Duf: "I wonder what the old-timers think as they're looking down."

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As the PGA Championship run-up officially begins, check out Jason Dufner's Golf Digest My Shot with Guy Yocom. The unassuming defending champion displays a much deeper side than you might have imagined based on how he carries himself.

Random choice here from many great bits...he believes in ghosts.

IF YOU LOOK BACK on the remarks of players after they've won tournaments, you'll notice they often mention someone looking down on them from heaven. I believe that. I've definitely felt my grandfather and my father—he passed away in 2001—looking down on me, experiencing what I'm experiencing. Sometimes I wonder what the old-timers think as they're looking down. Is Bobby Jones cringing about technology? What does Ben Hogan think about slow play? Something tells me they're bemused, but not losing sleep over any of it.

Jerry Tarde's Editor's Letter includes some fun insights from Yocom on working with Dufner, from photo editor Christian Iooss on Duf as a model, and Jaime Diaz asked to compare Dufner to Fred Couples. Thankfully, Couples probably won't read this.

Not April Fools: SI Puts Actual Golfer On Cover!

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As the trainers start prepping unis and lockers for the arrival of NFL stars (that's a cover!), July is close enough to NFL Training Camp Preview time that the first of this year's six Johnny Manziel covers could have been used.

But mercifully Sports Illustrated appears to have remembered their heritage of great Open Championship covers and put Rory McIlroy on the front of the "book."

Thomas Lovelock has captured him looking trim and very 21st century. 

Ed Sherman thought the cover took a jab at the PGA Championship by already hyping next year's Masters and Rory's run at the career Grand Slam.

One And Done! PGA Announces Long Drive Plans

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I've got to say, this'll make viewing on the 10th tee Tuesday a lot more fun than it would have been.

And nice touch to be giving the winner a money clip "inspired by" the one Jack Nicklaus won and still uses today.

For Immediate Release, the details about this year's revival of the Long Drive, first announced a while ago:

The 96th PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club will host the return of the PGA Championship Long Drive Competition, which originated in 1952 when the Championship was conducted at Big Spring Country Club in Louisville.
 
During a practice round on Tuesday, Aug. 5, all players will be offered the opportunity to hit one tee shot from the No. 10 Tee.  The ball will have to come to rest in the fairway to be eligible to win the Long Drive Competition.
 
Awards will be given to the top three finishers with winners receiving a money clip inspired by the one that Jack Nicklaus received in the first of his two consecutive PGA Championship Driving Contest titles in 1963. That year, Nicklaus, using a persimmon driver and wound golf ball, hit a winning drive of 341 yards, 17 inches.
Additionally, through PGA REACH, the charitable arm of the PGA of America, the top three finishers will be provided charitable donations of $25,000, $15,000, and $10,000 respectively, with the funds split equally between the players’ designated charity and the American Lake Veterans Golf Course.  Designed by Jack Nicklaus, the American Lake Veterans Golf Course, in Tacoma, Washington is the nation’s only golf course designed specifically for the rehabilitation of wounded and disabled veterans.
 
“We’re reviving a PGA Championship tradition that will add fun for both spectators and players during a practice round,” said PGA of America President Ted Bishop. “It is only fitting that this competition returns to the city where it began and a course designed by one of its most storied winners, Jack Nicklaus.”
 
Harold Williams won the original PGA Championship Driving Contest in 1952, with a 329-yard drive. The competition was discontinued from 1965-73, before returning in 1974 as an open event. The last National Open Long Drive Championship conducted at a PGA Championship site was in 1984 at Shoal Creek Country Club in Birmingham, Alabama.