Quick 18: Harrington back in top 20, Kaymer's popularity grows

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Harrington's win at last week's Iskandar Johor Open was his first in two years.

1. Four hole-outs were just enough. That's how many times Rocco Mediate chipped in for eagle -- the biggest one on the 17th hole Sunday that spun back into the hole -- on his way to his first win since 2002. Perhaps it was only fitting. Think Tiger Woods at the U.S. Open in 2008 holing out against Rocco down the stretch to force the playoff.

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2. One minute Rocco is looking at Q-School, the next he's exempt with a win. He never ceases to amaze, right? Mediate also got a little help from the other mile-a-minute talker Lee Trevino, who taught him a controlled fade.

3. Padraig Harrington gets his first win in two years, moves back into the top 20 in the Official World Golf Ranking and is already thinking about adding at least one more win in 2010. Could this mean he's back? At least until the next time he tinkers with his swing? Harrington's win at the Johor Open ended months of smoothing out the kinks from the last time he decided to tweak his swing. It just took longer to get there than anyone thought. "The way I look at these things is it is all about progression and I'm more optimistic about my game, even before this week, than I've ever been,'' Harrington said. "I've got some really good things to look forward to in my game, really sound things. Maybe I'm an optimist but I feel my best golf is still to come."

4. Who knew Ben Crane was so funny? If you haven't checked out Working Out With Ben Crane on youtube -- please do. You'll be laughing for a while. You're welcome.

5. Looking back, it was the phone call that changed everything. Graeme McDowell had stopped in Los Angeles on the way from China and was shopping with Ian Poulter last fall when he got a call asking if he wanted to play in the Chevron World Challenge. Tiger Woods had been in an accident and had to withdraw. McDowell finished second to move up the world rankings and... what followed was a U.S. Open win and the putt to win the Ryder Cup. "It's just amazing how small things like that can kind of shape a year," said McDowell, who is playing in the PGA Grand Slam of Golf this week told The Royal Gazette. "I look back to probably the Chevron at the end of last year, getting a bit of a break and getting into that event was really the catalyst for what has been an amazing season.''

6. The best player in the caddyshack? It's Damon Green, the name who caddies for Zach Johnson. Green missed getting his PGA TOUR card by a shot at the 1994 Q school, played on the Nike Tour in 1995 and missed getting his card again in '95. Now, he's got his eye on the Champions Tour. Green turns 50 on Nov. 1 and will tee it up in Champions Q-School. "I'm going to give it my best," Green told The Golf Channel. "If it's not good enough, I'll still have a caddie job, hopefully."

7. Golfweek reports that the man of the Ryder Cup ping-pong matches was ... drumroll, please ... not one of the usual suspects. Not Tiger Woods. Not Phil Mickelson. It was Matt Kuchar. According to the magazine sources, Kuchar took Peter Hanson -- and the team's deep pockets -- in a winner-take-all match. "The Euros had no idea just how great a player Matt Kuchar was," said Golfweek's source who was in the team room. "At one point, there were thousands of pounds on the table."

8. The European Tour is now requiring members to play 13 events a year to retain their playing status. That's the second bump in 24 months. Two years ago, players were required to play just 11 events. Will the rule impact players who are playing on both the European and PGA TOURs? Guess we'll see.

9. Joe Durant is trying to stay inside the top 125 despite a pillow injury. Seems he slept wrong on his neck after finishing T12 the Wyndham Championship, but he's pushing through. He finished T6 at the McGladrey Classic and has been inside the top 27 in two other events. And, oh, he's now 115th on the money list.

10. The Herald (Scotland) estimated that Craig Connelly, Martin Kaymer's caddie, has made -- by applying the 10 percent rule -- about £210,000 this year. That would rank him 115th on the Race for Dubai list and just on the number to keep a European Tour card. Colin Montgomerie, by comparison, is 153rd on the list.

11. Q-18 ran across these David Feherty gems on the late Bruce Edwards and had to share. On Edwards, the man: "He improved every room he walked into. You could feel his presence. He made people feel better just by being there.'' And on Edwards' battle with ALS: "Edwards was a shining example of how you should take things on.''

