Derek Ernst is a winner on the PGA Tour, and that's big news for his family back in the central California town of Clovis, Calif., his buddies from UNLV who nicknamed him "Stripes" for his consistent contact and for the staff at the Foster's Freeze in Clovis who used to serve Ernst and his girlfriend the "Reese's Twister" when they went on nightly ice cream runs in their hometown.

Outside of that crew, nobody knew who Ernst was prior to his big day at Quail Hollow.

Oh, the things a golf writer can learn when researching the life and times of a 22-year-old, quick-swinging bomber ranked 1,207th in the world. Ernst stunned the golf world with a "Hoosiers"-like win over a leader board that included Phil Mickelson, Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy. What do we know of the guy? Turns out Ernst likes ice cream. Reporters covering his runner-up finish at the 2011 U.S. Amateur Public Links at Bandon Dunes unearthed that, along with an amazing story about getting 10 stitches in his eye as a second

Read More »from Lateral Hazard: Mystery golfer emerges from shadows for first victory on PGA Tour

Billy Horschel reacts after making a putt for birdie on the 18th hole Sunday. (Getty)

Last year at the Zurich Classic in New Orleans, the uber-mellow Jason Dufner registered his first career win and showed us all just how implacable, stoic and detached a human being can be from his environment.

This year at the Zurich Classic in New Orleans, the human adrenaline surge that is Billy Horschel registered his first career win, and showed us all how PSYCHED and FIRED UP and WOOOOO!! I JUST WON!!! a player can be in the moment.

Horschel may stop fist-pumping by Wednesday.

If you added up Dufner and Horschel, and divided by two, I think you’d come out with the average of a normal human being’s emotional range.

[Watch: Billy Horschel delivers priceless reaction after winning Zurich Classic]

And how much fun was that to see? In this post-Masters, pre-Players Championship stretch of golf, it helps to see potential stars born, especially ones that pile up birdies as frequently as visceral exhortations. Horschel leads the entire Tour in birdies (his 220 top Jimmy Walker’s 189), and

Read More »from Lateral Hazard: Emotionally charged Billy Horschel gives life to Zurich Classic with antics, play

Graeme McDowell puts on his new plaid jacket after winning the RBC Heritage tournament. (AP)

With Adam Scott not playing this week – he was too busy eating breakfast cereal in his green jacket; working out in his green jacket; going grocery shopping in his green jacket; making ladies swoon in his green jacket – the storyline in golf shifted to a tenacious winner from Northern Ireland, an Ulsterman with major championship swagger who surprised no one with his victory at Harbour Town.

Yes, Graeme McDowell now has more wins on the PGA Tour in 2013 than that other kid from his country. What's his name? Maury? Oh, Rory? Sorry about that.

Hey, now. Just a little golf humor to perk up your post-Masters hangover. You know we love Rory McIlroy's game here at Lateral Hazard. A little locker room towel-snap from this slice of cyber space may just be the thing to get him going, right?

In the meantime, it's all about the other Northern Irishman – the one who preceded both Rory and countryman Darren Clarke to the major championship win circle when he won the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble

Read More »from Lateral Hazard: Graeme McDowell conquered elements at Harbour Town like only he can

Tiger Woods tips his cap as he walks to the 18th green during the final round of the Masters. (USAT Sports)It's long been my thought that Tiger Woods is so comfortable at Augusta National Golf Club, that his game and his competitive soul were so bred to win green jackets, that he will pass Jack Nicklaus on the all-time majors list because he will stockpile two, maybe even three more green jackets en route to 19 total major wins.

And after an eighth consecutive Masters without a Tiger win, as we approach the five-year anniversary of his last major championship, I'm sticking with that thought.

I know, I know. He had his chances this time around and wasn't as sound as champion Adam Scott or as clutch as runner-up Angel Cabrera. Heck, I even know he lost the respect of many with an illegal drop – no, I don't believe in the "grassy knoll" Augusta Chronicle photos claiming his drop was legal – and signing an incorrect scorecard, only to avoid disqualification with a call from the governor, a.k.a. the green jackets who weren't about to DQ Tiger (Freakin') Woods.

