Quick 18: European dominance, caddies at q-school and more

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Caddie Damon Green (left) is in the Champions Tour q-school finals. He says he will continue to work for Zach Johnson (right) if he secures his card.

1. Another surprise in a season of them? You bet. This time it's Francesco Molinari winning a head-to-head battle at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions with newly minted No. 1 Lee Westwood. Call it a European exclamation point. He's trying to keep up with his brother Edoardo, a two-time winner this season -- and, of course, keep pace with all the other new faces from 2010.

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2. Westwood couldn't beat Molinari, but he beat the rest of the field by nine in his first No. 1 defense. Tiger Woods struggled -- he lipped out a lot of putts but still earns second in the who-has-the-chance-to-be-No. 1-this-week race. For what that's worth. Phil Mickelson and Martin Kaymer? Not so much. Kaymer tied for 30th; Mickelson for 41st. Bottom line? Westwood needs a win.

3. How special was the No. 1 ranking to the Brits? Security guards at Heathrow were shaking Westwood's hand last week.

4. All of John Cook's five Champions Tour wins have come in October or November. Quick 18 has no explanation, but wonders what he might do if he could get untracked earlier in the season.

5. Cook won the Charles Schwab Cup Championship for the second year in a row despite the tour's switch to Harding Park. In each of his three seasons on the Champions Tour, Cook has finished in the top five in the season-long Charles Schwab Cup race. The only other person to do that? Bernhard Langer.

6. According to Golf Inc. magazine, the most powerful person in the golf business isn't Tiger. It's ClubCorp boss Eric Affeldt. Affeldt has guided the Dallas-based firm since it a buyout in 2006. Tiger? He fell from third to eighth in the magazine's ranking.

7. The Golfer In Chief always finds a way to mix a little business into his frequent round of golf, so don't be surprised to see that one-time, not-gonna-happen pairing between Barack Obama and John Boehner in 2011. The two smokers also happen to be two of the best players in Washington D.C. power circles and now that Boehner is poised to become Speaker of the House, they might use the course as place to find a little common ground on issues. Two years ago, Boehner's handicap was listed at 6.3, Obama's at 16. Nothing's been set up . . . .wait for it . . . yet, according to White House press secretary Robert Gibbs. "I'd just say that Mr. Boehner looks like a pretty good golfer...I think he might take some money from the President on that,'' Gibbs said. "I'll probably get in trouble for saying that now.''

8. Count caddie Damon Green among those players advancing to the finals of Champions Tour q-school. The only thing he didn't like? Shooting a closing 77 in the first stage. "I played like a caddie, but the object was to advance,'' said Green, who once missed getting his PGA TOUR card by a shot. If he does qualify, Green's not giving up his day job. He'll caddie for Zach Johnson full-time and play the Champions Tour part-time. See the scores by clicking here.

9. Another man in the Champions q-school finals? Vijay Singh's older brother Krishna. And, oh, there's one big difference between Krishna, who plays on the Asian and Australian tours, and his World Golf Hall of Fame brother. "He's a much harder worker than me," Krishna said.

10. Sergio Garcia, who finished 10th in the Andalucia Valderrama Masters two weeks ago, continues his fall comeback run this week at the Australian Masters, where he couldn't escape questions about defending champ Tiger's fear factor. "I think you can never count out a guy like Tiger, one of the greatest players we've ever had in the game and definitely a man to beat and watch," he said. "He's maybe not as fearsome (as 12 months ago), I think that obviously he's gone through his fair share of problems too, he's trying to get back into it too. At the moment I'm more worried about myself than him."

10. Pinehurst No. 2 will close for four months so Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore can literally dig into the renovations they're making to the venerable Donald Ross course. The redo means stripping 26 acres of rough, adding eight new tees, re-establishing bunker edges and removing over 500 sprinkler heads. "There is no radical change to the course, which is a masterpiece, a real work of art," Coore said. "We're trying to uncover what has been covered by time." Crenshaw and Coore have used 1943 photos of the course in their plans.

11. Count Quick 18 among those wondering what's up with the USGA and Torrey Pines. After serving up an iconic finish at the 2008 U.S. Open, the club has gotten a chilly shoulder from the blue blazers. Tom Wornham, co-chair of San Diego's championship committee, told the San Diego Union-Tribune the committee had invited the U.S. Open back, but hasn't heard from Golf House. So they're opening conversations with other folks. "We're not going to sit around waiting for a call to go to the prom," Wornham said. The USGA, which still has an open spot in 2018, might not like the idea of back-to-back California Opens since Pebble Beach has the 2019 Open, but not talking about a date for a course that produced a great finish? C'mon now.

12. Lee Trevino isn't heading north, well, north of downtown San Antonio, when the Champions Tour moves to the new TPC course next year. Trevino, who turns 71 next month, has been a staple at Oak Hills since his PGA TOUR days when his fans would start gathering hours before his tee times just to see the man who, in his very younger days, whapped golf balls with a Dr. Pepper bottle on the end of a stick and talked a mile a minute. He's still not bad with a quick quip. "At my age, I can't play those (longer) courses," he said. "But that's OK. It's time for me to sit down. It's time to sit on the porch with a corn-cob pipe and a Bud."

13. How to get from here to there? @Paul_Casey shows the way from the 17th tee at Thailand's Amata Spring Country Club to the true island green. A boat takes you there and back. Quick 18 wonders what the wait time is at the tee.

14. Ray Romano, who plays Joe on the cable series Men of a Certain Age, said the story line will eventually have him trying out for senior tour, as they call it. And, yes, he does play golf -- kind of -- for the show. "It's fun, but it's a little bit more pressure than the real acting because now I have to act like I am a scratch golfer and I'm not, and I want it to look real,'' he said. "Normally, I'll swing a club without any ball there, and then we will just use computer generated imagery later for the ball. So actually those scenes are more pressure than the others." Ah, screen magic.

De Los Santos

15. Need a little inspiration? Look no farther than Manuel De Los Santos. Despite losing his left leg in a motorcycle accident at 18, the native of the Dominican Republic plays to a 2 handicap and travels the world playing exhibitions, walking the courses on his crutches. The accident cut short a promising baseball career for the outfielder. He had been drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays -- his hero was, of course, Sammy Sosa.

But, inspired by the movie "The Legend of Bagger Vance" and his wife, De Los Santos started to play golf -- a game he had never played, but translated from hitting in baseball. "The fourth ball in my life I hit with the driver, straight, behind to the 200 meters,'' he told The Golf Channel. His message is simple. It doesn't matter if you have one hand, one leg or can't see. You just have to believe everything is possible. His secret? " In my heart I'm happy to come and hit the ball. I don't care about my swing. I want to see my ball fly. That's it. I play with feeling ... golf is my second leg. I say that with my heart.''

16. They like to go low at the Children's Miracle Network Classic, so get ready. We've already seen two 59s this year on the PGA TOUR, three 60s and four 61s. Could we see another? Don't count on it, but don't count it out. All Quick 18 can say is that it's not unusual to see 63s and 64s at this event.

17. Just so you know, the first-ever JW Marriott Marquis, which just opened in Miami, lets you work on your golf swing a few floors away from your room. The 41-floor hotel has two entertainment floors that include a Jim McLean Golf School, complete with two putting greens, virtual golf simulators, a pro shop and personal instruction. There's also a 10,000-square-foot NBA-approved basketball court in the hotel.

18. And, finally, an thought from 19th century English poet Robert Browning: "There are three ways of learning golf: by study, which is the most wearisome; by imitation, which is the most fallacious; and by experience, which is the most bitter."

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.