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And to think everyone was concerned with who won.

The most compelling story to come out of the Ryder Cup is not the team that enjoyed a champagne shampoo, but Cigar Guy.

Europe won and the United States lost at Celtic Manor, but really who’s counting when you’ve got a guy with a wig, a cigar and a fake mustache?

Somewhere Groucho Marx and his four brothers are smiling; it’s a gag worthy of A Night at the Opera.

Cigar Guy has even managed to upstage one of the best sports photos ever taken.

This is Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston, Bobby Orr going airborne and Y.A. Tittle kneeling and bleeding on the turf kinda stuff.

But what most folks will remember is Cigar Guy.

Tiger Woods hits ball to camera. Cigar Guy at right. Photo by Mark Pain/Daily Mail

Haven’t seen him?

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The PGA Tour will be entering its postseason this week, which is really just a portion of the calendar with a large box marked around it for emphasis.

Attached to this cluster of four tournaments is also the word “playoff,” a misnomer of sorts because no one is facing off against another. The format is more of a “playdown” as the fields are progressively whittled from a field of 125 for this week’s Barclays and eventually to a select group of 30 in the Tour Championship.

Struggling to retain relevance with the major tournaments completed  and the NFL looming as the primetime American sporting event that it is, the PGA Tour Playoffs for the FedEx Cup (yes, that is the official title) is golf’s answer to NASCAR’s Chase.

Though not as inherently compelling, the PGA Tour is able to throw plenty of money at its players to keep them sufficiently interested. It also will serve as a good run up to Ryder Cup competition in October.

“The buildup or the prestige has increased each year,” Phil Mickelson said at the Barclays media day in early August. “I think the players are really coming to look forward to the playoffs and appreciate what they mean.”

Tiger Woods walked away with $10 million last year for winning his second career FedEx Cup and he didn’t even win the final event. Mickelson edged Woods in the Tour Championship at East Lake, but finished second in the cup race through a quirk in the scoring.

Ernie Els leads FedEx Cup standings. Photo copyright USGA/Steve Gibbons

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Paula Creamer played through the pain this weekend.

The golf course? It was relegated to a bit part.

Sure, Oakmont played the lead for many during the U.S. Women’s Open as a lone golfer emerged on the red side of the ledger.

That was Creamer, who won her first major title by stretching a three-stroke, third-round lead to four by the close of business Sunday.

But while the golf course was getting the better of most who competed in the championship, Creamer had a closer and more personal foe throughout the weekend in Western Pennsylvania.

Paula Creamer plays from bunker in 2009 U.S. Open. Photo by John E. Kaminski

Her thumb, her left thumb that fewer than four months ago was opened to surgically repair a hyperextended joint.

“It just shows, you know, how much the mental side of golf can really take over,” Creamer told LPGA.com.

As Dan Jenkins once said: “You gotta play hurt.”

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He’ll always have Deere Run.

It doesn’t quite roll off the tongue like Pebble Beach or quicken the pulse like Augusta, but Paul Goydos won’t be taking many peaks inside the mouth of this gift-horse.

In a round that seemed as if he were saving strokes for later, Goydos fired a 59 in the first stanza of the John Deere Classic on Thursday and joined three others who’ve lifted the lid on 60 in a competitive PGA Tour round.

OK, so the quartet won’t be making any Hall of Fame speeches, but Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods can’t say what Goydos and his pals Al Geiberger, Chip Beck and David Duval can.

They’ve all got 59s in their bags — golf’s very own magic number.

A round of 59 eluded Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Arnold Palmer in their illustrious careers. Photo by Keith Allison

Geiberger shot his in Memphis in 1977 while Las Vegas cashed in for Beck in 1991. Duval’s might prove the most notable as it came in the final round of the Bob Hope Classic in 1999 and provided the margin of his one-stroke victory.

Unlike Goydos, the previous three came on par-72 courses. Nonetheless, it is the figure that counts — no par or birdie, just the number.

59.

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If youth is wasted on the young, don’t bother telling these guys.

To a man, Rory McIlroy, Ryo Ishikawa and Rickie Fowler have all stepped up to the tee and declared they’re ready to play, and with emphasis added — ready to win.

McIlroy accomplished that Sunday at the Quail Hollow Championship with a closing round 62 to claim his first title on the PGA Tour and second as a professional. He also won the Dubai Desert Classic last year.

A native of Holywood — that’s Northern Ireland — McIlroy will celebrate his 21st birthday Tuesday after becoming the youngest player to win on tour since Tiger Woods began his career 14 years ago.

