In his weekly Daily Mail column, Derek Lawrenson catches up with instructor Pete Cowen who is clearly feeling better after suspecting in March he had contracted COVID-19.

The guru to the star golfers is in Memphis this week to work with Brooks Koepka find his game. Koepka has a strong track record in Memphis and is the two-time defending PGA Champion next week.

Cowen does not see Koepka’s balky knee as a hurdle to success.

‘When you get an injury as bad as that you’re never 100 per cent right again,’ said Cowen. ‘But I don’t think it’s a problem. That’s finding excuses for the fact he’s swinging it badly. We don’t need excuses, we need to sort it out.’

Cowen believes it is more a question of attitude. ‘When he’s at his best, he’s bulletproof. He doesn’t care what other people are doing, he just puts results on the board,’ he said. ‘The US Open at Shinnecock Hills in 2018 was a classic case in point. With his caddy Ricky Elliott, I was talking it through with him, how he played every hole in the final round, he was all over the place at times. But he had belief he would win. He had body language that said, “I’m going to get the job done”. That’s what we need to get back.’”

Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank thinks President Donald Trump could use more time on the golf course to apply the game’s values to the COVID-19 fight.

Above all, though, golf is a game of honor. If you hook your tee shot into the woods, you look for the ball for five minutes, then assess yourself a penalty stroke if you can’t find it. That may be the hardest lesson of all for Trump. According to those who have played with him, Trump doesn’t take a penalty stroke; he simply gives himself a “mulligan” — a free do-over. It lowers his score, but it’s cheating.

Maybe that’s why he has such trouble with the pandemic. He can get away with cheating on the golf course. But covid-19, as we have seen, does not allow mulligans.

Hey at least for a change a prominent columnist sees golf as a plus!

Fine, fine work by The Fried Egg’s Garrett Morrison to present the history of the golf ball in fresh fashion and format. I highly recommend all three episodes and his effort to educate audiences to the remarkable strife and conflict the matter of selling golf balls has delivered to golf.

I learned a lot and felt unabashedly reassured that some form of golf ball regulation would be a really good thing for the game. But that’s me. I’m guessing even those who do not agree and place the perceived profit impact of a few companies over what’s best for the sport, will still feel more intelligent after listening.

Check out wherever you get your podcasts or listen here:

Without having seen CBS’s schedule, little imagination is still not required to tally up and realize ESPN, with CBS, will essentially provide wall-to-wall coverage from Harding Park. That’s a product of the new long-term rights schedule for next week’s PGA Championship. Notice just how much ESPN+ (only available via streaming that milliennials still don’t pay for), is handling coverage, including early in the week and even when CBS is taking over. While the Worldwide Leader will have nice-sized cable broadcast windows all four days, this is still my nice way of reminding hardcore fans to your affairs in order: namely, your streaming subscriptions.

And while you’re at it, the Disney+/Hulu/ESPN+ bundle is the better deal. Everyone could use some Mandalorian in their lives.

Golf Australia said the Australian Open tournament will be postponed until at least early 2021.

Here’s your 10 minute mental game warm-up to increase your confidence and prepare you for a strong performance in your next round. Do this shortly before you leave the house for the course. Find a place where you won’t be disturbed for 10 minutes and put your phone away.

If you prefer audio to reading, please click the play button or “listen in browser” below.

Your Winning 10 Minute Mental Game Warm Up

Step 1: Relax (3 mins)

Sit down with your back straight and your hands in your lap.

Start with some deep breaths to calm down your body and mind. You will probably be nervous before a round, which is perfectly normal, but in order to perform well, you will need to make sure your mind is quiet and your body is relaxed.

Inhale through your nose until your belly goes out and exhale fully through your mouth. As you breathe, notice where your mind is and how your body feels. If your mind wanders, gently bring it back to your breath.

After a minute or so of deep breathing, return to your normal breathing and scan your body to notice any tension. Start with your face, noticing any tension in your facial muscles and jaw. If you notice tension, breath into it and soften it. Move slowly to your neck and shoulders, all the way down your arms, to the wrists and fingers. Bring awareness to the sensations in each individual part of your body. Feel the chest and diaphragm moving with your breath. Move down each leg, into the ankles feet and toes. Be aware of exactly how you feel and use your breathing to release any stress and tension.

