Quick 18: It's about the bike, Tiger watch, next teen star
By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent
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. The next full-blown cardio craze on TOUR? Could be cycling. Camilo Villegas is a cycling fiend, and you can't deny the results. He flew 7,000 miles last week -- Phoenix-Miami-Bogota-West Palm -- and had enough left in reserve to blow away the field at The Honda Classic. You better believe players paid attention. But one note: Even Villegas has ramped it back. He was doing 90 minutes a day six days a week on the bike last year but realized that was too much.
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2. The Bear Trap or Amen Corner? I'll take the latter, hands down. But when it comes to references to the above pair of three-hole stretches during tournament week? It might be close. Bear Trap tossed around a lot last week.
3. This week, it's all about the TPC Blue Monster. Back in the day, we knew the season really started when the stars got together at Doral. Now, the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play pulls the best in the world together a little earlier, but Doral is still the starting line for the year's first major.
4. From the Wayback Machine: So many great finishes at Doral over the years, but for pre-WGC events, we'll go with Greg Norman's closing 62 in 1990. It forced a playoff with Paul Azinger, Mark Calcavecchia and Tim Simpson. Norman holed a 22-foot eagle chip on the first hole of sudden death to win it. For the first time. He won it twice more (1993, 1996) and was runner-up in 1995 to Nick Faldo.
5. Champions Tour rookie Fred Couples said he's back learning from the same guys who eased him into PGA TOUR life almost three decades ago. Guess he's a quick study since he appears to be taking his old buddies to school. What else can you say about two wins, a second and a tie for third in his first four events?
6. Now that Tiger Woods is back on the range -- and course -- at Isleworth, the rumors about his impending return continue to swirl. But the random TW references just keep coming. As noted on a bottom-of-the-screen crawler in all the pre-Oscar hype, Samuel L. Jackson once shot a 78 at St. Andrews. He was playing with Tiger.
7. And about that sit-down interview some suggest for Tiger? Uber interviewer herself, Barbara Walters, told CNN's "Reliable Sources" that Tiger shouldn't do one. "I would say, get your life back. Get your wife back. Get your game back. Don't do an interview.'' She followed up by saying, of course, if she was approached to do the interview, she wouldn't turn it down.
8. A closing 62 from Tom Watson? Who cares about the old cliché of just missing shooting his age? We want to know when the special exemption is coming for the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.
9. When checking off the boxes on his immigration form, Ian Poulter came to one area he just had to share on Twitter -- his status. "Alien of extraordinary ability.''
10. This courtesy of AP golf writer Doug Ferguson: The 18th hole at Augusta National is the only hole on the back nine where a bunker comes into play with a tee shot (aside from the par-3 13th and 16th). Thought you'd like to know.
11. You know Honda was a great week for Sam Saunders -- Arnold Palmer's grandson in case you somehow didn't know -- but a guy named Michael Connell topped that. The 34-year-old Connell, playing in his 29th TOUR event, tied for sixth and collected $194,600 -- more than the career $158,036 he earned on the TOUR and Nationwide Tour combined.
12. It's been a whirlwind few weeks for Super Bowl QB/pro-am must-have Drew Brees -- he plays to a three handicap -- but leave it to another Big Ten guy to keep him humble. Jack Nicklaus, his playing partner in Honda's dream pro-am pairing and Ohio State guy, couldn't resist. "Brees had a great year this year, even if he was a Purdue guy."
13. In case you missed it, Bo Van Pelt took a tumble Friday when he tripped on a gallery rope at the 18th and fell over his golf bag. His take? "Backwards tuck into a standing position. Russian judge gave me an 8.5. It was in the 9s on athletic ability alone.''
14. To no one's surprise, Angel Cabrera's menu for the Champions dinner at Augusta is heavy on Argentinean beef. He'll serve a full asado -- five different cuts of meat hot off the grill. "There won't be a lot of carbohydrates at this dinner," said instructor Charlie Epps.
15. The shot of the week at this year's Open Championship at St. Andrews just might come before the tournament even starts. Seve Ballesteros, who has been battling brain cancer, hopes to be there to tee it up and play four holes with other Open champs that Wednesday. A total of 32 former champs have been invited, but if the 52-year-old Spaniard, who won the second of his three Claret Jugs at St. Andrews in 1984, is there, it will be one emotional moment.
16. Shaking off the dust? Statues of Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson and Ray Floyd are being moved from storage to the Augusta Museum of History just in time for the Masters. The statues, which will be part of the upcoming "Celebrating a Grand Tradition, the Sport of Golf" exhibit, were stored when state funding ran out for the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame.
17. The next new face to watch from Asia? K.J. Choi says that would be 18-year-old Malaysian Open winner Noh Seung-yul, who beat Choi by a shot Sunday in Kuala Lumpur. "He is one of the most powerful young talents coming up," Choi said. "The way he controls and hits the ball is like no other. I feel like he is going to develop in all aspects and is going to be on the world stage. He has the heart for it, but he has to keep working hard.''
18. The first round of the Shell Houston Open is on April 1. No kidding. Defending champ Paul Casey's reaction: "Couldn't you have picked a different date?"
Melanie Hauser is a columnist for PGATOUR.COM. Her views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.
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