We’re only seven days away from what should be one of the most fascinating U.S. Opens in recent memory, so long as you can appreciate an intriguing course setup, hallway-sized landing areas, terrorizing greens and wrist-snapping rough. This major championship test – as much as the anchoring debate – will help shape Mike Davis’ legacy.

But before heading north to Merion, we first pause to answer your questions about the Open in this week’s #AskLav mailbag:

@ryanlavnergc are the usga ballsy enough to pair Sergio & Tiger for the 1st two rounds #AskLav

— George Dorman LFC (@stardorman) June 6, 2013

Two words: No. Chance. The USGA wants to see drama and suspense, not assault with a deadly weapon.

@ryanlavnergc #AskLav who do you like to end their drought of not winning a major yet? Donald, Poulter, Rose, Kuch, Mahan or Fowler?

— Chris (@cj_s10) June 6, 2013

Great question. In order: Kuchar, Rose, Poulter, Donald, Mahan and Fowler. Kooch has ascended to No. 2 overall in the #AskLav Power Rankings heading to Merion, on the strength of his thoroughly impressive triumph at Muirfield Village. A major title is next in his natural progression. Im still bullish on Roses major potential too, even though hes cooled lately. But to have a chance at the Open, hell need to perform better on the greens (156th in strokes gained-putting).

Will the winning U.S. Open score be under or above par? #AskLav

— Denis (@gc_denis) June 6, 2013

Under par ' well under par ' especially if the East Course is soaked by rain at some point during the week. A firm-and-fast setup, along with the punishing closing stretch, is this tracks main defense. Id peg the winning score somewhere around 10- to 12-under par.

@ryanlavnergc more likely outcome at #Merion: repeat major champ or first time major champ? #asklav

— Josh LaBell (@joshlabell) June 6, 2013

Well, the odds are against a repeat winner, at least recently. Thirteen of the last 16 majors winners, dating to the 2009 U.S. Open, have been first-timers. With that in mind, would it surprise me at all to see players such as Tiger, G-Mac, Furyk or Zach Johnson win at Merion? Absolutely not.

@ryanlavnergc Overheard @steve_flesch say on the truck this week he thinks this will be last U.S. Open at Merion. Your thoughts? #AskLav

— Charlie (@CharlieTour) June 6, 2013

Check back in a week and a half, but Im tempted to agree that its likely a one-and-done host this century. This is a USGA experiment ' a worthwhile one, at that ' and it could shape the way the U.S. Open is contested in coming years. If the winning score next week is lower than 15 under, and the distance issue in golf isnt soon addressed, you can bet we wont head back to Ardmore, Pa.

#AskLav - Shorter course than most. Who has the advantage off the tee at Merion, long or short hitters?

— Tim L (@OML54) June 6, 2013

Forget long and short. The winner needs to find the fairway, distance be damned. Yes, the last few holes will require beefy approach shots, but if youve seen any of the pictures tweeted by Tour pros this week, the rough will be menacing. Finding the short stuff is step No. 1, then go from there.

@ryanlavnergc @golfchannel#AskLav Boss is giving me practice round tix for a day of my choice.I want to see solid golf.Whats the best day?

— DiHS (@DiHStwit) June 6, 2013

Nice boss, huh? Take Tuesday. Many of the players will have scouted the course in the weeks prior to the Open, but Tuesday is the last serious day of work for many. Wednesday, youll see, is eerily quiet.

.@ryanlavnergc where are you getting your philly cheese steak next week? #AskLav

— Susie Lokey (@SusieLokey) June 6, 2013

Best question of the week! Tweet me some suggestions for places I absolutely have to eat next week near Merion. For strictly research purposes, of course, Ill try as many as humanly possible.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Today is Take Our Sons and Daughters to Work Day at Golf Channel, where everything is fun and games until your child promptly says something that embarrasses you beyond belief. It’s only happened six times today. So far.

My daughter, 12, is in middle school and feels like she’s too big for this sort of shindig. But my son Brady, 11, was all in. The deal was that he could spend the day with me, I’d take him to McDonald’s for lunch, but he had to write a golf story of some sort for GolfChannel.com.

Here is his unedited work, in all its glory:

By BRADY COFFIN

My name is Brady Coffin and I play golf. I started at the age of 4 years old. My two favorite golfers are Jordan Spieth and Tiger Woods. They are really good golfers and every time I watch them they always give me tips.

My dad Jay Coffin is the best editor of Golf Channel and always gave me tips when I first put the golf club in my hand. I had my very first par in Hilton Head when I was 7 years old. I am on the Drive, Chip and Putt commercial and I was in a movie where I played a young Ben Hogan. My favorite golf course is Royal Blue in the Bahamas.

I have won many golf tournaments and I am going to play in another tournament next month. I have made a couple of birdies. I am going to play in the PGA Junior League this summer.