12. Ever heard of baseball golf? Before Game 1 of the ALCS, Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington, bench coach Jackie Moore and first base coach Gary Petits had a little time to kill so, according to ESPN Dallas, From just outside the first base foul line, they tried to hit the ball at a bucket in shallow centerfield as if they were hitting to a pin on a par-3. They played the dirt as water. "So if you hit in there, you're out," said Moore, who plays the game with Washington and Petits during batting practice during the season. "I hit my first one in close and just watched." The Rangers lost Game 1, but won Game 2 to tie it up. No word on baseball golf. You know how superstitious baseball players are.

13. In case you missed it, one of the country's most celebrated amateurs teed it up in her 112th USGA event last week: Hall of Famer Carol Semple Thompson. She turns 62 next week, owns seven USGA titles -- including four consecutive U.S. Senior Women's Amateurs from 1999-2002 -- and her record of USGA starts may never be broken. Thompson lost in the round of 16 at last week's U.S. Senior Women's Amateur, but consider that she really didn't have much time to play this summer. She was general chairman of the U.S. Women's Open at Oakmont.

14. Scouring the news, Q-18 found a blast from the past. David Ishii, the 1990 Hawaiian Open champ and member of the Houston Cougars' 1977 NCAA championship team, won the Fubon Senior Open in Taipei for the second straight year. Ishii, now 55 and teaching at Pearl Country Club in Hawaii, plays a few Champions Tour and other over-50 events, but is content teaching. "Right now, teaching is more satisfying than playing," he said. "When you play, the only person you are getting to satisfy is you. When you teach, you see them do good. It's nice to see them do well and enjoy their golf and learn new things.''

15. Dan Marino on the Champions Tour? Well, maybe not. But the Hall of Fame quarterback is eyeing some senior amateur events ... one day. "I'd like to get good enough to maybe play in some of the amateur senior stuff,'' he said. "Maybe in a year or two. Just to have fun with the people you meet." He picked the game up from his former backup Don Strock, who is now the executive director of the Miccosukee Championship. He and former Dolphins receiver Nat Moore pulled Marino onto the course and taught him how to play. Today, he's realistic. "My emotions are a little different for golf,'' he told the Miami Herald. "I don't get as overly upset. I know where my skill level is in golf... in football, I think I had a little different skill level.''

16. John Curran, who directed Robert de Niro and Edward Norton in Stone, got de Niro to try something new for his role -- hitting golf balls. "Let's just say that he's not a natural golfer,'' Curran told The Oregonian. " That scene was going to be a day of him playing hooky and hitting the course, but the weather never cooperated. And one day we had a small window of time and we rushed him out into a field to hit golf balls. It was meant to be a rebellious moment -- one of the few minutes of freedom in his life."

17. German newspapers have traditionally filled sports pages with soccer and Formula One. Thanks to Martin Kaymer, who has a chance to take over the No. 1 spot in the Official World Golf Ranking in two weeks, golf is making headlines. "At the beginning of this year no one had heard of him," Henning Feindt, sports writer for Bild, Germany's biggest selling newspaper said. "But after he won the PGA Championship and then, even more, the Ryder Cup, we began to take an interest in him. Normally we don't write anything about golf in our paper; it's all soccer and Formula One. But with Kaymer it's like a star has risen, a new sports hero for Germany. We call him Golf Gigante -- golf giant."

18. Notre Dame kicker David Ruffer, a former junior golf stand-out in the Washington D.C. area, always thought he would have a brighter future in golf. Now, he finds himself leading the nation with a perfect 17-for-17 record on the field, which is also an ND school record. Ruffer, a walk-on who kicked in dormitory games, applies the same focus to kicking that he did to golf. "The biggest thing is that you have to stay focused on ever single shot or kick," said Ruffer, whose streak started with five straight last season. "Obviously there are great kickers who were never golfers, but for me that's what I take from it the most. You can't take a play off. You can't take a shot off." Does he miss golf? Yes and no. "I don't miss breaking the clubs because that got expensive, but hitting a good drive on a long par-5 was a cool feeling. But making field goals, that feels pretty good, too."

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.