US PGA HIGHS & LOWS

SOUTHERN HILLS

A CONFESSION: in three previous visits I had wondered what the fuss was about but, wow, the difference a makeover by the gifted golf architect Gil Hanse can bring. I cannot think of another example where I have changed my opinion so radically. It’s now a Southern belle.

BOB DYLAN CENTRE

JUST opened in downtown Tulsa, it is so good that my friend from the BBC, who is not even a fan, came out saying he needed to listen to the American bard a lot more. I had to smile at the golf section in the merchandise area and treated myself to a Bob Dylan pitch mark repairer. Very rock and roll.

RICHARD BLAND

HEY, you might not agree with the Southampton man’s decision to hitch his wagon to the Saudis. I certainly do not. But at least he is honest. He is doing it for the money, he confessed, and he will take any subsequent ban from the DP World Tour on the chin.

WEATHER

FREEZING at the Players. An ice box at Augusta. Now, another unpleasant Saturday where it was colder in Tulsa than it was in Troon (the Ayrshire one). You know what will happen at St Andrews in July when we want it a bit windy? It will be 75°F and there will not be a breath.

AIR CONDITIONING

TERRIBLE for the planet but will we ever get the Americans to listen? They did not need it on at all in the media centre at the PGA last week and yet there it was, on at full blast. By the time the weekend came around, half the room was coughing and spluttering.

PRICE OF BEER

WOULD you believe they were charging $18 (£14.40)? No, not for a bucket of beers. For one. The watered-down American rubbish as well. Brooks Koepka reckoned that by the time you had had six, you would not notice how much they were costing. Spoken like a man who could actually afford to buy half a dozen.