Quick 18: Furyk for the Hall and Ryder Cup conjecture

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Until the tees go in the ground for real on Friday, expect tabloid talk about the girlfriends and wives, like Lisa Pavin.

1. Enough about the alarm clock, the $39 putter and the rally cap. Jim Furyk has an extra $10 million in the bank and his third win of the year and we finally have a leader in the clubhouse for Player of the Year honors. In a year of parity, that third win might be the charm

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2. The hot topic Sunday night? Furyk's chances to make the Hall of Fame. Q-18 can see that -- but it'll take a bit. The gold standard for election is at least one major and 20 wins. The 40-year-old has the major, but just 16 wins. He's got plenty of time to get four more.

3. The official welcome at the airport has come and gone, so let the Ryder Cup hype roll on. What should you expect? The next few days will be filled with tabloid headlines, pictures of the WAGS (wives and girlfriends) and conjecture about the pairings. And don't forget slips of someone's tongue. It always happens. And, even the slightest hint of it from either side means headlines. Just chuckle and move on. The real fun starts Friday.

4. Serious Q-18 snaps to Jim "Bones" Mackay, who gave up his business-class seat on the charter to Rickie Fowler's caddie -- like his player, a Ryder Cup rookie -- Joe Skovron. "I knew how excited I was for my first one in '95," Mackay said. "I would have been bummed if I couldn't have ridden with the rest of the team and I wanted him to have the full experience." Caddies Skovron, Steve Williams (Tiger Woods) and Frank Williams (Stewart Cink) were all bumped from the charter because of a plane change. Mackay flew in coach on the charter; Steve and Frank flew commercial.

5. Something to make everyone smile: Amy Mickelson plans to be at the Ryder Cup. She has concentrated on her post-surgical treatment for breast cancer this year, so this will be just her second tournament of the year. The first? How can you forget that hug and kiss at Augusta in April? Q-18 thinks seeing her smile is a great way to kick off Breast Cancer Awareness month, which starts Friday.

6. In a column for the Sunday Telegraph, Euro captain Colin Montgomerie said the worst moment of his career was not being one of Nick Faldo's picks for the 2008 Ryder Cup. Not one of his almosts at a major. "If I had to pinpoint the worst moment of my career, it wouldn't be the duffed approach on the 18th at Winged Foot (at the 2006 U.S. Open) as many might expect, but rather the moment I found out that I wasn't on the 2008 team.

"Of course I would loved to have won a major and the ones that narrowly got away such as Winged Foot will always haunt me. However, hand on heart, I wouldn't swap my eight Ryder Cup experiences even if it were an option. I love everything about the Ryder Cup, from the atmosphere, the team spirit, the pride that you feel as you put on the European uniform, the tension on the first tee to the team room banter."

7. About the only certainty this week? Other than the tabs, of course? Tiger and Phil won't be paired together.

8. The Spaniards have always been the spark in the Euro team room. So what now? Well, Sergio Garcia is a vice captain and could help a bit, but Q-18 is thinking that signature feistiness will be coming from young Rory McIlroy.

9. No tweets from U.S. players or caddies during the Ryder Cup? Apparently Captain Pavin has Twitter on lockdown. Too bad. Wanted to see Rickie Fowler and Bubba Watson video of a ping-pong challenge in the team room. In case you're wondering, Euros were tweeting away until Monday afternoon (U.K. time) when Monty said "we feel that tweeting and Facebook and all of these social sites ... can get one's self into trouble."

10. On the bright side, former RC captain Paul Azinger promises to keep the U.S. peppered with tweets. Media from both sides of the pond won't be far behind.

11. After all the buzz about the U.S. team outfits, consider this. The forecast calls for wet and chilly all week, which means they'll be layered up in what the locals will call waterproofs.

12. How strange is this season? Tiger and Phil have one win between them and, despite a year of chaos, Woods remains No. 1 in the world. Phil has had his chances, but hasn't stepped up.

13. Believe it or not, Jack Nicklaus had something to do with Rafael Nadal's powerful serve. A Nicklaus video served as inspiration for Toni Nadal, Rafa's uncle and his coach since the age of 4. "I saw a video by Jack Nicklaus that changed my vision,'' the elder Nadal said. "In it Nicklaus said: 'First strike far, then we will think about getting the ball inside. I said to myself: 'This man must be right'." That is what I applied with Rafael. First strike hard, then we will get the ball inside.''

Rafa's win at the U.S. Open earlier this year made him the seventh player to win tennis' Grand Slam and, at 24, the youngest.

14. Jim McKenzie, the director of golf courses for Celtic Manor, has done everything possible to ensure perfect conditions for this week's Ryder Cup. But that doesn't mean he sleeps well at night. "You know, it's a funny thing, but I've started waking up at ten past three every morning," the 48-year-old Scot told The Herald. "I've no idea why it happens, but I'm certainly not in a blind panic about anything. When I'm lying there I start thinking about daft wee things, like what happens if one of the workers is late and can't get through security. Aside from that, I'm fine."

15. When the Tampa Bay Rays hit the road for a four-game series with the New York Yankees, they did it in Loudmouth golf pants. Rays manager Joe Maddon is tagging trips with a theme and players called this one the Loudmouth Pants Rowland Trip in honor of Pants Rowland, the manager of the 1917 Chicago White Sox, the only team to win the World Series after being no-hit twice in a season. The Rays have been no-hit twice this year. As for the pants? The team looked like a cross between Judge Smails and a John Daly pro-am foursome.

16. Tweet of the month, buried in the notes, comes from Bo Van Pelt: "My wife just told me that she is relieved that I didn't make the Ryder Cup because she lied about her sizes on her clothes"

17. The second time around is looking pretty sweet for 50-year-old Bobby Clampett. The player-turned-broadcaster-turned-back-to-player finished in a share of fourth at the SAS Championship Sunday and was T8 at the Home Care & Hospice First Tee Open at Pebble Beach a few weeks ago. In case you've forgotten, he pretty much took a 15-year hiatus from tournament golf -- he played a few events here or there -- but decided to give the Champions Tour a whirl. Five months in, it's looking good. "It's a long process, but it's getting there,'' he said.

18. This week's final word comes from Boston's Shaquille O'Neal: "I'm going to retire from golf after I whip Charles's (Barkley's rear end)."

Melanie Hauser is a columnist for PGATOUR.COM and can be reached at melaniehauser@gmail.com. Her views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.