Quick 18: A Love-fest, a Royal laugh and good caddies

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With Martin Kaymer and Bernhard Langer, can Germany lay claim to the two best players in the world right now?

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. How good is Martin Kaymer? Good enough to have picked up his fourth win of the year -- "third-and-a-half in four events," he jokes, if you include the Ryder Cup -- and get people talking about just who is the No.1 player in the world. No BCS jokes please.

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2. Q-18 will take that a step farther . . . Germany can, perhaps, lay claim to the best senior player in the world, too. Bernhard Langer has won five times on the Champions Tour -- two of them majors -- and takes a week off before heading to Houston and the Administaff Small Business Classic, which he won in 2008 and 2007. Last year, he tied for fourth.

3. Assuming no one tweaks the Official World Golf Ranking formula between now and then, Lee Westwood will grab the top spot from Tiger Woods on Halloween. No trick. Westy will be only the third player to get to No. 1 without a major on his resumé. The other two? David Duval and Fred Couples, both of whom won majors soon. Masters odds anyone? Westy's goal is to have his calf 100 percent for that.

4. Bill Haas, your Masters invitation will be in the mail. Haas followed up his Viking Classic win with a runner-up finish Sunday at The McGladrey Classic, sliding him safely inside the top 20. That means an invitation to Augusta.

5. Your 2012 U.S. Ryder Cup captain? Q-18 thinks it's sounding a lot like Davis Love III. He and European captain-in-waiting Darren Clarke both talked about wanting to play more Ryder Cups when they were assistants in Wales. But now, Love is rethinking that. "If you asked me two months ago, I'd have said, 'No, I don't want to take any chance on screwing up playing,''' Love said. "But now I look at it, I don't want to take any chances on not getting to be the Ryder Cup captain.'' Clarke's turn will likely come three Ryder Cups from now -- after Paul McGinley and Jose Maria Olazabal take their turns.

Love III

6. Love, by the way, is still taking bows from his McGladrey Classic. He pulled the whole family into the event -- brother Mark was tournament director -- and hosted two dinners at Chez Love during the week.

7. The 10th time was the charm? After finishing runner-up nine times in individual events on the Champions Tour, Mark O'Meara gets his first win at the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship -- not to mention a major -- on 10.10.10. Hmm. Coincidence?

8. Another coincidence? O'Meara and wife Meredith got away for some steelhead fishing in Oregon after he took a mental break after withdrawing after two rounds of the SAS Championship. That's always been a place for him to refresh and regroup. And in past years, he has taken Tiger Woods along for a little fishing. Just saying.

McGinley

9. McGinley can laugh about it now, but when it happened? Seems the European team was drilled about royal protocol before they met His Royal Highness Prince Charles. They were not supposed to speak until he spoke to them and then you were supposed to call him sir. But all that went out the window when the European vice captain met HRH before the gala dinner. "I happened to be at the end of the line of vice-captains and when my moment arrived, Colin Montgomerie introduced me as 'my vice-captain, Paul McGinley.''' McGinley said. "Whereupon I immediately put out my hand and said: 'Howya. I'm Paul.' Next thing I knew, Sergio Garcia beside me was doubled-up with laughter. Then I started laughing. Then Prince Charles started laughing." The Euros had fun with that. Ya think?

10. According to The Telegraph, Monty will be giving a lesson or two to Prime Minister David Cameron. Why? Seems Cameron has been challenged to a quick 18 -- pun intended -- by President Barack Obama. They were talking about the Ryder Cup when Obama asked Cameron if he played. "Stupidly and without thinking he said he had played a bit - which is stretching it a bit,'' a source told The Telegraph. "The next thing he knew Obama had challenged him to a game. He is slightly fearful that he might have bitten off more than he can chew." Cameron, a tennis player, forgot Obama relaxes on the course. In fact, he has played 52 times -- according to CBS Radio -- since he took office. Monty offered to help Cameron brush up.

11. Building for the future. Two years ago, Nick Faldo knew Kaymer was a future Ryder Cupper and had him join the team at Valhalla to let him ease into the experience. This year, Monty invited future Cupper Rhys Davies and Kaymer, who went 2-1-1 in his first Cup, told him to soak it all in. "The experience of being with the team two years ago helped me immensely this week," said Kaymer. "When I came to the Celtic Manor at the start of the week, I knew what to expect. I knew it would be a lot of media work and a lot of things are planned out for you ahead. There is not a lot of time to be able to sit down and relax and think about a few things.''

12. Clarke hasn't always been a big Monty fan, but he had nothing but praise -- sort of -- for the winning captain . "I'm not sure how to put this exactly," Clarke told The Scotsman. "It's clear that Monty and I have not always seen eye-to-eye on certain issues. But in terms of what he did as captain, he has my utmost respect. Inside the Ryder Cup 'bubble' if you like, he has always had my respect. And he was so good as captain, he deserves no hassle from anyone. In fact, the first thing I did when we won was to give Monty a big hug. He was standing right beside me. I was genuinely delighted for him. He has been a Ryder Cup legend.''

13. Classy move from Eric Meller, who caddies for Jerry Kelly. Meller plans to donate 10 percent of his McGladrey Classic check from Kelly to breast cancer research.

14. While Q-18 is on caddies . . . Michael Maness is a good friend. A really good one. Bill Haas' regular caddie took the week of the Viking Classic off to be in a friend's wedding and missed Haas' second win of the year -- and his percentage of the take, which went to Haas' brother-in-law, Steven Bright. Maness recouped a bit Sunday when team Haas finished second.

15. The latest 15-minutes-of-fame moment belongs to Rupesh Shingadia, a London investment analyst. He decided to pay tribute to Miguel Angel Jimenez at the Ryder Cup and went viral as Cigar Guy. He was, until Sunday, the international man of mystery and Photoshop favorite after being captured in the amazing shot of Tiger hitting his shot straight at a camera during play. "I am embarrassed and overwhelmed," said Singadia, who lives with his parents. "Never in a million years could I have expected anything like this. It is truly surreal."

16. Rickie Fowler isn't the only golfer with a penchant for orange. He wears head-to-toe Oklahoma State orange on Sundays, while Nicole Hage goes with Auburn orange on Saturday -- um, game day. Hage wore head-to-toe orange and added AU (Auburn University) dangle earrings to her ensemble.

17. Kyle Massey, one of the youngest "Dancing with the Stars" stars, sees golf as a reflection of life: "Golf makes you relax, you know. Life is like a really big game of golf, basically. You have your ups, you have your downs. You have your highs and lows. If you can see the bad, register it as bad and focus on the good, you'll always have a good outcome.''

18. But it looked like the real thing . . . at least it did to a rare burrowing owl. It seems the owl tried to set up a home on a miniature golf course on the Oasis of the Sea cruise ship. Florida wildlife officials caught the bird, who mistook the artificial turf and plants for a field, and released it into the wild where it can find a real home.

Melanie Hauser is a columnist for PGATOUR.COM. Her views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.