Quick 18: McDowell's season comes full circle with win

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Woods may not have won the Chevron, but his second place finish sent a message for 2011.

1. Two incredible, stand-up-and-cheer putts at the 18th hole. An exclamation point to the season. For Graeme McDowell. Yes, it was exciting stuff down the stretch at the Chevron World Challenge where Tiger Woods lost a tournament the world figured he would win. Instead, we got the biggest comeback ever on the former world No. 1. Woods sent a message for 2011, while McDowell finished off a great year and a seriously strong fall. A fitting bookend, too, since McDowell slid into last year's Chevron when Woods pulled out and got his whole major season rolling.

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2. Lest you think Tiger leading by four shots in a limited field event isn't news, think again. All the major networks gave Tiger's leading-going-into-the-final-round-which-must-mean-he's-back major air time on the Sunday morning news shows. Just thought you'd like to know.

3. The stuff of dreams. That's the way McDowell characterized his 2010 season. No one's arguing. Back-to-back 20something footers to take out Tiger? That's something Tiger does to everyone else. McDowell just put himself on the major shortlist until further notice. Four wins will do that. So will moving into the Official World Golf Ranking's top 10 -- he's seventh. And, don't you love the way he's comfortable talking about, well, anything? His Twitter reaction? @Graeme McDowell : Woooooooooohoooooooooo!!!!!!! Unbelievable.

4. Meanwhile, half the world away, Lee Westwood did finish what he started at the Nedbank Challenge. A Tiger win and a Westy stumble could have put Tiger back at No. 1. Instead, Westwood blitzed the field, then put his feet up for a pint. Or two.

5. A bit lost in the boldfaced names in California and South Africa? Geoff Ogilvy's win at the Australian Open. After winning the 2010 SBS Championship in Hawaii to open the season, Ogilvy struggled through a frustrating season, missing four cuts before turning things around during the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. "I came into a bit of form late - just kind of ran out of tournaments,'' he said. Here's hoping the 2006 U.S. Open champion, one of the game's most open and thoughtful players, will be back in the mix in 2011.

6. Could Aussie golf be the next resurgence? With Ogilvy, Adam Scott, Jason Day, Stuart Appleby and Robert Allenby all rounding into form, Greg Norman thinks it might be closer than we think. "It will happen. They're all ready," he told the Herald Sun. "It's about putting themselves in the right position to do it. There's a lot of other great players in the world out there . . . To step up to the plate and be one of the four (major winners) every year is pretty hard, but they're all good enough to do it. That's for sure."

7. Talk about a quick turnaround. After finishing 16 shots behind Ogilvy at the Australian Open, Norman's back home hosting his Shark Shootout this week. Norman will play with Matt Kuchar, who just happens to be his 10th partner in the event. Another player who's had 10 different partners in the Shootout? Mark Calcavecchia, who is playing with Jeff Overton.

8. Shootout pairings that make Q-18 smile? And wish we were there to watch 'em? McDowell and Darren Clarke (Irish lads who make everyone smile), BFFs Rickie Fowler and Bubba Watson (double-dog dares at all times), Jerry Kelly and Steve Stricker (Cheeseheads) and Justin Leonard and Scott Verplank (native Texans, gritty players and, of course, the Big 12 pairing).

9. Has it really been almost four months? Mike Weir is using the Shootout as his comeback event from a torn ligament in his right elbow. The former Masters champ, whose last event was the Wyndham Championship, is also making his comeback without a coach. A former Stack-and-Tilt guy, he had turned to Mike Wilson. Now, he's taking ownership of his own swing, but will likely have Wilson around as a second set of eyes.

10. Dudley Hart started his comeback last week, but it ended after three rounds. Hart, who had surgery to fuse two discs in his spine in the summer of 2009, suffered spasms in the second round and leg pains during the third round and was forced to withdraw. He also withdrew from this week's Australian PGA. "It's a very similar pain to what I experienced before," Hart told a television reporter. "It's about as bad as when I had to have surgery. I'm really nervous about what's going on. I'm nervous of the symptoms." He'll now regroup with his doctors. The 2008 Comeback Player of the Year hasn't played on the PGA TOUR since the 2009 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. He hoped to play in 2011 on a major medical exemption. Q-18 will keep you posted.