And I know he's 37, and not

Read More »from Lateral Hazard: Tiger Woods still on track to catch Jack Nicklaus

We open Masters week by offering a huge congratulations to Rory McIlroy, winner of the Valero Texas Open, non-Martin Laird division.

If changing his schedule to change his mojo was Rory's goal after an awful start to 2013, consider McIlroy's silver medal in San Antonio a qualified success.

"Success," because it's the first time in a half-dozen starts this year he's even come close enough to the winner's circle to take a picture of it with his smart phone.

And "qualified," because he still hasn't won since switching to the Nike clubs for big money and news conference fireworks.

I know, Laird blistered the field with his Sunday 63, racing from five shots back, and there was nothing McIlroy could do to stop him. I know Laird, the Scotsman who was tied for seventh to start Sunday, used only 22 putts to record his second PGA Tour win, crazy good, unbeatable golf.

But you think Tiger Woods would stand idly by and let someone else blow past him with a Sunday 63? I think not. I

Read More »from Lateral Hazard: Rory McIlroy looking better, but don't expect him to contend at Masters

So you were watching March Madness, and you were organizing egg hunts, and maybe you were thinking about MLB Opening Day … and you forgot about the Shell Houston Open.

No worries, amigo. I got your back.

I'm happy to sing "The Ballad of D.A. Points," a wholly likable 36-year-old Midwestern gent with one career win (at Pebble Beach, by the way), a LEGO belt buckle and a previous claim to fame as Bill Murray's not-famous playing partner at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

Now, after making a 13-footer for par on the 72nd hole in the early evening gloaming of Houston for a one-stroke win over Billy Horschel and Henrik Stenson, Points is a double winner on the PGA Tour, and there is nothing sweeter on the golf course than the sensation of validation.

One career win, and a bushel of missed cuts on your résumé makes someone prone to call you a fluke. Two wins, even with a bushel of missed cuts on your résumé? That makes you a guy who backed it up, who can now walk around

Read More »from Lateral Hazard: D.A. Points uses mother's putter to deliver clutch win at Shell Houston Open

Like most of a fascinated sports world, I waited patiently for Tiger Woods to grant his post-Bay Hill victory interview on The Golf Channel on Monday. It took him about 15 seconds to get to Steve Sands for the greenside chat, and I imagine that's because he told Sands: "Hang on, Sandsy. Let me slip on this giant foam finger that reads 'I'M NUMBER ONE,' flash it toward the haters, the press and the haters in the press and I'll get right to you."

Holy smokes. Tiger Woods just accomplished one of the greatest feats of his career.

Right next to winning four consecutive majors from 2000-01, right next to winning six consecutive U.S. Junior Amateurs and U.S. Amateurs, right next to 77 PGA Tour wins by age 37, I'll put "The Long Climb Back" on Tiger's all-time ledger. By winning at Bay Hill on Monday, Tiger Woods is No. 1 in the world again – for the first time since October 2010, for the first time since falling to No. 58 in the world, and for the first time since his cloak of

Read More »from Lateral Hazard: Tiger Woods' climb back to No. 1 ranks as one of his greatest accomplishments

What were we, a golf-loving nation, to do with ourselves when a week on the PGA Tour unfolds without a Rory McIlroy walk-off, without a Rory McIlroy apology, without a Tiger Woods butt-whuppin' of the field? Heck, even Johnny Miller took the week off when the Tour swung thru Innisbrook Resort for the Tampa Bay Championship.

Thanks, then, to Kevin Streelman, who reminded us that it's not always about Nike money, or glitzy win totals, or global fame. Sometimes it's about a running down a dream.

In his 153rd PGA Tour start, winless, bereft of star power, riches or glory, Streelman played damn inspiring golf at a brutal Copperhead course. In the process, he locked down his first Tour win, impressed anyone who wants to know what seizing a golf moment looks like and even caused his wife to shed a few tears of long-waited joy.

On Sunday, knowing that Boo Weekley's 8-under total was burning on the leader board, a daunting number on a daunting golf course, Streelman got to 10-under

Read More »from Lateral Hazard: Kevin Streelman impresses with first PGA Tour win in 153rd start