Quick 18: Hot Houston, a hard Sunday and candor from Phil

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Can we see a comeback for Scots? Martin Laird and Paul Lawrie made us believers for one weekend, at least.

1. Win-and-in. Yep, it's that time again. Three years ago, Johnson Wagner played his way into the Masters with a win at the Shell Houston Open. Last year, Vaughn Taylor just missed, losing a playoff to Anthony Kim. The field is full of possibilities once again. At the top of that list? Might be Steve Marino, who has two runner-up finishes this year and a fourth.

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2. OK. We could have used "punching his ticket," but that term is all Houston has heard for the last three weeks. Why? The Final Four will be held about 45 miles southeast of Redstone -- at Reliant Stadium, home of the Houston Texans. Butler, VCU, Kentucky or Connecticut? Kind of reads like the surprising faces of 2011 TOUR winners, doesn't it? Who's pulling for which FF team? We promise to let you know later this week.

3. Great Scots? Sorry, had to do it. Been a while since we've been able to use that -- think Monty and Sandy Lyle -- plus, well, Q-18 has proud Scottish roots. Paul Lawrie makes a big comeback, career-wise, to win the Andalucian Open; Martin Laird makes a wild comeback on the back nine to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational and finally meet the King. The double? They're just trying to keep up with the Brits and the Irish.

4. Loving Laird's sign-scholarship-sight-unseen with Colorado State back in the day. Loving that he went from boring it into the wind before college and a high-ball, Jack Nicklaus-style when he got to the States. Best graphic of the weekend? Comparing Laird's swing with Jack's. Says something for that flying right arm.

5. Another week, another glimpse of the old days. Yes, we're talking Tiger, who was fist-pumping and high-fiving fans and, of course, tossing his driver. Another step in the comeback? He made it sound like it.

6. Tiger-by-some-interesting-numbers: Bay Hill was just the 10th tournament for the Tiger-Sean Foley pairing; it's been 498 days since Tiger won a tournament; and ... he's gone 20 starts without winning. And he's still the betting favorite for the Masters.

7. One player in the top 8 at Bay Hill broke 70 in the final round. Seriously. Justin Rose shot 68 to share third. Yes, it was that hard. But hard not to say pressure played a seriously large part, too.

8. In case you missed it, Laird has jumped to 21st in the world, leapfrogging, among others, Padraig Harrington and Justin Rose.

9. Rory McIlroy was the only golfer to make Time magazine's list of 140 best tweeters. The sample tweet from @McIlroyRory: "A lot of abuse from @WestwoodLee about my top! Unjustified! He's dressed like a farmer at a beach party.'' We wonder what @ianjamespoulter and @westwoodlee will have to say about that. Next up? World twitter rankings?

10. How hard it is to win your first tournament? Ask Marino. So close, so many times ... and while we're on the subject, notice the burly-move-fast-hit-it-faster-go-for-it resemblance to Mark Calcavecchia? He's got a ways to go to match Calc's quotes, though. A Q-18 Calc-speak favorite? When he would "gork" a shot.

11. First major of the year comes this week in Palm Springs. Yep, come Sunday, the winner of the Kraft Nabisco Championship will take that leap into the pond. Looking for a favorite? Karrie Webb? Cristie Kerr? Paula Creamer? Just might be defending champ and world No. 1 Yani Tseng. But ... don't overlook Juli Inkster. Can she win a major in her 50s? You bet.

12. Will be an interesting week for Jhonattan Vegas, who'll be playing his first "home game" at the SHO. He played in 2003, flew under the radar as a soon-to-be college kid -- Texas coach John Fields offered him a scholarship after watching him at the SHO -- with a strange name who missed the cut. Now he's one of 2010's best stories.

13. Best pink look since Arnie? Has to be Rickie Fowler. Fowler's warmup for Bay Hill? A quick trip to OSU where he crashed with friends, played basketball with Alan Bratton and hit the golf course with Sam Bradford.

14. Just before the final round, @bubbawatson tweeted: "Does @GolfChannel need the BUBBA & RICKIE SHOW????? RT if yes!!!!!" Didn't get it. The BFFs shot a pair of 78s on a tough days, but, hey ... the Masters is just around the corner.

15. Breaking news: Bubba aces the seventh hole at Augusta Monday morning. OK. It was on EASports Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 12. Check it out here.

16. A comeback for Monty? Maybe so. Colin Montgomerie hasn't ruled out a second Ryder Cup captaincy and it couldn't get much comfier than Gleneagles in 2014. Sandy Lyle pointed out as much, noting that the course is just five miles from Monty's home. For the moment, Monty's focused on playing on the the 2012 team, but ... "'Hypothetically, if asked to be captain again -- because of my involvement with the Tour over the years -- I would have to accept,'' he said. "But only if they asked me. They would have to approach me. I wouldn't be approaching them.'' Hint, hint.

17. Phil Mickelson, who is playing this week in Houston, talked about the differences between his career and Tiger's in Parade magazine: "Throughout (Tiger's) career he's been able to maintain a level of high performance consistently, whereas I'm much more emotional. I'll have highs and I'll have lows and I'll be much more up and down. He is very even-keeled and somehow he's been able to be even-keeled at the highest level of performance. For me, I need emotion and adrenaline and excitement to get me to those highest levels and then consequently, there's always at some point going to be a fall out. I've never been able to stay at the highest level for a sustained period of time, whereas he has found a way to do it."

18. Some seriously scary moments for Annika Sorenstam and husband Mike McGee before delivering a healthy, but 13 weeks premature, William Nicholas. Golf World's Ron Sirak delivered the details of the harrowing night for the family.

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. Follow her on Twitter @melaniehauser.