11. More stuff of dreams . . . Cameron Jones, a 10-year-old from Penarth with a handicap of 32, will tee it up with Westwood in a charity event for a BBC Radio Two show. According to Walesonline.com, Jones' uncle -- Gareth -- had the winning bid of £90,000 and called Cameron to ask if he knew of a course called Sunningdale. Gareth then broke the news to his nephew that he and his dad would be playing Westwood and BBC host Chris Evans on Dec. 14. Proceeds go to Children In Need. Cameron, by the way, placed his chances against Westwood at "one in a million".

12. Getting a chuckle out of the Europeans' tweets? Especially the @WestwoodLee and @ianjamespoulter banter? It's not that much different than being in a room with all those guys. No one's safe. Few things are sacred. Everyone's funny. Even -- or sometimes especially -- the managers like @chubby6665. You're welcome.

13. In case you missed it, former U.S. Open champ Michael Campbell, who had basically lost his game, finished 12th at the Australian Open. A huge step for a guy who had missed 43 of his last 45 cuts. He credits Australian teaching pro Gary Edwin, who he ran into after finishing T28 at the Australian Masters. "I've turned the corner, I think,'' he told The Sydney Morning Herald. "If you average between 15 and 16 greens per round, like I did (at the Australian Open), and between 12 and 14 fairways, you're obviously striking the ball pretty well. My ball-striking has definitely improved 10 fold, so I'm pretty excited now and just looking to the future and to this week."

14. Christmas wish that's not happening -- at least not this year: @TigerWoods in response to a tweep's question: Stanford in the National Championship Game RT: @Michelleannette so what does the man who can buy anything want for Christmas

15. Soon-to-be House speaker and golfer John Boehner found himself apologizing to Chi Chi Rodriguez at a press conference last week. Rodriguez was honored by the House -- House Resolution 1430 -- for his commitment to Latino youth programs of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, but that didn't sit well with Oregon Congressman Greg Walden. Walden doesn't' like such resolutions, period, and was upset that the House took that up instead of working on tax issues. "If Americans knew we spent this week honoring and saluting golf legend Chi Chi Rodriguez . . . while their taxes are about to go up and our national debt is exploding, they'd send us all packing," Walden said. "Now, there's nothing wrong with Chi Chi . . . " Boehner stepped in at that point and apologized to Rodriguez.

16. With all the story lines rumbling around the LPGA Tour Championship last week -- six players with the chance to win Player of the Year -- the big story in women's golf was elsewhere. Lexi Thompson is petitioning the LPGA to reconsider the current age restriction. Fifteen-year-old Thompson, who has contended in LPGA events, can play in six events, but The Golf Channel reported she wants to play in twice that many. Cristie Kerr, who turned pro after high school, told CBS.com she doesn't expect the LPGA to change the rules. "I wouldn't expect that would be done," Kerr said. "She wants to try and play on our Tour, and you know, she's 15 years old or 16 years old, and she's not even really got her high school education complete yet. So that was her decision to turn pro early, and, yeah, she's a great player, but she's also very young. And you know, that's the rule, six exemptions. It's to protect the rest of the people that are members that need to get those exemptions."

17. Talk about being a good sport. Not only could Paul Casey laugh about this leaping high-five after an ace at the Chevron -- "That's terrible, isn't it?'' -- he also got a chuckle when The Golf Channel handed him a fake bar bill. An ace is grounds for picking up the tab, so they gave Casey a bill for $13,407. When asked what kind of tip he'd give, he didn't hesitate -- 20 percent. But he admitted he had no idea what that would be. And, no, he wasn't doing the math. Q-18 will. That would be $2,681 and change.

18. And, finally, in response to a tweep's question, "Can you rock a full beard or only the goatee?" @TigerWoods: I can barely grow a goatee

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.