Quick 18: FedExCup race wide open, Els surviving

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Stan Badz/PGA TOUR

Ernie Els has made three consecutive moves to survive and will need another next week in Chicago.

1. Could the FedExCup race be any more wide open? Just when you think you know what's going to happen ... it doesn't. The stars were aligned for one of the usual mega-watt young suspects to pull off a win at the Deutsche Bank Championship and we got another face to add to the crowded list. Didn't see Webb Simpson over Chez Reavie in a playoff coming? You haven't been paying attention this surprise-a-minute season, have you?

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2. Belly-up. Yes, another week, another win for the broomstick. And a spike, too, for the anchor mode when Phil Mickelson put one in the bag. Will it be there in Chicago for the BMW Championship in another week? Depends on whether Phil wants to work on the transition -- and it will take a little time. Imagine. It was just a few months ago when Adam Scott made using this thing cool. On the other hand, the Gecko EuroPro Tour, one of Europe's mini-tours, has banned anchoring those long putters to the body.

3. As for Simpson? It's win No. 2, but it could easily have been No. 4. He lost a playoff to Bubba Watson at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and finished second -- by a shot -- to Gary Woodland at the Transitions Championship

4. One of the most impressive runs in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup belongs to Ernie Els, who keeps playing his way into each next stage. Els hasn't missed a Playoffs event in four years and will head to Chicago at No . 68 in the standings. "There's no better exercise than (the one) I have been through the last three weeks to really test your nerves, your game, your putting, your chipping, your driving. I've really been under the gun and I think it's been good."

5. Wouldn't you love to see Woodland take a few cuts at batting practice? The guy was a pretty good baseball player until he turned his attention to golf. Q-18 wonders if he can take it as deep from the plate as he does off the tee.

6. It started as a pinch-me week. He threw out the first pitch at Fenway. He did the coin flip at Gillette Stadium. He laid in bed wondering if it was all a dream and had to assign his mom to deal with ticket requests. And, then Keegan Bradley bogeyed the 36th hole. He tweeted simply: "That one hurt." Playing the weekend in front of the home crowd would have been priceless. Instead a second straight missed cut might have put some doubt in captain Fred Couples' Presidents Cup picks. At least he's on his way to Chicago. And maybe Rookie of the Year.

7. Q-18 is getting a kick out of the promos for tonight's Feherty where funnyman David Feherty finds himself strapped into an ATV with Greg Norman behind the wheel. Norman does nothing that's not at full throttle so be prepared to chuckle. The episode was shot at Norman's ranch in Colorado. Feherty AND Norman unfiltered? Send the kids to bed. Q-18 can see Norman's piercing blue eyes dancing right now.

8. Speaking of Norman, he's breathing a little easier now that Geoff Ogilvy has made it to round three of the Playoffs. He wants Oglivy on his International Presidents Cup team and the former U.S. Open champ is right there at 11th. On the U.S. side, Jim Furyk jumped into to the top 10 and Brandt Snedeker edged up to 11th.

9. The latest player to get out of his own way and let it happen? Thomas Bjorn. The 40-year-old Dane was contemplating quitting earlier this year and just blew past a star-studded field -- Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy and Martin Kaymer to name a few -- with a closing 62 at the European Masters to pick up his third European Tour win this year. How much does it mean? "I am struggling to put words to it,'' Bjorn said.

10. Golf Channel's Tim Rosaforte talked to J.B. Holmes following his surgery to relieve pressure from a brain malformation known as Chiari syndrome. Rosaforte said Holmes was out of Johns Hopkins hospital and ready to get back to Florida to recuperate. He hopes to start working on his short game next month, but don't expect to see him in competition until 2012.

11. Thrills, spills and endless waves. Hanging out with Bubba isn't for the timid. His latest craze is wakesurfing, which is a combination of wakeboarding and surfing -- without a rope. The surfer rides the wake of the boat -- about 6 feet behind and off to the side of the boat. He can throw a 360 and wife Angie even carries a video of her expertise on her phone. "In the ocean, the wave dies out as you get to the beach," Bubba told CBSSports.com. "In wakesurfing, it goes on forever." Let's hope he doesn't decide to start "Batman-ing". Yes, hanging upside down.

12. Golf-themed fund-raising? Nothing strange about that, right? Well, Q-18 found one with a presidential twist. Seems Rick Perry's campaign manager Rob Johnson sent out an email last week asking supporters for $76 -- a number which happens to match the number of rounds President Barack Obama reportedly has played since taking office. The email was also laced with some golf puns. Yes, the 2012 campaign gloves are off.

13. Just in case you're wondering what in the heck that contraption Ben Crane was wearing on the range last week was ... well, according to his tweet, "it's a 3D analysis (12 sensor polhemus motion capture system)." Looks like something you'd wear up against a blue screen for shooting your avatar in Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 12, right?

14. Floods and hurricane-spawned tornadoes have submerged courses in the south and east coast. Now the hurricane wind backlash has fueled wildfires in parched Texas, including a monster wildfire in Central Texas, which has burned almost 500 homes, and passed across the Ben Crenshaw/Bill Coore designed Austin Golf Club, burning the rough and a number of fairways. The clubhouse and maintenance barn were spared.

15. Now that McIlroy seems to be back -- he finished T-3 at the European Masters -- Q-18 brings you this little note. We all know he's dating tennis superstar Caroline Wozniacki. But did you know he took up the tennis court at his home -- pre-Caroline -- and replaced it with a football pitch? "The football pitch has more use in that I can have my pals round to play,'' he said. "If I want to play tennis, I'm going to have to play somewhere else." Wonder if he's re-thinking that?

16. The streak is over. Barely. Thanks to an opening 63 at the European Masters, Nick Dougherty snapped a wicked streak of 21 missed cuts. A bit of lint? He's had more rounds in the 80s this year -- six -- than rounds in the 60s -- four. A bit more lint? Doughtery's wife Di is Scott Van Pelt's co-star in those funny Titleist commercials.

17. Finishing it off. Not. Lee Westwood had a chance at the European Masters, but finished T-6. That wasn't the toughest news. His thoroughbreds -- Hoof It and On the Hoof -- both finished third in their respective races at Merseyside and York. "Hoof It only just missed out,'' Westwood said, "and besides he's got such a great backside for sprinting and he'll win a good share of races."

18. A couple of amateur events to keep your eye on this week? First, the Walker Cup, which should be a pretty good battle. And, the U.S. Senior Amateur. Last year Paul Simson ran the tables, winning the British, Canadian and U.S. Ams. This year, Chip Lutz has the chance. He's won the British and Canadian Ams. This week he tees it up at Kinloch GC in hopes of equaling Simson's sweep.

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.