For comments: ben.alberstadt@golfwrx.com

Good Wednesday morning, golf fans, as we gear up for the final major of 2023.

1. Rory’s mentality now

Golf Channel’s Ryan Lavner…”McIlroy told Golf Channel on Tuesday that he’s in a wildly different place mentally than just two months ago, at the PGA Championship, where he admitted a few swing faults (he still tied for eighth) and expressed fatigue at being at the forefront of the PGA Tour-LIV war. His attitude is more positive now, after some off-the-course reflection, and he’s made a few conscious choices to return the focus to his performance. He has distanced himself from the ongoing drama. He has cut down on some of his media availabilities, as evidenced here at Hoylake. And he has adopted a more carefree mentality between the ropes.”

• “I think it’s easier when you feel like you’re in control of everything, you’re not searching for things,” McIlroy said. “When everything feels in a good spot, I think then you can be a little more free and it flows a little more.

• “It’s the really the chicken or the egg of what comes first, but when you get that technical stuff right and in control of that, it just makes everything else easier.”

2. “Fantastic job”

Golf Digest’s John Huggan…”Then it was into the politics. Last week Jordan Spieth and Xander Schauffele discussed players’ trust issues with PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan. Rahm’s feelings on the subject of the deal struck with the Saudi Public Investment Fund was always going to come up.”

• “There has obviously been big changes for all of us,” Rahm said. “I did get a text from Jay, but I haven’t been able to speak to him. He has behaved so professionally and so well with me and my family. In that sense, he’s a really good man. As to what he’s been doing for us and the PGA Tour, I think he’s done a fantastic job. It was unexpected what happened, but I still think he’s been doing a great job. Right now, I think it’s fair to give them time to work things out. I still think they have the best interest of the players at heart. All we have right now is a framework agreement. It’s an agreement to have an agreement. We really don’t have anything right now that allows us to judge what they’ve done.”

3. BK and ZJ

Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard…”Koepka, whose chances to earn Ryder Cup points has been limited to majors because of his status on LIV Golf, is third on the U.S. points list and he can lock up his spot on this year’s team with a solid week at The Open, otherwise, he would need to be one of Johnson’s six picks.”

• “Koepka called the conversation “interesting” and didn’t seem concerned about his status on this year’s team.”

• “It was just hearing his perspective and all the stuff he’s got to do. The PGA of America does a really good job in easing it for him, and just kind of talking about the preparation for it, what our team is going to do, where are we going to be, and just a little bit more about the shuffle of guys and the stuff they have kind of behind the scenes, stats, stuff like that,” Koepka said. “It’s quite interesting just hearing about it all. I guess when you look at the standings, where guys are, versus I guess some events don’t count at the end of last year. If you just equate all that as equal, where everybody would stand.”

4. “Koepka world” again

Yahoo’s Jay Busbee…”Koepka sat down for his Tuesday morning British Open press conference looking like a man with the world at his feet. Sporting a snow-white Nike ballcap and form-fitting pullover — the better to show off his very un-golfer-like guns — Koepka radiated the kind of easy jock confidence that was completely missing from his Netflix episode.”

• “And why not? It’s been nothing but blue skies since those dark days of last spring. Koepka has signed with LIV and banked millions — perhaps tens of millions, perhaps more — while also finding his game again, dueling Jon Rahm on Masters Sunday and capturing the PGA Championship, his fifth major, in May.”

• “That run brought back memories of 2018 and 2019, when Koepka was all but untouchable. During that run, he won three of the seven majors in which he played, and finished in the top four in three more. Asked if he felt like he was maintaining his major-winning form from earlier this year, Koepka responded in his laconic-gunfighter style.”

5. Zalatoris finishing degree during recovery

Max Schreiber for Golf Channel…”So what has he been up to?”

• “I’m graduating right now, finishing up my degree from Wake Forest,” Zalatoris said Monday on the “Chris Vernon Show”. “Now, I’m starting to be able to do stuff, it’s great. Because the first eight weeks where I wasn’t able to do anything … I ordered every book I could possibly find and I’m not much of a reader. I’m like signing up for classes. I’m finding stuff to do just because I knew I was going to go insane.”

• “The 26-year-old, who forwent his final semester at Wake Forest in 2017 to turn professional, claimed his maiden PGA Tour victory last year at the FedEx St. Jude Championship amid a season of many close calls. However, less than a week later, Zalatoris suffered two herniated disks during a tee shot at the BMW Championship, causing him to shelve his clubs for the rest of 2022.”

6. “Call it whatever the hell you want”

Michael Weston for Golf Monthly…”Former Open champion Collin Morikawa has weighed in on the great ‘What should you call The Open’ debate, saying when you’ve won golf’s oldest Major Championship, you can “Call it whatever the hell you like”.”

7. Can you blame him?

Golf Digest’s Joel Beall…”For the better part of two years, in the void of true, public-facing leadership in the PGA Tour’s battle against an existential threat, McIlroy stepped into the role and took a stand for what he believed was right. “Every chance I get, I’m trying to defend what I feel is the best place to play elite professional golf in the world,” McIlroy said last fall on why he was so vocal against the schism caused by LIV Golf. “If you believe in something, you have to speak up, and I believe very strongly about this. I really do. I hate what it’s doing to the game of golf.” By putting himself on the line, he put his performances on the line, and there’s no questioning the gumption it takes to have conviction in both while displaying constant grace through the struggle.”

• “There’s an invisible weight that comes with great responsibility, however, a cost McIlroy did not fully realize until this spring. The sport and its civil war and their demands consumed him. McIlroy needed a “reset” after a missed cut at the Masters, realizing he was holding on too tight. “I’ve always thought I’ve had a good handle on the perspective on things and sort of where golf fits within my life, and trying to find purpose outside of golf in some way,” McIlroy said in May. “But I think over the last 12 months, I sort of lost sight of that. I’d lost sight of the fact that there’s more to life than the golf world and this little silly squabble that’s going on between tours, and all sorts of stuff.”

8. Al-Rumayyan to attend Open

James Corrigan for the Telegraph…”Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the £500 billion Saudi sovereign wealth fund and also the chairman of LIV Golf, is due to attend the 151st Open at Hoylake this week as a guest of one of the R&A’s main sponsors.”

• “His expected presence at the weekend will highlight the game’s radically changed landscape after last month’s shock announcement of the merger between the Public Investment Fund and the PGA and DP World Tours.”

• “Al-Rumayyan, who is also the chairman of Newcastle United, is establishing himself among the sport’s establishment despite the United States department of justice investigating the alliance. Amanda Staveley, a key associate and co-investor during the purchase of Newcastle, is believed to be joining Al-Rumayyan.”

9. Photos from the Barracuda Championship

• Check out our galleries from this week’s event.