Quick 18: Cink's ball change, Davis' honesty, Furyk's potential

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Rickie Fowler, who sported bright orange from head to toe on Sunday, finished T5 at the Verizon Heritage.

1. Everyone is still talking about Brian Davis' honesty in the playoff Sunday afternoon at the Verizon Heritage, but think about it. How many times does someone call a penalty on himself and we never know? It might be in an early round and, if he never says anything, we don't know what it might have cost him. With this one Jim Furyk still had the advantage, no matter what, even if Davis did make a great birdie at the 72nd hole. His honesty -- captured on camera, of course -- is one of things that make the game great.

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2. Will this be the spark Furyk needs? After missing the cut at the Masters , it seemed like things were going the wrong way for the former U.S. Open champ. Now? Don't ask too much, just consider it a huge building block.

3. Mark-O. The nickname took on another meaning Sunday when rain washed out the final round of the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am and left Mark O'Meara shaking his head. O'Meara, who had chipped in on the first hole Sunday to tie eventual champ Bernhard Langer before the rain hit, finished in a tie for second and is now 0-for-57 on the Champions Tour and has nine seconds. His last individual win -- period -- was the 2004 Dubai Desert Classic. Before that? The 1998 Open Championship. He went through a tough year and a divorce, but is now happily remarried and that's translating into good golf. A putting tip from Tiger at the Masters didn't hurt either.

4. Let's just say Rickie Fowler is one of the few guys who could pull off such a Sunday fashion statement at Hilton Head. In case you missed it: head-to-toe orange. Oklahoma State orange, we presume. But on Q-18's old school Sony, it looked more like tangerine.

5. Divert to the golf course. When the volcanic ash cloud cancelled President Barack Obama's plans -- and those of many other world leaders -- to attend the funeral of Polish President Lech Kaczynski, he headed for Andrews Air Force Base golf course for 18 holes. It was, by count of CBS radio, his 32nd chance to play golf since he took office.

6. Anthony Kim thinks Augusta National is a great course for him. Q-18 agrees and wonders what will happen when he starts hitting fairways. Think Phil. Both have a go-for-broke style and, well, what happened when the latter started finding fairways there?

7. Everyone from Jim Carrey to Jim Nantz is still weighing in on Tiger at Augusta. Q-18's take? You don't flip a switch and change overnight. The expletives that used to fly were close to non-existent. And, yes, he didn't try to make lemonade out of a fourth-place pucker of a finish. But that's him. He demands things from himself and when he doesn't get the results... . He's working on a laundry list of things in his life -- in front of the world. Think about trying to change one thing in your life, then put that on an exponential curve. Not so easy with that one thing, is it? So don't expect to hear a Tom Watson or Phil answer from him when he comes close to winning. Expect him to be mad at himself.

8. This new groove rule has Stewart Cink switching to a softer cover Nike golf ball. "I realized I wasn't spinning the ball enough," Cink said. "A lot of it was the new grooves and a lot of it was me. I had developed a technical flaw to adjust for the lack of spin. I wish I had done it at the start of the year." He's not alone.

9. According to the Associated Press, European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie has overseen $750,000 in changes -- deepened bunkers, thicker rough, firmer greens -- to Celtic Manor's Twenty Ten course that will host the Ryder Cup this fall. Unlike previous European captains, though, the changes don't necessarily favor the home team. (Click here for the story)

10. Briny Baird is still chasing his first PGA TOUR win, but refuses to let that define him. "Winning or losing a golf tournament,'' he said, "is a distant second to family.''

11. You expected Hall of Famer Jerry Rice to make the cut on the Nationwide Tour last week? Come now. No athlete attempting the cross over to the Nationwide has ever made the cut. We're talking former NFL kicker Al Del Greco, NHL greats Brett Hull and Dan Quinn and pitcher Rick Rhoden. John Brodie did become a twin-ball wizard, but on the Champions Tour.

12. Speaking of Canton, Emmitt Smith has lined up some of his fellow 2010 inductees -- Floyd Little, John Randle and Rickey Jackson -- for his inaugural Emmitt Smith Celebrity Invitational Golf Tournament. The event, May 14-15 at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, TX, also has commitments from Brandi Chastain, DeMarcus Ware, former NFL stars Marcus Allen, Jerome Bettis, Steve Beuerlein, Derrick Brooks, Tim Brown, Eric Dickerson and Daryl Johnston, and Olympian Michael Johnson. Talk about athletic star power. Swings? Not so much.

13. Canadian reporters at the Masters were raving about Graham DeLaet. No, he didn't make the field, but he had tied for third the week before in Houston. The long-hitting, 28-year-old rookie from Saskatchewan, via Boise State, was player of the year and the leading money winner on the Canadian Tour in 2009, played around the globe last year and made it through q-school.. And, just so you know, according to The National Post, he's got a Canadian flag tattooed on the back of his calf muscle.

14. And keep an eye on... Nick Watney. Four top 10s and six top 25s in nine events. One was a seventh at the Masters. He was a 10-foot-birdie attempt away from a closing 64 at Augusta, but settled for a 65 and a trip back in 2011. If not for a second-round 76, he might have gone down the stretch with Phil, Tiger and AK. Hmm.

15. Interesting stroll down memory lane as the TOUR heads to New Orleans. Seven of the first nine winners of the New Orleans event are in the Hall of Fame -- Harry Cooper (1938), Henry Picard (1939, 1941), Jimmy Demaret (1940), Lloyd Mangrum (1942) and Byron Nelson (1945, 1946). Two other Hall of Famers were runners-up -- Ben Hogan (1941; 1946) and Sam Snead (1940). The only tournament where the 1-2-3 order of finish was Nelson, Hogan, Snead? The 1946 Tournament of Champions -- now the Shell Houston Open -- due west on I-10.

16. After taking a peak at the Masters in 3-D, Q-18 has mixed feelings. The lips on the bunkers pop. The sand pops. Everything pops. But not sure about watching TV with the glasses. Fine for Avatar, not sure for home where you won't be able to read caller ID with them on. And, a warning, don't watch any 3-D without glasses. You'll be seeing triplicate or worse.

17. Yes, I know Ernie Els has a pair of U.S. Opens. My post-Masters brain was channeling the PGA for a third-leg-of-a-slam for him, but dropped it in -- with no clarification -- with thoughts about Pebble Beach. Think of it as picking up a blade of grass to chew on while waiting to hit a shot in a hazard. Not thinking, but you still count the penalty.

18. From the Wayback Machine: Can't think about Harbour Town without thinking of Curtis Strange and Greg Norman talking about racing their boats in Calibogue Sound during the 1989 TOUR Championship. In case you're wondering, they tied for 11th in the tournament; Tom Kite beat Payne Stewart in a playoff.

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