Quick 18: Stricker, Donald among best without major

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Luke Donald's name is on the short list of best players without a major championship title.

1. Don't know about you, but Q-18 is suddenly having fish and chips, tuna mayo and mash peas cravings. Oh, Penguins, too (they're cookies). There's nothing like British Open week. We're already missing the atmosphere of the game's oldest major, trying to see France from Dover, the narrow streets leading to Sandwich and the quirkiness of Royal St. George's. A kerfuffle of a finish in 2003 with Thomas Bjorn and that bunker, Tiger Woods losing his opening tee shot in the rough, then trying to hole it from the fairway at the 72nd hole and Ben Curtis holding the Claret Jug. This year? Glad you asked. We'll jump right in.

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2. Everyone's still talking about Steve Stricker. Not so much the three-peat -- or tractor triple -- but that comeback finish. Birdies 17, then all-world birdie -- how many guys make that approach shot from a bunker? -- at 18. A downhill, side-hill lie out of a bunker, over the water, just off the green and a birdie for the win. That's a comeback close for the ages. Definitely the best American player right now. As for that major? Is he the best player without a major? Doesn't have a great major record, but we'd love to see the tears when he gets one.

3. Luuuuuuuke. The best player in the game? Hard to argue after Luke Donald's win at the Barclay's Scottish Open. His third of the year, in case you've forgotten (World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play, BMW PGA Championship). Doesn't strike you as an intimidating guy? Probably not because he's not a bomber. Plus, he's an artist, plays the piano and doesn't growl. But that short game and his patience? You may not see it, but the guys he plays against know that's what's gotten him to this point. Best player without a major? You can definitely make the case, but...

4. Can't overlook Lee Westwood, can you? Donald got him in that playoff at the BMW, but he's still got two wins this year and an unflappable confidence about him. Has the look of a favorite this week and backs it up with a T11 at the Masters and a T3 at the U.S. Open. Prepped at Sandwich early last week and has caddie Billy Foster, who was on Bjorn's bag in 2003, there to keep him steady.

5. Danger Will Robinson. Yes, Rory McIlory is atop the Ladbrokes list at 8-to-1 and who wouldn't want to see another major from the U.S. Open champion? Especially if he plays this one with the same joy and ease he did at Congressional. But the warning here? Great expectations. Too great. You saw him shake his head when Padraig Harrington predicted he was headed for Jack Nicklaus major territory. Just enjoy watching this brilliant player and his career unfold. He wowed us at St. Andrews last year with an opening 63 and a bounce-back from his second-round 80 (he finished T3). He could do it again, but he might have to go through Donald, Westwood and McDowell to do it.

6. E-ticket pairing? For reasons we need not elaborate, it's McIlroy -- uber-agent Chubby Chandler calls him a pied piper like Seve Ballesteros was and Q-18 can't argue -- and Rickie Fowler with Ernie Els tagging along for good measure. It'll be elbow-to-elbow inside those ropes with a young vibe outside them.

7. Wonder how Chandler manages his stable of players at a British Open? With perks. Chandler will share a house with Westwood and Darren Clarke while his gang, including McIlroy, Masters champ Charl Schwartzel, reigning British Open champ Louis Oosthuizen and Els, will be housed in one of eight properties Chandler rented. And did we mention perks? "We'll have a chef, good wines, wireless broadband, the racing channel and full array of Sky Sports," Chandler told the Daily Mail. "'We understand the need to be a bit corporate, but the corporate bits have to slot in with the way we do things.'

8. The Royal and Ancient has taken great pains to smooth out some of the pinball fairways at Sandwich and Q-18 is eager to see the results. The one thing that's always stuck in our mind is Greg Norman's quip BEFORE he won there in 1993 -- "I'd swear the Royal Air Force used a couple of the fairways for bombing runs." And his closing 64 that year to win his second British Open? Think imagination and creativity.