Camilo Villegas' daughter, Mia, has died at just 22 months old after cancerous tumors were found in her brain and spine.

Tournament organizers have decided the event will not go ahead due to safety concerns, with Sept. 30 to Oct. 3 revealed as the dates for the 2021 competition.

We’re a week away from the first major championship of 2020 and Ron Kroichick previews what a fan-free major will look like. While this one is particularly tough to look at given the fan energy we would have seen at a true muni, I will say, the views through the property and the Cypress will shine based on the video below. So there’s that.

Nice work here by the PGA of America imagineers to make the best of a difficult situation…

OUR JOB IS YOUR GAME

Once a trend, the Player’s Distance Iron has become an industry-wide staple. The category offers the sleek, sexy appeal a majority of golfers’ egos desire in terms of looks, combined with an attractive duo of power and a bit of forgiveness. It’s the best of both worlds. However, this utopian offering is not for everyone despite the temptation it offers. The 2020 Best Player’s Distance Iron is the ultimate iron for someone looking to enhance looks, feel and performance in a more forgiving package than a traditional player’s iron.

With each passing year, manufacturers are inching closer to the limits of technology. They flirt with the established limits of the equipment rules governed by the USGA and R&A. These innovations continue to transform golf equipment to produce more ball speed across the club face, higher launch angles, straighter shots and improved feel and sound.

This year, we threw 13 of the top Player’s Distance Irons into a “battle royale” arena. Shots were hit, data were collected and analyzed. The results are in.

Most Wanted: Wilson Staff D7 Forged

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Performance Grades

Below is the Best Player’s Distance Iron 2020 broken down by performance grades for each iron length. The percentages displayed for each iron represent the frequency at which each was among the best performing irons for each tester across the test pool. For more information about how we arrive at these results, see our How We Test page.

Because I’ve heard enough “just the grow” rough proposals over the years and didn’t need another blog post pointing out the silliness, you didn’t see a post about Ernie Els saying “knee high” rough was an answer.

But the Golf.com Confidential gang decided to take up the topic and we have three ball rollbacks to one endorsement, if my math is correct…

Bamberger: Only with the F&F part. The game lacks balance now. There’s too much emphasis on the tee shot. It’s certainly not the players fault. But foot-high rough doesn’t make golf more interesting, it makes it less interesting. We want to see all manner of shots, including the recovery shot. Tiger became Tiger on the basis of his recovery game, his iron play, his driving game, his chipping game. His everything. 

Sens: I agree to a point. Problem is, there comes a point where defending through course conditions alone leads to flat-out goofy setups, and then you’re not making it more fair for anyone. At that point is where I start to think: rolling back the ball is the better long-term solution.

Wood: Of course, he’s correct. I would love to see firm fairways, hard greens, deep rough every single week. But It’s not going to happen. There’s no way for tournaments to collude to make course setups more difficult, with more emphasis on hitting fairways. And here’s why:  the tournaments are in competition with each other to attract players. When a player is choosing a schedule, they’re just like anyone who plays golf: a major factor in deciding where they play is choosing someplace they enjoy. They know a handful of times a year, namely U.S. Opens, the Masters, they’re going to have to play courses with less room for error. But week-in, week-out, they won’t do it. And to be honest with you, I don’t think the networks would enjoy it either. Long drives sell. The ratings just simply wouldn’t be as good if the guys who can hit it 350 are hitting 4-irons off every tee.  

Shipnuck: John’s point is well-taken, and amplify’s Michael’s: the setup Ernie is advocating sounds dreadfully boring. Who wants to watch the best players chipping out sideways? It’s fun at a few select majors, but every week would be a snooze. And the problem with resting everything on firm/fast setups is that it’s an outdoor game, and rain showers are common in the spring and summer. To test players with the current benign Tour setups we need courses that are 9,000-10,000 yards, but that requires an obscene amount of land, water and maintenance hours. The only real solution is obvious: throttle back the equipment. But Ernie and many others are paid to subvert that point.

Forty years to the day of Caddyshack’s theatrical release, the author of its definitive book tells us about the eventual debacle that was Caddyshack 2.

Writing for SI.com, Chris Nashawaty gives you the impression that a film on the making of Caddyshack 2 might have been far more entertaining than what some say is the worst sequel ever.

