Quick 18: G-Mac's year, Westy's No. 1 life and Duval's jerky

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Lee Westwood recently told a flight attendant who asked about his game that he's the "best golfer in the world."

1. What's this? An offseason? Well, call it a two-week break and pass the eggnog and last-minute -- or if you're Quick 18 the entire -- Christmas list. Just enough time to Fa-la-la, power-shop, put up the Christmas decorations and wish you were headed to Hawaii for the Hyundai Tournament of Champions the week of Jan. 3. Yikes.

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2. Yes, it's a G-Mac kind of year. He and partner Darren Clarke tried to chase down Ian Poulter and Dustin Johnson at the Shark Shootout on Sunday, but came up just short. He's in the running for the Association of Golf Writers' 2010 Golf Writers Trophy -- a vote of AGW members -- and he shared European Tour Player of the Year honors with Martin Kaymer. G-Mac, Kaymer and PGA TOUR Player of the Year Jim Furyk are finalists for the Golf Writers Association of America's Player of the Year award.

3. If you haven't seen the "Just a Dream?" G-Mac video -- a voting promo for BBC Personality of the Year -- featuring you-know-who, Poulter, Rory McIlroy and two impressive trophies, click now. Those guys know how to have a little fun with the cameras rolling in a hotel. Gotta love the last line -- "I knew 2010 was too good to be true." You're welcome.

4. BFF's Bubba Watson and Rickie Fowler didn't find much magic inside the ropes at the Shark Shootout, but no one does fun better. They pulled out Santa outfits on the range then donned them again after the round and tossed 246 candy canes to the crowd. And, of course, there was a spate of Bubbaclaus twitvids to choose from. His favorite was No. 7 -- @bubbawatson Bubbaclaus video #7 (best ever).

5. Has there ever been a better batch of No. 1 stories than the ones surrounding Lee Westwood? First, he found out when he was shopping at Sainsbury's -- "Looking for mashed potatoes and rubber gloves -- Marigolds, small size." Now, this from The Guardian. It seems a flight attendant on his flight back from Shanghai knew nothing about golf by inquired about what Westy had been doing to get such a great tan. "Playing a bit of golf," he said. She asked, "Are you any good?" Westwood wasn't sure what to say, but eventually smiles and said, "Yes, I'm the best in the world."

6. Also from The Guardian story, Westwood on his latest hobby -- tweeting. He's "totally addicted," in case you haven't figured it out. "I think it's great for taking the mickey out of people and it's also great for helping the public to see what kind of person you are. In golf people get the impression, 'Oh he's a robot, he never smiles, he's just a golfer under a hat' -- that kind of thing. They never really get to know the person behind the golfer, so it's a good way of doing that." Next year, Westyclaus?

Oosthuizen

7. Champion Golfer of the year Louis Oosthuizen is a bit frazzled. He's hit the wall. Seriously. Blame it on winning the British Open at St. Andrews. Yes, it's sunk in, but the last five months --- he finished up the season in his native South Africa --have been draining. "The year is getting very long, I had a very difficult schedule with the Sunshine Tour at the end too,'' he told Reuters. "You want to do everything, but it's tough being mentally tired. It makes it difficult to play well, it gets to you in the end.'' He'll play a split schedule between the PGA TOUR and European Tour in 2011.

8. Interesting Hall of Fame team battle of sorts shaping up for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janiero. Will the honors to design the golf course for golf's Olympic debut go to Greg Norman and Lorena Ochoa or Jack Nicklaus and Annika Sorenstam? Nicklaus sounded like he and Sorenstam were front-runners a few months ago, now Norman's on the offensive.

9. Most interesting new player-product sponsorship deal on TOUR? David Duval who is the spokesman for Perky Jerky -- "invigorating beef jerky." Think caffeinated premium jerky. It has a hint of guarana, which is used in energy drinks.

10. Everyone's talking about Joe Bramlett, the Stanford grad from a multi-racial family, and making comparisons to, well, you know who. But the most impressive part of the 6-foot-4 communications grad's resume is a 20-month exile from the game. Bramlett, who played his way onto the PGA TOUR at q-school with a closing 68, missed 20 months during his sophomore and junior years because of injuries to his right wrist. "Twenty months out of 24 is a very long time to be kept from doing something you've always loved to do and that you've identified with," he said. "It's a long time. I couldn't even putt. I really couldn't do anything. I could go to class, work out my legs, but just couldn't do anything golf-related . . There were times when I wasn't sure when it was going to end or why it was taking so long to heal. Rehab, cortisone shots and waiting." So, he thought about the game, specifically his game. Worked, didn't it?

11. Details, details. European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie was on everything -- including making his players comfy, cozy at Celtic Manor. Monty told The Mirror he thought the rooms weren't big enough, so he gave everyone a connecting room. Then, he tossed the old beds two days before the Americans arrived on site. "We got a removal company in and they brought six-foot beds and took the five-foot beds out,'' he said. "We were on the ninth floor and the Americans were on the eighth floor, but they didn't know about it." Monty also added some, ahem, amenities on the floor. "We also had six physio beds put up on that floor and there were tailors up there as well to make sure all the outfits fitted. It was all laid on. You have one hit at this and I wanted to get it right." Hmm. "There are a lot of things behind the scenes you might not be aware of," he said.

12 Monty, by the way, even weighed in on the Americans' leaky weather gear in the Mirror story. He thinks the problem came when U.S. captain Corey Pavin put names on the jackets. "It was a shame for them and a pity - I'm still glad it happened! - but by the time you have done that you have put a lot of holes in them. That made them non-waterproof. The guarantee went flying out of the window. We were prepared, but they came to Wales ill-prepared. It did help us, no question, and it did hinder them." So Monty.

13. Want to get a jump on 2011 odds? Ladbrokes hopes you do. The British betting standard has Rory McIlroy at 4/1 to win a major and 2/1 to move into the world's top-5. And Tiger is 5/4 to win his 15th major and 6/4 to end 2011 as world No. 1. Other interesting odds? G-Mac is 8/1 to win another major and 33/1 to defend his U.S. Open title.

14. A plague of locusts? Indeed, there is one in New South Wales where some golfers are cancelling rounds. According to Jeff Brundell of the Howlong Bowls Club, "We mowed the greens, cleaned them all up and there were no locusts whatsoever and within an hour they were all back.'' The sooner they move on, locals said, the better. Question is, move on to where?

15. Remember Aree and Naree Song? Can't-miss players? Well, Aree, now 24, just made it back through the LPGA qualifying school. She turned pro at 17 and, after a good rookie season, struggled with injuries. Naree is the assistant golf coach at Rollins College.

16. Did Steve Williams taking his caddie bib off on the 72nd hole of the Chevron World Challenge unintentionally bring out the best in G-Mac? Maybe so. We do know he noticed. Williams' man had stiffed his tee shot and G-Mac was looking at 20 feet for birdie -- and made it to force the playoff he won. "I certainly remember looking up on the 18th green and noticing that he had the bib off,'' McDowell told The Golf Channel. "That's a Stevie move and kind of his thing and whatever. It felt pretty good to make that putt and I remember looking up at him and the look on his face kind of said 'there's a little bit more golf left in this tournament." Ya think?

17. Michelle Wie is still struggling with back problems and limped all week, but still tied for fifth Dubai Ladies Masters. "I'm happy I made it through,'' she told Emirates 24/7 It's been a little bit of a struggle this week but I was really happy to end on a really good note. I just didn't feel as healthy as I wanted to this year.''

18. And last, but not least, Q-18 is taking a two-week break . . . so have a Merry Christmas and a safe New Year's. See you Jan. 3!

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.