9. Kyle Stanley. Word on the street is this rookie is as athletic as Dustin Johnson and one of those guys the coaches at Clemson used to have to chase off the range. Showed some serious game at the John Deere Classic and earned his way into the British Open. Hit close to 90 percent of his fairways. This was his first chance to win. Won't be his last.

10. One last McIlroy note: He's already a Northern Irish legend -- and we're not talking the cookies with his picture on them. According to The Telegraph, McIlroy and 1992 Olympic boxing medallists Michael Carruth and Wayne McCullough are on the short list to carry the Olympic torch during the relay next summer. Dublin is a potential torch stop, but officials are working on governmental loops and security arrangements for the relay to run through Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland on the way to Glasgow.

11. Runner-up watch. Jason Day, who finished runner-up in the first two majors of 2011, had no clue Els was runner up in 2000's first three majors. ''Hopefully,'' he said, "I can make it a first at the British Open rather than a second."

12. Got a spare $100,000 or so sitting around? Ok. We're guessing at a price, but if you have deep pockets you could go toe-to-toe with the big boys in an Aug. 4 auction for Bobby Jones' original Green Jacket. It was the very first green jacket Clifford Roberts had made and it went to Jones. All of which makes us think it'll be in the Augusta National clubhouse by the fall. But it is an auction, so... The listing notes the inside pocket has "Haskett, 2 West 45th St., New York with handwritten identification Robert T. Jones Jr., Feb/37, 6133." Bidding begins July 16.

13. Annika Sorenstam wasn't shy with her opinions last week. The retired Hall of Famer cut some serious broadcast chops in her press conference at the U.S. Women's Open by wondering if the LPGA made the right decision to allow Lexi Thompson's petition for a waiver to play on the LPGA Tour at 17. " Well, I'm going to be honest. I was a little surprised... you know, we have the rules, 18 years old, I believe, and it was put there for a reason. So I was surprised that it was changed." While giving a nod to Thompson's talent, she added, "You know, it takes a lot more than just to be able to hit a 7-iron or making a few putts. You have to come out here and rent a car. She can't even rent a car, so she has to have parents or, you know, agents or somebody help her." And on Michele Wie? Annika noted Wie has got a full plate between studies at Stanford and the LPGA Tour, but was still blunt with her assessment : "The physical part is there. Sometimes you wonder if she's mentally strong enough to finish at the top. She has a few victories, but has not really been able to really break through, in my opinion."

14. Royal watch. No, not Kate and William. This Q-18 tidbit is about the other fashionable one -- Pippa. Seems the other Middleton has joined her local golf club -- the golf club at Bradfield College in Berkshire. Pippa, who's dating former English cricketer Alex Loudon, will no doubt bring some glam, effortless style and paparazzi to the game. Can a Tory Burch -- she loves those Reva flats - golf shoe be far behind?

15. Tough week for the U.S. Women's Open. What started as a chance for Yani Tseng to complete a women's slam devolved into a stop-start, thunderstorm-women's-golf-didn't-need survival test. No continuity followed by a great Monday finish and all-Korean playoff between Hee Kyung Seo who slept on the lead (she finished her fourth round Sunday night) and eventual champ Seo Yeon Ryu who birdied 18 to force a playoff and birdied two of the playoff holes. Koreans have won four of the last eight Women's Opens and five since 1998.

16. From the look-or-at-least-think-before-you-leap file: Q-18 still loves Thomas Levet's joyous celebration nine days ago. What we wonder is, why did he jump into the water before finding out how shallow it was? Amy Alcott never hurt herself diving in at the Kraft Nabisco -- well, Dinah Shore in her day -- but Levet broke a shin bone and will be sidelined for the British Open this week.

17. Jim Harbaugh pulls out of the American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament. Why? San Francisco's first-year head coach wants to be prepared for his players if the NFL lockout ends. Does he know something we -- and Tony Romo, Matt Schaub, Aaron Rodgers and coaches like Jack del Rio and Mike Shanahan -- don't know?

18. And finally, we know you'll ask and... John Daly's 13? Not much to say. We've seen so much that Q-18 doesn't even blink anymore.

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.