“I think I speak on behalf of all the early 20-somethings out here. Tiger was the guy that we all looked up to and the guy that we followed and the guy that we turned on our TV and the guy that we went out to practice so hard,” McIlroy told PGATour.com. “He was the person that — I think he’s been the reason that the likes of Ryo, myself, (Anthony Kim), all the younger guys, have flourished at such an early age, because Tiger set the benchmark so high. We want to achieve that.”

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It’s always good when people take charge of their own affairs and golf is no exception.

And it wasn’t all that long ago when the what’s-wrong-with-Phil-Mickelson stories actually began to gain traction.

That was the beginning of the month.

Now look.

Mickelson is the reigning Masters champion — his fourth career major title — he’s firmly in the hunt for his second victory on the PGA Tour this season and he’s officially a hero.

Phil Mickelson in 2005. Photo by Reed

Time Magazine named Mickelson to the Heroes category on its list of the World’s Most Influential People, a grouping that also includes former President Bill Clinton. On Friday, Mickelson eagled the par-5 15th, his sixth hole of the day, and closed with a 68 to go six-under at the Quail Hollow Championship.

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Another weekend of golf and another player’s stock spikes with a victory.

That would be Ian Poulter, who saw his slot improve from 11th to fifth on the Official World Golf Ranking after winning the World Golf Championships Match Play event in Arizona.

Poulter leapfrogged his Sunday opponent Paul Casey, who jumped one position on the list and into the sixth position.

Recent successes have created a bit of a shuffle near the top of the ranking that saw Steve Stricker move into the second position following his victory three weeks ago in Los Angeles. Tiger Woods remains the top ranked player in the world, but his lead over Phil Mickelson that was more than six points to begin the 2010 season, is now less than five points in front of Stricker.

With his appearance last week in which he apologized for marital infidelity and said he would return to golf “one day,” Woods did not provide any dates. Speculation is leading further to a PGA Tour season without Woods, which puts his near five-year reign atop the rankings in doubt.

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The world’s best players are competing in the high desert near Tucson, but they will be sharing the spotlight come Friday.

That’s the day the still undisputed No. 1, Tiger Woods, will speak to a select group of reporters and associates to explain his absence, his status and his future.

Until then, there’s some golf to settle and being a high seed wasn’t necesssarily a privilege or an an advantage Wednesday for Day One of the World Golf Championships Match Play event.

Ousted was the tournament’s top seed as Steve Stricker was handed an early ticket home by Ross McGowan, who is not only No. 64 this week at the Ritz Carlton’s Dove Mountain course, but was the last man in. McGowan wasn’t certain of his entry until Woods let last Friday’s deadline to officially declare for the tournament come and go.

The 27-year-old McGowan bested Stricker 1-up after 19 holes of a match that seesawed all afternoon. McGowan will face Ryo Ishikawa, who was a 2-up winner over Michael Sim, in the second round.

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Dustin Johnson is quickly putting his name among rising young stars on the PGA Tour.

Winning will do that as he did Sunday with a one-stroke victory at Pebble Beach. And he needed a birdie to claim the tournament on the last hole, which is always a fair indicator on the handle-the-pressure meter.

Johnson has a pair of T16s and a T3 to go along with his W in five starts this season and his victory Sunday was a successful defense of his crown at the AT&T from a year ago — albeit rain-shortened at 54-holes.

But it’s three PGA Tour wins and counting for the 25-year-old from South Carolina and he’s currently second in the glamor stat of driving distance, just a few inches shy of  300 yards while averaging 22 yards better than the tour norm.

Seeded 11th at the WGC Match Play tournament this week, Johnson faces Camilo Villegas in the  first-round but given his performance on the Monterey Peninsula, thoughts look forward to the U.S. Open that will be contested at Pebble Beach.

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Steve Stricker is quietly going about his business of playing golf and he may just be the best player at his craft.

Tiger Woods isn’t playing, so he currently doesn’t count, and Phil Mickelson isn’t playing to his level of expertise.

Lee Westwood is failing to make putts to win tournaments, as he did Sunday in Dubai, and Padraig Harrington opened his 2010 season by missing the cut at Riviera.

There are plenty of other names to consider, certainly, but none would equal Stricker’s start to the year, which is actually a carryover from the last.

In his three starts to open 2010, he’s logged a T10, a third and a first which came Sunday at the Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles. It’s February  and he’s already bagged nearly $1.7 million and he’s No. 1 in FedEx points.

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