Quick 18: Battle lines drawn between Simpson, Donald

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Luke Donald will be looking to regain his spot atop the money list this week at Disney.

1. History just got a little tougher. Luke Donald's quest to become the first player to win the money lists on both sides of the pond in the same year just moved into the improbable zone. But not impossible. Donald just has to win or finish second this week at the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals Classic. No pressure. Donald was, by no means, a shoe-in to make history, but Webb Simpson's playoff loss to Ben Crane at the McGladrey Classic gave Simpson the money list lead. All of which means Donald now has that first-or-second, $363,029 mountain-to-climb. So ...

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2. Anyone NOT want to see Simpson and Donald paired together this week in Orlando? Didn't think so. Could be a pretty cool Thursday-Friday must-see. No matter who wins the money title, it'll be a fun race. For us.

3. First, we didn't see Simpson coming. Now ... he's making a darn good case for himself for PGA TOUR Player of the Year. Two wins, but coulda been five. He lost two playoffs -- remember he called a penalty on himself at the Zurich Classic -- and finished second at the Transitions. The only question Q-18 has right now? How the heck did he miss that three-footer Sunday? According to Golf Channel's Rex Hoggard, Simpson has made 99.25 percent of his putts from that range this year.

4. Could a fatherhood video be on the horizon? Nothing surprises us with Crane, whose YouTube creative side -- think the dance video and the Golf Boys -- has had everyone talking this year. And since he'll be celebrating his fourth TOUR win today with the birth of his third child and he does have a quirky sense of humor ... Well, it's no surprise everyone is wondering if the child's middle name will be McGladrey.

5. The kids just keep coming. The latest in the line of future stars is 20-year-old Englishman Tom Lewis who got his first win in just his third event as a pro. Lewis -- yep, the kid who led the British Open at Royal St. George's after the first round and played alongside his namesake five-time Open champ Tom Watson -- won the Portugal Masters Sunday. Just last month, he was on the winning Walker Cup team. To put his success in perspective ... Rory McIlroy needed 38 starts to get his first win, Tiger Woods needed five and both Sergio Garcia and Graeme McDowell won in their fourth European starts. One more eye-popper? He's third on the 2012 Ryder Cup Euro points list.

6. A couple of pieces of mental lint from former President Bill Clinton's Harlem-office roundtable last week? He's never played Augusta National, Pine Valley or Bandon Dunes and all are on his bucket list. His dream foursome? That would include Harry Vardon, Sam Snead and Bobby Jones. And, finally, one of his dreams is to be interviewed by David Feherty. "He's one of the funniest men alive,'' Clinton said. "They ought to give him a late-night show."

7. It's a Texas thing. At least in the fall. And when Presidents Cup captain Fred Couples is involved. He shot 65-63 on the weekend in 2010 to win the then-Administaff Small Business Classic at The Woodlands by seven shots. Last weekend, Couples shot 62-66 on the weekend to win the AT&T Championship in San Antonio -- by seven shots. A coincidence? Hmm. Two-for-four in his adopted home state is pretty strong.

8. Greg Norman has never been shy with his opinions, which is why Q-18 didn't blink when the International Presidents Cup said he wouldn't have picked Tiger for his team. He would have gone with Keegan Bradley. "I can understand the name of a Tiger Woods and his history of what he's done on the golf course,'' Norman said. "But I pick the guys who I think are ready to get in there and play and have performed to the highest levels leading up to it." Of course, people questioned Norman when he picked Adam Scott in 2009. Norman loves a good battle, but you have to wonder if his words just might fire Tiger up. Remember Tiger's 9-and-8 win over Stephen Ames? Just saying.

9. Mind-boggler of the week. Or maybe just a sign of the times. Not that Bud Cauley is the sixth player to go straight from college to the PGA TOUR, but rather the $735,150 he's earned in just eight starts. Cauley's haul -- in eight events -- is more than Tiger has earned in nine tries ($660,238). In addition to Tiger, the other players to skip q-school were Gary Hallberg, Phil Mickelson, Justin Leonard and Ryan Moore.

10. Not sure why the Royal and Ancient waiting until last week to announce the 144th Open Championship would be played at the Old Course at St. Andrews. It's been on a five-year rota for a while now, so the only surprise would have been if it wasn't going back. And that's not happening. It'll be the 29th Open held in the Auld Grey Toon.

11. Turnabout is ... Yani Tseng held off Na Yeon Choi to win her sixth tournament of at the Hana Bank. Seven days later, it was Choi's turn as she beat Tseng at the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia. Tseng, the hottest player in the game right now, closed with a 65, but finished second to Na Yeon Choi at the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia. If you're keeping track, Tseng has won five of the last 11 events she's entered. And Choi? Her win was the 100th on the LPGA Tour by a player of Korean descent.

12. It didn't take long for Pete Cowen to come up with a solution to Padraig Harrington's woes. Cowen simply pointed to Harrington's short game -- the one that won three majors -- and said simplify. "He thought he was spending far too much time on his long game, to the detriment of his short game," Cowen said. " ... He felt as though he'd neglected that and when you looked at the stats, it proved it. He'd become almost non-competitive. He's good at bashing himself on the range and he couldn't understand why he wasn't getting any better ... I just tried to simplify his action. It was complicated and required massive amounts of time. I felt he needed better mechanics which need less time spent on it."

13. Eighteen playoffs on TOUR this year? Really? Whatever happened to winning in regulation? And, yes, 18 is a TOUR record. There were 16 playoffs in both 1988 and 1991.

14. Skeleton sliders. You know them as the guys who fly head-first, chins-almost-touching-the-ice, pulling-5Gs down the runs at the Olympics. But did you know they name their sleds? And that recently retired Olympic silver medalist Jeff Pain's was named Jack? Yes, after THAT Jack. Before every run, Pain would pause and remember how Nicklaus balanced life and sports during his career. The former Canadian Olympian, who carries an 8 handicap on the course, got the chance to hang out with Jack last year. Now, that he's retired, Pain is working on his game and hoping to find his way into a few pro-ams. Don't know about you, but Q-18 thinks a guy who used to fly down icy narrow chutes head first would be a pretty interesting partner.

15. Way too many top-125 storylines heading into this week's event. All we can say is James Driscoll has that magic No. 125 spot right now and we can only imagine how many times Golf Channel's Steve Sands will be going to the white board during telecasts. Anything can and will happen.

16. The winner of the contest to design the golf course for the 2016 Olympics in Rio will earn ... wait for it ... $300,000. Talk about a pay cut. But the sprint is on. We'll who the finalists are on Nov. 8, the proposals are due Dec. 16 and the final decision will be made Dec. 23. Whew.

17. According to reports, Donald Trump has tossed in a $170 million bid to buy Miami's famed Doral Resort and Spa. Trump said he's paying cash and it'll take another $150 million to upgrade the facilities and four of the five courses, including the Blue Monster. Nothing will be final for another week.

18. Today's final word comes from Tiger, who drew a few chuckles when he weighed in on the NBA lockout during media day for the Chevron World Challenge: "Yeah, I'm bummed. I think anybody who is an NBA fan is certainly bummed. I know that probably one person who is happy is probably (Boston Celtics coach) Doc Rivers. I mean, with the age of his team, it's nice for them to only play half a season. It's true. It's a fact, come on."

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.