'll be amazed. No matter what you think, heed Padraig Harrington's words: "It'd be a very naive and a very foolish man to write Tiger Woods off."

3. Another week, another chance slips through Phil Mickelson's fingers. Eight if you're counting. Lee Westwood's WD last week kicked the door wide open, but a closing 78? Lordy, Tiger got him by a shot. The longer this goes on, the more getting to No. 1 will creep into Lefty's head. All he has to do is play and let it happen. That was how he approached it back in May.

4. While Q-18 is on the subject of getting away and clearing your mind, Sergio Garcia is about to do just that. Two months off after the PGA (the Ryder Cup doesn't seem likely at this point). He needs to get away, get perspective and find out what makes him happy. When he plays with joy and a little reckless abandon, he's amazing. He also smiles a lot. Something we haven't seen lately. "I need the break," he said. "I need to miss the game a little bit."

5. As for Tiger and the Ryder Cup? A win takes care of everything. Maybe just one more nine like we saw that Saturday at Pebble Beach. More of the same means Corey Pavin has a decision to make. But not right now. Nothing has to be decided until after The Barclays -- the only FedExCup Playoffs event Tiger is currently eligible for -- but he will miss that if he falls out of the top 125 on the points list.

6. Whistling Straits. If it plays like we think it can, nickname it Strait Jacket. Tiger and Phil -- to name two -- have trouble off the tee and they could find themselves in trouble. Find fairways and magic could happen -- no matter what your name is.

7. We may look back at last week as a what-if moment for Westwood. He was the one with all the momentum and the best chance to leapfrog both Phil and Tiger, grab No. 1 and jump to favorite for Player of the Year. But that right calf injury knocked him out. No one has played better in the past five majors and, honestly, Q-18 was ready to pick him this week at the PGA. No further word from his camp, but his goal is to be ready for the Ryder Cup. The PGA, meanwhile, starts the week with one of the top 3 out and the other two major question marks.

8. Best pairing that isn't happening this week? AP golf writer Doug Ferguson's fifty-something dream trio of Paul Goydos (59), Stuart Appleby (59) and Ryo Ishikawa (58). Former USGA man Frank Hannigan would have done it at a U.S. Open back in his day.

9. Where to look this week? Good question. The last two majors have given us surprise winners, so Q-18 says anything goes. Interesting faces to keep an eye on not named Tiger or Phil or Padraig Harrington are Rory McIlroy and Paul Casey, who made runs at St. Andrews last month; Martin Kaymer; Steve Stricker, who hits it seriously straight; Justin Leonard, who lost to Vijay Singh in a three-man playoff in 2004 at Whistling Straits and really, really, really, really wants to make the Ryder Cup team; Bo Van Pelt, who's thisclose to his second TOUR win; Rickie Fowler, who's close to his first; and Adam Scott. Don't rule out U.S. Open winner Graeme McDowell or British Open champ Louis Oosthuizen, either.

10. Bo Van Pelt tweet of the week? One kid for 3 days = Easy- now we have all 3= its like using the blender without the lid! Craziness feels normal again.

11. Great reason to have your son choose golf over football? Tim Tebow's seriously bad new friar cut. They haze in the NFL. Not so much on the PGA TOUR.

12. Ever wonder if players don't follow their clothing scripts? Say Thursday calls for pink and you're feeling green or blue instead? Women would more likely say what the heck and wear want they want, guys not so much.

13 .The latest buzz from European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie? He's got everyone wondering if he's serious about having fifty-something Bernhard Langer on his short list. Langer did win the Senior British Open and U.S. Open Senior Championship back-to-back and has three Champions Tour wins overall. "I would not rule out picking Bernhard," Montgomerie said. "I'm not ruling out anybody, especially someone who has performed to that degree and is in the form of his life." As for Langer? "If he wants me on the team I would definitely consider it, yes."

14. The golfer-in-chief's post birthday round at Andrews Air Force Base this weekend was upstaged -- by his Dream Team style pickup game with the likes of Grant Hill, Shane Battier, LeBron James, Magic Johnson, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony. And lest you think President Obama is the only politician whose rounds are scrutinized, the Blue America Political Action Committee took on House Minority Leader John Boehner, who plays to a 7, with a billboard near Boehner's Cincinnati area neighborhood that asks, "When was the last time you golfed 119 times in one year?" Boehner's office said the number 119 is false but FOXnews.com reports he does have a glass filled with personalized tees for visitors to his office. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi even grabbed a few.

15. Tiny Tadd Fujikawa, who gives up 11 inches to fellow Hawaiian Michelle Wie, needed three years, but he finally won his first professional tournament Sunday -- the eGolf Tour Championship. By nine shots. The 5-foot-1, 19-year-old , who turned pro at 16, moved up to fifth on the Tour's money list and that means his PGA TOUR Q-School entry fee is paid in full. All the top 20 on the money list get in.

16. Another name that popped from the mini-tours last week was Scotland's Russell Knox who threw out back-to-back course records on the Hooters Tour -- a Thursday 62 and a Friday 61 -- on his way to a win at the Gold Strike Casino Golf Classic.

17. Why does recent NFL Hall of Fame inductee Jerry Rice love golf so much? "Because it's a game you can't master,'' said the consummate perfectionist. "You never know what you're going to get the next day.'' And he can't get enough. "The perfect scenery, that feeling of a perfect shot -- there's something about golf that just touches your heart. You can hit so many bad shots and want to quit, but then that next pure swing makes you fall back in love with the game all over again."

18. Taraji P. Henson, who was nominated for an Oscar for her supporting role in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, has signed on to play a character based on Dr. Catana Starks, the first woman to coach a Division I men's team. Starks was the men's golf coach at Tennessee State. Henson's character in From the Rough will transition from a women's swimming coach to building a men's golf program. A stretch? Guess we'll see. Even with scratch golfer Lucas Black in the lead role, Seven Days in Utopia folks got help with the golf in the movie, let's hope the Rough people do the same.