1 – Reporting live from the U.S. Open . . . 

Jon Rahm has withdrawn from the U.S. Open, one week after exiting early from a LIV tournament. The issue is an infection in his foot. According to Mother Goose, the sore spot is between the piggy “that had none” and the piggy “who went, wee, wee, wee, all the way home!”

2 – Lucky young man

With Charlie Woods serving as a trusted set of eyes for his father, one could make the argument that this is the first swing coach Tiger Woods has allowed to have any of his sugar-free popsicles.

3 – Before the carry, there was the game

The caddie barn was better when backgammon was part of the landscape.

4 – Just not sure he’d recognize No. 2

Get ready for an overload of Donald Ross.

5 – Remembering Julius Boros

Is tossing a pole into your golf bag and interrupting your practice round to do a little fishing at an on-course pond still a thing? Beyond Boo Weekley, that is.

6 – That the best you can do?

The next time that a reporter asks a player after Round 3, “If you were to win this tournament tomorrow what would that mean to you?” I’d love to hear he or she respond thusly: “That I’d be in front of you tomorrow to face more cliché questions.”

7 – With great sadness, heritage just isn’t a big deal

Rather than embrace its history and proudly display the achievements by the likes of Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, and Sam Snead, the PGA Tour seems to disavow knowledge of previous eras. Tweets involving statistical notes are often accompanied by ludicrous qualifiers such as “Since World War II” or “on record” or “the modern era” or “since Tiger Woods invented golf” and all of it is lazy and disrespectful. Five wins in a season is a huge deal? Gee, Byron Nelson’s 18 never happened. If these folks were in charge of baseball stats we’d never have heard of Babe Ruth.

8 – Whatever the number is, bet the over

What’s the over-under on how many times a player calls in an official to discuss a TIO situation at this week’s U.S. Open?

9 – Meeting the dress code

If your denim knows the Pythagorean theorem, you’re not wearing smaht denim, you’re wearing wicked smaht denim.