Quick 18: Marino's health kick, favorite rookie faces

text size

1. Got the Monday blues? Q-18 to the rescue with the latest Ben Crane-ium video. Who knew the guy could be funnier than he was in last year's workout video? His new pre-round video is a serious must to start the week. Crane, complete with helmet, laying face down in a bunker to receive information? Investigating a water hazard? As Q-18 watched and listened -- "I have sensors in my hands and I'm constantly receiving vibrations from the course's crust" -- we couldn't help but think of the day in 1981 that Gary McCord led the then-Michelob Houston Open and announced that "By Product 17 from the planet Blothar" had entered his body as an experiment to see what it feels like to lead a golf tournament. Pretty hysterical moment in press room history. Crane takes it up another notch here. We leave you with this Craneium-ism "I have found silence. What is disturbing your silence?"

Got a comment or question for Melanie? Click here to e-mail her.

2. And you thought there weren't any ties in golf. This week's Official World Golf Ranking includes two ties -- Graeme McDowell and Phil Mickelson share the fourth spot; Ernie Els and Ian Poulter share No. 10.

3. The latest player to join the rich golf tradition at Oklahoma State? All-conference quarterback -- and soon to be three-ball wizard -- Brandon Weeden. The former professional baseball player -- he's 27 -- plans to come back to OSU for his senior season and he'll tune up as a walk-on on the OSU golf team. He announced his football decision in a press conference, then tweeted -- @bweeden3: I forgot to mention I'm also the newest member of the OSU golf team!!!! Proud to be part of something special! Football and Golf!!!! The players have impressed by his swing, but . . . "They like his game," golf coach Mike McGraw told The Oklahoman. "Now am I saying he's going to lead us to a national championship? Probably not."

4. Sony Open winner Mark Wilson -- how impressive was a 36-hole Sunday with no bogeys? -- is in the Masters. Did you know though, it will be just the fourth major of his career? The three-time TOUR winner missed the cut at the 1998 U.S. Open and the 2007 and 2009 PGA Championships. Got a feeling the fourth time will be the charm. Another reason for Wilson to smile? His Green Bay Packers -- he's a serious fan -- beat Atlanta.

5. Two TOUR events, two U.S. winners. Two victories for quiet, solid players who are, well, 5-foot-8-ish. Two wins for the ACC. Yep. Jonathan Byrd went to Clemson; Wilson to North Carolina.

6. Anyone else wondering if Harrington will still have his beard in Abu Dhabi? He's shaking everything else up, so why not? According to IrishGolfDesk.com, the inveterate tinkerer has, among other things, changed the grips on his clubs, flattened all his clubs by a degree of loft, weakened his grip, changed his trigger for takeaway which means a smaller hip turn and bigger coil, changed his chin position at the top of his backswing and tweaked his putting routine. Whew. And we didn't go into detail. Paddy wouldn't be Paddy without a few, eh, changes.

7. Notice anything different about Steve Marino? According to the Golf Channel, he's gone healthy and lost about 15 pounds. How has he not won yet? We might not be asking that question for very long.

8. One of the fun new faces this year? Nate Smith got our attention for a couple of reasons. First, he went surfing and jumped off a 20-foot cliff with a spear during the rainout and found himself one shot off the lead after round one. He was pretty entertaining with a pair of rookie diaries, too. Tough final round, but he jumped onto Q-18's radar. Not tweeting ... yet.

9. Rainouts are just part of professional golf. No one likes them, but until they find a way to dome a golf course, they're part of life. Golfers take them in stride. The media? Not as much. Best weather-tweet from all the rain came from veteran @StuartAppleby: No waves just flat seas and that's the course.

10. A blessing in disguise? Whether you agree with LPGA commissioner Michael Whan's decision to deny Lexi Thompson's petition or not, bottom line is the 15-year-old will still have a chance to make an impact in 2011. The LPGA will now allow non-LPGA players to Monday qualify, which means Thompson can add those to her six sponsors exemptions. She's also in the field at the U.S. Women's Open and Evian Masters.

11. Be honest. Did you really know what a tweet was two years ago? Twitter king Stewart Cink got Q-18 into tweeting at the 2009 PLAYERS Championship -- the ground floor as it turns out -- and now it's the place to go to find out what's happening. Like the Cink's pre-Hope tweet: @stewartcink: First tournament of the year and my golf travel bag weighs in at 78.2 lbs. Belated New Years resolution: shed a few pounds this year.

12. In case you're wondering, Cink leads the tweeple list with 1,201,850 followers. Poults is second with 1,090,109.

12. Golf, welcome to social media. And trumors -- some truth, some rumor. Does it really matter who Dustin Johnson or McIlroy is dating? No one ever said life in the spotlight would be easy.

13. Bold-faced entertainment and athletic stars like Kurt Russell, Alice Cooper, Julius Erving, Bo Jackson and Sugar Ray Leonard will be sharing the spotlight at the Bob Hope Classic, the only five-round event on the PGA TOUR, this week. Meanwhile, the European Tour's Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship will be played in the other desert with G-Mac, Mickelson, Poulter, Martin Kaymer, Louis Oosthuizen , Padraig Harrington, Rory McIlroy and world No. 1 Lee Westwood competing.

14. Been a while since we checked in with @bovanpelt, who shared this out-of-the-mouth-of-kids tweet: My 9 yr old says "dad, don't ever lose your tour card" I ask why and she she says" because Hawaii is awesome and I want to keep coming back!

15. The drug cartel violence in Mexico has the LPGA folks rethinking April's Tres Marias which is about 180 miles west of Mexico City. Roads from the airport to the hotel and event have been impacted by the violence and the LPGA security folks will be looking at the event and options. Whan has told players to hold off making reservations.

16. Rush Limbaugh on what surprised him about doing The Hank Haney Project: "How serious it was -- part of it was like a boot camp."

17. What does a caddie do in his spare time? Mickelson's caddie Jim ''Bones" Mackay lugged camera gear on the sidelines at the BCS Championship game between Auburn and Oregon for Sports Illustrated photographer Robert Beck.

18. Finally, from the only-in-Hollywood-would-you-hear-this file, Cameron Diaz, who played a bit of golf in "Something About Mary" told starpulse.com she's so obsessed with game -- she plays barefoot -- she had to take a break. "I hadn't golfed for, like, three years until recently ... because it's kind of like crack cocaine to me."

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.