Quick 18: What happened to Phil, Kim's favorites, more

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Stan Badz/PGA TOUR

Anthony Kim's love for the NBA expands past idolizing stars like Michael Jordan and into the fashion world.

Editor's note: PGATOUR.COM's Melanie Hauser will be shaking out the mental lint and pulling together the "Quick 18" on Mondays this year.

1. What happened to Phil Mickelson? Timing. He had it on the range Sunday morning. Heck, he had it coming into the week. Then back-to-back-to-back bogeys to open the final round. Call it a combination of rust and being over-amped. Whatever you do, don't count him out at Riviera.

2. By the way, expect Phil to play a practice round with Hall of Famer and Riv member Amy Alcott. It's a tradition.

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3. A few of Anthony Kim's favorite LA things, courtesy of the LA Times: He shops at Élevée (custom clothes favored by NBA types) and loves to eat Katana (Japanese barbeque) and Koi. But he'll also chow down Pink's hot dogs. "I'll put on sauerkraut, jalapeño peppers, mustard, relish -- basically, whatever I can fit on it. I just love the idea of a place where people will wait in line for an hour at 2:30 in the morning for a hot dog. Where else would you see that?''

4. Erik Compton, who has undergone two heart transplants, missed out making the q-school finals by one shot, so he opened his season overseas on sponsors exemptions. He followed an opening 81 at the Commercialbank Qatar Masters with a 69, but missed the cut. Compton, who made Qatar his comeback event after his second heart surgery, will play in the Omega Dubai Classic this week.

5. You may know Laker great Jerry West, the executive director of this week's Northern Trust Open, plays to a 5 and is a member at Bel Air CC. But did you know there is a room in the learning center at his alma mater West Virginia University named after his brother David, who was killed in the Korean War? "It has computers, about 80 of them,'' he told the LA Daily News. "It's very gratifying to me to be able to do that because I couldn't have gone to school without a scholarship."

6. Paul Casey faded in the final round in Qatar, but the rib injury that sidelined him last year is not a problem. When asked to put a percentage on his rehab as he tries to work his way back into the world's top-five, he said. "I'll go 95, which is almost 100, isn't it?"

7. According to Golf Digest, John Wooden, the Wizard of Westwood, was in elite company on the golf course, too. The man who coached UCLA to a record 10 NCAA basketball titles, is one of just four golfers ever to have a hole-in-one and a double eagle in the same round. He did it in South Bend, Ind., in 1947. "I used a four-iron for the hole-in-one," Wooden, 99, told the Los Angeles Times. "It was about 185 yards. Then I made the two on the par-five on the back. Used a brassie (roughly a two-wood).'' He still shot 77. "You go five under on two holes, and a 77 doesn't look all that good."

8. In case you missed it -- and it's hard to believe anyone has -- Bubba Watson will dance his way onto The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Wednesday. Let the tweets begin.

9. It's sweeps month. So it comes as no surprise that CBS multi-sports anchor Jim Nantz will play himself on tonight's episode of "How I Met Your Mother." Nantz, who is trading the 18th tower for calling Super Bowl XLIV this week, taped the episode in mid-December. He's done a lot of walk-ons before, but this one was more involved.

10. Lost -- or maybe not -- in the Super hype? The handicaps of starting quarterbacks Drew Brees and Peyton Manning. New Orleans' Brees has the edge, playing to a 3. Manning is a 4.6.

11. Love that Tom Watson calls the PGA TOUR the junior tour. You can do that when you're 60 and playing like you're 40. Speaking of which, he's proved he can go toe-to-toe with the juniors, so wouldn't it be great to see him get an exemption to the Open at Pebble Beach? Just thinking out loud.

12. The stat Tim Clark doesn't want to see: 197 PGA TOUR starts, eight seconds, no wins. But he has banked $14.2 million.

13. From the Mr. Peabody's Wayback Machine: Ben Hogan didn't win the 1950 LA Open, but it may have been one of his guttiest performances ever. Hogan chose Riviera as his comeback event following the horrific accident. He lost to Sam Snead in an 18-hole playoff, prompting the legendary Grantland Rice to write, "His legs weren't strong enough to carry his heart." A few months later, they were. He beat George Fazio and Lloyd Mangrum in an 18-hole playoff at Merion for the U.S. Open.

14. Riviera is known as Hogan's Alley because ... well, he won there five times (one U.S. Open, four LA Opens), finished second twice, third once and tied for 11th. Bonus points if you know Colonial Country Club is the other Hogan's Alley. Hogan won five Colonials, including the last win of his career in 1959.

14. Olympic skier Bode Miller announces he'll try to qualify for the U.S. Open Tennis Championships in August and become a twin-sport wizard. He's a former high school tennis champ and instructor. Makes you wonder if there are any Winter Olympians who want to take a swing at making the field at Pebble Beach.

15. Mark it down. Tony Romo and Tom Brady are officially entering their second season. Both quarterbacks have RSVP-ed for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

16. Paul Stankowski, who has battled injuries the last few years, is trying to play his way into events through local qualifiers. His take on this week's qualifier for the Northern Trust Open via Twitter: "these are like playing the lottery but with much better odds...100 guys for 3 spots this week."

17. Mental lint: What's on Mike Piazza's golf bag? The Iron Maiden logo. Rock on. What's your favorite golf bag logo?

18. Ethel Funches, one of the African American pioneers in the game, passed away earlier this month. A high school cafeteria manager in Northwest Washington, she won seven national amateur titles. She was a long driver, had a solid short game and hated to lose. She would introduce herself this way: "My name is Ethel P. Funches. The 'P' is for powerful."

Melanie Hauser is a columnist for PGATOUR.COM. Her views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.