Quick 18: Bradley sized for uniforms just in case

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Rookie Bradley, who recently won the PGA Grand Slam, is trying not to get his hopes up about Presidents Cup.

1. What debate? It's not official yet, but who doesn't think Luke Donald pretty much sealed the deal and gave himself a big lead in the race for Player of the Year Sunday? He had to win and he did. His all-but-flawless back nine -- and closing 64 -- at the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals Classic wrapped up the PGA TOUR money title and most likely PGA TOUR Player of the Year. Combine that with a more than 1.3 million euro lead in the Race to Dubai and, well, no one has ever led the money list on both tours in the same year so if -- big if -- he needs to add a European event to make it happen, you can bet he will. Next up? If he putts like he did last week, could be the Masters where putting is, well, everything.

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2. As for POY? It's a vote of the players, so, yes, Webb Simpson and Keegan Bradley are just a step behind Donald on the nominee list. Simpson had two wins -- and finished second twice -- came into the Disney event atop the money list and might have been the front-runner if Donald hadn't gotten hot. Bradley is the only one of the three to win a major and he's a star-in-waiting, but the rest of the PGA champ's season wasn't as strong. He had just four top 10s all season, but he'll be teeing it up along with Donald and Simpson in a strong field at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions next week.

3. The Donald-Simpson race may have been the headline maker, but the last hour or so of the tournament, period, was compelling as far as the impact on the top 125 and all-exempt status for 2012. A series of missed putts by Billy Mayfair and Nick O'Hern pushed part-time Champions Tour player Tom Pernice into the top 125 and knocked out Bobby Gates. D.J. Trahan needed a birdie on his last hole -- the ninth -- to slide in on the cutline at 125.

4. How cool was it for Sergio Garcia to dedicate his win at the Castello Masters to Seve Ballesteros. Snaps to Sergio for yet another step in the right direction and the 11-shot win. He's been working his way back all year and make no mistake, he's got one eye on making the Ryder Cup team. Being an assistant captain was nice, being on the European team at Medinah -- yes, where he did that little running split-legged leap in 1999 -- next fall? Priceless.

5. Q18 just felt a lot older when a glance at the Champions Tour q-school regional lists and showed Jack Nicklaus II is teeing it up in Nevada. Yes, it was 25 years ago when he caddied for his dad at Augusta National and had a prime seat for another slice of history. Back then, we thought Big Jack was all but done at 46 -- and that number seemed a long way off. Now, it's in a lot of rear-view mirrors -- including Q-18 and Jackie's. Yikes.

6. Justin Leonard has struggled this season, but jumpstarted 2012 with a second-place finish. The difference? In addition to extra swing work with long-time instructor Randy Smith, Leonard has added brain coach Dr. Morris Pickens and putting guru Dave Stockton, Jr., to his inner circle. One of the things Stockton did was try to get Leonard out of his own way. After watching him make a 10-footer, he asked Leonard why he took three practice strokes. "I don't know. Because everyone does,'' Leonard said. Stockton asked if he did that when he threw darts. Um, no. So Stockton said don't do that when you putt. "(He told me to) keep it more natural,'' Leonard said. "One practice stroke, a good look at the hole and hit it. He knows me pretty well. He was trying to get me out of my own way, if that makes any sense at all." We got it.

7. Since a number of you have asked, here's the latest update on Steve Stricker's neck injury: there isn't one. He's undergoing physical therapy and wearing something to take the pressure off the nerve in his neck. He's told everyone he plans to play in next month's Presidents Cup, but Bradley's been fitted for outfits just in case. Bradley's ready, but he doesn't think he'll make the trip. "I keep daydreaming that I'll look down on my phone and see 'Fred Couples' pop up on the (caller ID),'' he told Golf World/Golf Channel's Tim Rosaforte, "but I don't think that's going to happen."

8. Ray Allen's clubs are usually gathering dust this time of year. But not this year. Not with the NBA lockout. The Boston Celtics guard is playing enough that his handicap is shrinking. "I think it keeps me from going crazy," he said. "A lot of (NBA) guys are getting bored. Once you get around this time of year and your kids are back in school, you're usually going to work out. Now you're not doing anything, and your wife is looking at you like 'What's up? Isn't there something you could be doing?' For me, it's not the same because I can be out golfing."