On Jan. 18, 1988, the Caddyshack II cast and crew descended on Rolling Hills Golf Club in Davie, Fla.—the same location used for the original. Right away, nothing felt right. Not only was Mason’s golf swing an abomination even after working on the set with a pro, but he also couldn’t remember his lines and was gorging himself at the craft services table—so much so that the wardrobe department had to keep letting out his pants. Aykroyd decided that his gonzo military character should speak in an odd, high-pitched whinny (which, he later claimed, was based on the voice of Iran-Contra figure Oliver North, and which the producers absolutely hated). Mason and his onscreen love interest, Dyan Cannon, had zero chemistry and couldn’t be bothered to hide it. And as for Chevy Chase . . . well, he was Chevy Chase.

As Ryan Herrington notes at GolfDigest.com, there was a nice show of emotion from Michael Thompson after winning the 3M Open by one over Adam Long. With the win he gets in the upcoming PGA and U.S. Open, enjoys a two-year exemption and upgrades to the WGC FedEx this week.

The full interview with CBS’ Amanda Balionis.

What it's all about. ❤️🏆

An emotional Michael Thompson discusses why winning the @3MOpen means so much. pic.twitter.com/8ulQJBQaiB

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 26, 2020

Michael Thompson, who entered the week 151st in the FedEx Cup standings, won the 3M Open by two strokes on Sunday.

There is something especially comforting having the day start with some European Tour golf, even if the field won’t go down as one of the all time great assemblages in golf history. Those who tuned into the Betfred British Masters on Golf Channel were treated to a freakishly good (and fast) performance from 23-year-old Italian Renato Paratore, who played bogey-free for the first 62 holes.

The good news was flowing from Close House, including a triumphant return of European Tour play, a sponsorship extension and positive reviews from most players. But after the final round, host Lee Westwood opened up about his concern for traveling to the U.S. for upcoming majors and as The Guardian’s Ewan Murray notes, it was not the intent to overshadow the proceedings. But he probably did.

Either way, just one of many examples where Paratore wasted little time moving in when it’s his turn:

And he wastes no time! https://t.co/Ovl08gwULa pic.twitter.com/JuZmTbxnWJ

— Geoff Shackelford (@GeoffShac) July 25, 2020

The final round highlights:

Richy Werenski birdied three of the last four holes Saturday to erase a four-stroke deficit and catch Michael Thompson for the 3M Open lead.

Reports from both Bob Harig at ESPN.com and Brian Wacker at GolfDigest.com say a PGA Tour email to players confirms international players, caddies and essential personnel are not subject to quarantine rules, immediately. Both stories report that the new guidance was a direct result of White House intervention.

From Harig’s report:

According to the memo sent by PGA Tour executive Tyler Dennis, players, caddies and essential personnel are now exempt from quarantine rules "as these groups are subject to COVID-19 testing and screening through the Tour's rigorous health and safety protocols throughout a tournament week. This update replaces the 14-day quarantine period currently in place."

Lee Westwood is one of the last top players to have not made the voyage to the U.S. in advance of the upcoming PGA, and will not be despite the rule change. Harig notes this quote after Westwood completed hosting this week’s British Masters.

"It's just not the life I'm used to. I got out on the golf course and I am struggling for motivation a little bit. There is a lot more to consider. The two American tournaments, next week and the following week, I'm still concerned that America doesn't take it (the virus) as seriously as the rest of the world. It still seems to be one of the hotspots for outbreaks. I can control me not getting the virus and take all the measures I can, but somebody might pass it on. I don't really want to get ill with it and I'm slightly asthmatic. If I tested in Memphis I would have to stay there for two weeks... right now there are too many ifs."

Italy's Renato Paratore maintained remarkable consistency to win the British Masters by three strokes, retaining his overnight lead and finishing at 18-under overall at Close House in Northumberland.

International players on the PGA Tour may compete in events in the United States without delay, according to a memo which said the White House had lifted various quarantine rules in place due to the pandemic for "players, caddies and essential personnel."

Michael Thompson and Richy Werenski topped the 3M Open leaderboard going onto the weekend, Tony Finau and Talor Gooch climbed to within a stroke, and stars Brooks Koepka and Tommy Fleetwood struggled again Friday.