Quick 18: A Keeg party, Playoffs talk and Rory's root

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Get ready to see a lot more belly putters now that Keegan Bradley won a major with one.
Aug. 15, 2011
By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent

1. Spunk. Emotion. Wide-eyed innocence. Focus. Exuberance. Kevin McHale-like coat-hanger shoulders (yes, an homage to his Boston roots). Honesty. Talent. Rookie. Red Sox fan. Former skier. Humble. Not a Q-18 pick one -- Keegan Bradley is all of the above. And a major champion in his first major try. Those cowbells and ship bells and dinner bells were ringing all over the Bradley nation Sunday night. He didn't just capture golf's imagination. He got everyone. And, of course, he got that first American major win in almost two years.

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2. In case you're wondering ... Keegs -- that's what Aunt Hall-of-Fame Pat calls him -- stared at the Wanamaker Trophy most of the night. But before he tried to sleep, he offered this up to twitterdom: "If anyone is wondering what u do after u win a major. 3 bud lights in the fridge cereal and ppj's. #goingwild!!" yfrog.com/hs16287253j ..... he followed it up Monday morning with "Driving around Atlanta with the Wanamaker The trophy is buckled up." http://t.co/DLJGFKe. One last twitter-thing? He went from 8,000 followers Sunday morning to almost 23,000 by Monday morning.

3. Slip-sliding away. Jason Dufner went from 5-up to runner-up in the span of 90 minutes Sunday. Never easy to watch everything fall apart, but, as we learned with Rory McIlroy at the Masters and Bradley at Firestone, it's a process. Dufner was there for the first time. Considering his composure afterward, it won't be his last. And, hey, he's in next year's majors. One more thing? He works with Chuck Cook, who helped Payne Stewart and Tom Kite get to their majors.

4. Adam Scott makes the belly putter cool, Keegs gives it a major. Fan or not of those anchored broomsticks, they're here to stay. Be interesting to see how many players are trying them out on the Wyndham Championship putting greens the next few days.

5. About Calamity Lane. That finishing stretch is seriously brutal. Yes, it brought out the best in Keegs, but what's wrong with a great par-5 finish? Does it have to be a par-4? Seriously?

6.Another major, another Bob Rotella guy wins. Like we said a couple weeks ago ... phone ringing off the hook.

7. Another major, another shutout for the world's No. 1, 2, 3 and No. 7 in the world. The good news? Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Steve Stricker and Adam Scott -- in order -- were all in the top 12 (Scott 7th; Donald and Westwood were T8; Stricker T12). And expect Scott, Stricker and Donald to be in the FedExCup mix. The not-so-great-news? Q-18 really hates to recite those 0-fer stats.

8. From Glory's Last Shot to the Last FedExCup Shot. The FedExCup Playoffs without Tiger Woods? Yep. He's not playing the Wyndham Championship, so he doesn't make the playoffs. But ... former major champions and bubble-boys Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington, Ben Curtis and Justin Leonard are all in the field.

9. Tiger looked stunned and a bit lost, didn't he? Caught between two swings, he found 22 bunkers and hit it in the water four times in two days and was down the road. He needs to more reps on the range, but he needs to reps in competitive golf, too. Could we see him in some Fall Series events? Just wondering.

10. The root of the problem ... seems like ages since Rory McIlroy chopped down on that root and had everyone wondering if his next swing would be his last. Sounds like rest is the best medicine -- although he did make wrist-and-forearm taping cool. Can't resist repeating two great quotes from rootgate -- both about whether or not caddie JP Fitzgerald should have tried to talk his man out of the shot. From manager Chubby Chandler: "He doesn't listen anyway." And from Rory, himself: "He's my caddie, not my father." Bottom line? A caddie can suggest, cajole, wheedle, plead and grovel, but the player still makes the decision and hits the shot. But ...

11. Every once and a while, a caddie does get the upper hand. According to a story in Florida Today, Veteran caddie Fuzzy Furbush, now 81, told Florida Today that he was caddying for Jim Ferree at the 1986 Greater Grand Rapids Open when the two argued over a club during a playoff. Feree wanted to hit driver; Furbush said 4-iron. Furbush threw down the iron and ran down the fairway with the clubs. "He yelled, 'Come back here! Come back here!' " Furbush said. "And I yelled back, 'Hit the club! Hit the club!' " Ferree did, made birdie and beat Chi Chi Rodriguez and Gene Littler in a playoff.

12. Stat you can use? Of the players to make the cut in all four majors, Masters champ Charl Schwartzel was a combined -14, while Strick and Sergio Garcia were distant seconds at -4. McIlroy was -2. One to keep an eye on? Ryan Palmer, who was in the top 10 at plus-4.

13. Lots of tweets to choose from, but Q18 goes with @bovanpelt for tweet of the week: I think "close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades" was originated by a guy who missed a cut on the PGA TOUR by a shot.

14. The fifth and final Champions Tour major -- the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship -- tees it up at Westchester CC this week. Could this be Mark Calcavecchia's next chance?

15. Q-18 had to chuckle when Golf Channel's Brandel Chamblee called the 385-yard par-4 sixth hole "a litmus test for insanity."

16. Oh, for an investment return like this one. Scotland on Sunday reports that those panoramic views from Number 14 at The Links -- right there bordering the Old Course's 18th hole -- are on the market for a cool £1.7m. The current owner's grandparents bought the three-bedroom flat in 1957 for £5,250 (or about £99,000 in today's money). The last sale in The Links? A tony £4 m last year. Just down the fairway, Herb Kohler is renovating Hamilton Hall where flats go for £1.35m and up. So this one? A bargain. If you have the spare change.

17. Just so you know ... Speaker of the House John Boehner teed it up in a political fundraiser last week at Inverness and shot an 81. That's 10 higher than Senior Open champ Olin Browne's closing 71. Of course, the course was set up a bit tougher two weeks ago.

18. And, finally, we leave you with this ... Keegs was an up-and-coming skier as a teenager, but, according to Golf Channel's Tim Rosaforte, when he finished third at the state championship, he turned to his dad and said, "You know what this means". Yep. Golf. Hasn't skied since.

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.

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