Quick 18: Official World Golf Ranking just a number

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McDowell for Player of the Year? Not out of the question after he picked up his third win last week.

1. About this change at the top of the Official World Golf Ranking. Get used to it. Back in the 1980s, Seve Ballesteros and Greg Norman traded time at the top nine times and it hopped around some in the '90s and 2000s, too. Ladbrokes already has Lee Westwood at 6-to-4 to remain No. 1 at the end of 2011 and 8-to-1 to win a major in 2011. Tiger Woods is even to regain the top spot from Westwood.

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2. In case you're wondering, the second-longest consecutive week stay at No. 1 belongs to Norman with 96 weeks. He was there for 331 weeks over all. Norman still holds the record for most times to reach No. 1 -- 11. Tiger is second with 10.

3. And as for the OWGR, period? To Jack Nicklaus, it's just a number. "I don't think it means anything," Nicklaus told The Palm Beach Post. "How could it mean a lot? Tiger is No. 1 and hasn't won a tournament all year. To me whoever is playing the best right now is the No. 1 player, not a bunch of computer rankings."

4. Weren't sold on Graeme McDowell? How about now? The Irishman's win at the Andalucia Masters was his third of the year. He's still chasing Martin Kaymer in the Race to Dubai, but the wins coupled with his closing exclamation point at the Ryder Cup might just get him some Player of the Year buzz yet. By the way, the U.S. Open champ will be receiving an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Ulster and another honorary degree from Queens University.

5. Another week, another video to make you chuckle. Just maybe not as hard as Ben Crane's workout video. This time, Bubba Watson is dressed as a hot dog and rapping to Peanut Butter Jelly Time. (Watch the video here.) Q-18 is a bigger fan of his challenges with Rickie Fowler. Ur welcome.

6. Looks like Tiger's new $30-plus million compound is getting close to completion. Photos of the house, lap pool and practice area show a nearly completed grounds and exterior. The interior is still under construction. Before heading to Shanghai for the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions, TW was courtside at the Orlando Magic's opener chatting it up with NBA commish David Stern and NBC's Ahmad Rashad.

7. After Shanghai, Tiger is headed to Thailand where he'll join Thongchai Jaidee, Paul Casey and Camilo Villegas in the "World Golf Salutes King Bhumibol" skins game. Woods agreed to take part in the celebration of King Bhumibol's 84th birthday and 60th year as king, in part because his mother, Tida Woods, is Thai. All the prize money -- $300,000 in prize money, or about nine million baht -- will be donated to the King.

8. Lorena Ochoa comes out of retirement for the Mission Hills Star Trophy and walks away with the $1.28 million winner's check. Expect her to make a few more cameos at events like the Nabisco Championship or British Open. Don't expect a comeback. "I didn't retire from golf. I retired from the LPGA," she said. "I play golf every day." Colin Montgomerie, by the way, was runner-up in the pro-celebrity event by two shots. Turns out his caddie helped move a sign in Monty's line of sight and ... oops... a two-shot penalty.

9. Michael Phelps may not have a swing to die for, but the man is flexible. A camera caught him stretching with his golf club during the Mission Hills Star event and... well, most golfers can only wish for the swimmer's range of motion. (View the photo here.) Phelps, who is serious about the game, by the way, is a Ricky Barnes/Ryan Moore painters cap guy.

10. Former LPGA and TCU golfer Kris Tschetter, who counted Ben Hogan as a friend and mentor, just released the book "Mr. Hogan, The Man I Knew." In it, she said Hogan wasn't as icy as legend has it. "He was very private. But if he could have just met people without them always being so aware he was this legendary golfer, the famous Ben Hogan, I think he would have been more approachable. He rarely felt that people wanted to know him as a person. And his reputation kept people at a distance, too. I think one of the reasons we became friends was I didn't have that fear or reverence.''

11. To heck with the walk-off ace or the two-year exemption. All 4-year-old Jackson Byrd wanted to know was "Where's the trophy?" Seriously. Bigger smile on dad Jonathan's face for that? Or the ace on the fourth hole at the playoff that gave him the win at the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open?

Q-18 will take Jackson's question.

12. When the U.S. rain gear leaked at the Ryder Cup, U.S. Solheim Cup captain Rosie Jones jumped on e-mail with the LPGA. And, she made a trip to Montreal where Sun Ice is making the rain suits. "I think we've got the best Gore-Tex available,'' Jones told The Golf Channel. "I was assured about our rain suits right away, as this was unwinding Friday at the Ryder Cup. The first person I got an e-mail from was a contact at Sun Ice, assuring us our outfits are going to be great, that they'll work and that they're going to be tested and re-tested. They'll be tested pretty heavily before we go over.'' As for colors? She said the team will be outfitted in modern red, white and blue. "No lavender, nothing powder blue,'' she said.

13. Wild round of the week? Stephen Bowditch's third round at the Nationwide Tour Championship. Six bogeys, a double, a triple and an ace. 79. Still got his PGA TOUR card, finishing 17th on the Nationwide Tour money list.

14. Lexi Thompson is a player without a tour. At 15, she's too young to be an LPGA player. She's way too good for the amateur crowd. So she's playing on the Minor League Golf Tour, where she has finished second and fifth in the last two events. She's not looking to play with the guys forever, though. She has used up her six LPGA Tour exemptions for the year, so her next event will be the Omega Dubai Ladies Masters in December. Will she petition for an exemption to play on the LPGA Tour? We'll have to wait and see, but Q-18 thinks she would be a welcome addition.

15. Fairways and greens. How many times has a player said that's the key? It is. Kinda. Joe Durant, you see, leads the TOUR in driving accuracy (76 percent) and greens in regulation (71) but that hasn't translated to cash. Durant is 166th in putts-per-round, which leaves him 120th on the money list heading into the final event of the year in two weeks. The last player to lead the TOUR in those two categories? Calvin Peete, who did it from 1981-1983.

16. You'd think Dustin Johnson's failure to read the local rules sheet at the PGA Championship would have players triple-checking. Think again. Ryuji Imada wound up with 13 separate 2-shot penalties -- yes 26 shots -- at the Mission Hills Star Trophy. The players were allowed to lift, clean and place their balls and Imada assumed it was PGA TOUR rules -- within one club length. It wasn't. It was the length of a scorecard -- standard on the Asian and European Tours. Oops. Danny Lee noticed and told Imada. His reaction? "I'm an idiot.'' At least it didn't cost him a major. Other victims of their own making? The aforementioned Monty oops (Q-18's No. 8) and Nick Faldo who was DQ-ed when he picked up his ball. He forgot there was pro competition in the pro-celebrity event, not just a team event.

17. Interesting tidbits from Spain: Jose Maria Olazabal, who has struggled with rheumatoid arthritis and fallen to 707th in the world, finished 10th Sunday at Valderrama to move up to 540th. It's a start. Also, according to Costa del Sol, Norman has an agreement in principle with Spaniard Jaime Ortiz Patiņo to buy Soto Properties Company, the owner of Valderrama.

18. Bloomberg News reported Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez thinks some of his country's golf courses -- and some abandoned private land -- should be expropriated for other purposes. "That's an injustice -- that someone should have the luxury of having I don't know how many hectares to play golf and drink whiskey and, next door, there's misery and children dying when there are landslides." Speaking during his weekly television show, Chavez said he will dedicate himself to resolving Venezuela's housing shortage, brought on by the heavy rains and landslides.

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.