9. The USGA and R&A just announced a few tweaks to the Rules of Golf. Now, if the wind moves a ball on the green -- and the player has nothing to do with it -- there won't be a penalty. Simpson, you'll recall, was penalized when the wind moved his ball after he had soled his putter on the 15th green at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and he went on to lose in a playoff. Another change? Amateurs over the age of 18 can now sign contracts with agents, but cannot receive money until they turn pro. National associations can also help the amateurs with general living expenses.

10. Don't know what to make of Rory McIlroy's move from Chubby Chandler to Conor Ridge and Horizon Sports? You're hardly alone. So many theories, so many moving pieces -- girlfriend Carolyn Wozniacki, sponsors, image, egos, buddy and Horizon client Graeme McDowell, wanting to spend more time in the U.S. to name a few things -- that we may never know what piece tipped the scales most. Chubby was "disappointed and a bit shocked," but, the bottom line is it's done. Lots of his multi-year deals are already in place, so it may be a while until we see big changes. But one we have seen? McIlroy unfollowed Chubby and Lee Westwood on Twitter.

11. Just so you know, the winner at this week's Shanghai Masters -- the field is just 30 players -- will take home $2 million. Among the entrants? McIlroy, Westwood, Bradley, Geoff Ogilvy, Charl Schwartzel, Ian Poulter, Paul Casey, Jim Furyk and Hunter Mahan.

12. Another week, another win for Yani Tseng. In case you've lost count, that's seven LPGA wins and 10 wins worldwide. So far. Tseng has already equaled Lorena Ochoa's seven-win season in 2007 and needs one more win to equal Ochoa's eight wins in 2008. Two wins would give her the best season since Annika Sorenstam won 10 times in 2005.

13. On the other end of the spectrum, there's Louise Friberg. The Swede just retired at the age of 31. She played seven seasons and won just one LPGA event -- ironically she beat Tseng by one to win the 2008 MasterCard Classic -- but, like a lot of players not inside the LPGA's top 50, has struggled the last few years just to get into the LPGA's shrinking list of events. She played in just 11 this year, missed every cut and is now working on her LPGA teaching certification. Her friends gave her a retirement party and friend Paige Mackenzie applauded the decision in the New York Times. "In my opinion, it took a lot more courage to walk away than to stay,'' Mackenzie said. "I think there's a lot of other players out there that are thinking about leaving but are maybe afraid of the uncertainty of something new."

14. Testing the waters. Javier Ballesteros, Seve's oldest son, plans to take a break from law school next spring and accept an invitation to play in the Mallorca Open. And when he finishes law school? He wants "to give it a shot and turn pro. While I am studying I can't train a lot. I hit 200 balls every day but I can play only once a week and playing is when you really learn the game."

15. A little mental lint for you: Winn-Dixie Jacksonville Open champ Gavin Coles' nickname is The Angry Ant. Why? He got it because he's small (5-foot-4) and feisty. But lately, he's learned to roll a little easier with not-so-great days. The win puts him 15th on the Nationwide Tour money list and gives him a great shot at a second whirl on the PGA TOUR since the top 25 get TOUR cards for 2012.

16. Want to be laid to rest on a golf course? Or just have your ashes scattered? Folks at Sunset Hills Memorial Park and Funeral Home in Bellevue, Wash., will dedicate a new one-hole cemetery -- Memorial Golf Park -- tomorrow that could be the answer. According to Seattle Weekly, the cemetery will have space for 1,281 golfers -- for both traditional burials and cremations -- and if you want to reach the ossuary, where cremations are stored, you have to walk the actual hole. There's a vault under the green and a passageway up to the hole. Arne Swanson, the funeral home's marketing director, said the idea came to him when he saw a family scatter ashes on a golf course during a round. The one-hole resting place has a fairway, a sand trap and an 820-square foot green. Seriously. Q-18 can't make this stuff up.

17. A public course in Palmerston, North New Zealand was ordered to close when golf balls kept landing on an adjacent organic farm and threatened its organic status. According to reports, more than 20,000 golf balls had been hit onto farm land since 2002, and more than 3,100 landed on the farm last year. The judgment said, "The (farm's) evidence is that golf balls are found up to 100 metres inside the farm, and that means that an unsafe work environment exists for the (farm's) employees when near to the boundaries with the golf course.''

18. And finally . . . it's a tweet, but this is the way John Maginnes talks, period. From @johnmaginnes: "Sergio yells at his ball in English....even in Spain....golf balls are not bilingual apparently." Go ahead. Chuckle.

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. Follow her on Twitter @melaniehauser.