At the Golf Channel I get to meet new people and play many games. One of the amazing people I met was Mr. Damon Hack. He is on the Morning Drive show and was very nice to me. Damon has been playing golf for 25 years and his favorite golfer growing up was Tiger Woods.

He loves working at Golf Channel.

“It gives me the opportunity to talk and write about the sport that I love. It’s a sport that I can play with my boys. It’s a sport that I can watch on television. It’s a sport that teaches great life lessons. I couldn’t ask for a better job,” Damon said to me.

(P.S. I will be better than Jordan Spieth.)

AVONDALE, La. – Wearing a polo instead of a dress shirt, working with a caddie and not a producer, David Duval exited the scoring tent, walked toward the group of reporters waiting for him after their 65 and grumbled to teammate Jim Furyk, “The damn media.”

Duval was joking – we think – since he now is one of us on the dark side, a successful and respected TV analyst, after an injury-shortened career in which he battled Tiger Woods, rose to world No. 1, won a major and then experienced such a miserable slump that it drove him into an entirely new line of work.

Now 46, Duval doesn’t play much anymore, only 11 events in the past four years. His last made cut was in July 2015. Earlier this year, he teed it up at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, but only because he and his wife, Susie, enjoy the vibe there. Competitively, he knew he didn’t stand a chance. He had moved back to Colorado, worked two out of the three weeks, and then couldn’t practice the other week because the weather didn’t cooperate. Not surprisingly, he shot three consecutive rounds of 76 or worse.

And that could have been the extent of his season (save for his annual appearance at The Open), but he was drawn to the idea of the team format at the Zurich, to the idea of playing with Jim Furyk, with whom he’s been friends for the past 32 years, dating to their days in junior golf. So Duval reached out, asking the U.S. Ryder Cup captain if he wanted to team up, for old times’ sake.

“This was about being with a friend, reuniting, having our wives together for a few days,” said Duval, who estimated that he’s played more than 100 practice rounds with Furyk over the years. “Expectation-wise, I don’t know what they are for me. I don’t get to participate out here and compete.”

Full-field scores from the Zurich Classic of New Orleans

Zurich Classic of New Orleans: Articles, photos and videos

But Duval took this start seriously. He almost never travels with his clubs, but he brought them to the Masters, working with his old coach, Puggy Blackmon, between TV appearances and bouncing between Augusta Country Club and Augusta University’s practice facility.

Without any on-camera work since then, he’s spent the past two weeks grinding, even bringing Blackmon to New Orleans for a range session, just like most of the other pros in the field.

“It’s like a normal preparation,” he said. “Maybe not as much as it would be for a typical player, but a lot more than I’ve been able to do in the past.”

Duval has no intentions of diving back into competitive golf full-time, but working as an analyst has given him a new perspective on the game he loves.

“When you don’t play a lot and you don’t have that opportunity, you feel like you have to play perfectly,” he said. “Being on the other side of the desk, you see how many crappy golf shots really, truly get hit, and it’s like, look, you don’t have to be perfect. You just have to hit more good ones than bad ones and go from there.”

That also sums up his and Furyk’s opening round here at the Zurich.

Furyk joked before the event that they’re the rustiest team in the field, but playing best ball, they remained steady in a driving rainstorm, then ran off seven birdies to shoot 65 and sit in the top 10 when they finished their round.

“It wasn’t necessarily the prettiest,” Duval said, “but it was solid. It wasn’t like we had 36 looks at birdie.”

“We ham-and-egged it really good today,” Furyk added. “We got pretty much one of the best scores we could have out of the round.”

The second round could be a different story, of course, with alternate shot. It’s a more nerve-wracking format – especially for two aging warriors without many competitive reps this year – and they figure to find some unusual parts of TPC Louisiana.

But that’s a worry for Friday, because Duval was in the mood to savor his four birdies, his team score of 65 and his ideal start to a work week with his longtime friend.

“I think it was good,” he said, breaking into a wry smile, “especially for me.”

AVONDALE, La. – Tony Finau continues to thrive on his injured ankle.

Playing for the first time since the Masters, where he tied for 10^th despite a high-ankle sprain, Finau matched partner Daniel Summerhays with six birdies to shoot a combined 10-under 62 in fourballs Thursday at the Zurich Classic.

Finau still isn’t 100 percent – he said he's closer to 70 percent – even after two weeks of rest and physical therapy. During that time he worked with doctors at the University of Utah Orthopedic Center and also the training staff with the Utah Jazz. Before the Zurich, he had played only nine holes.

Full-field scores from the Zurich Classic of New Orleans

Zurich Classic of New Orleans: Articles, photos and videos

“Sometimes simplicity is huge in this game,” he said. “There is not a lot of thoughts in my swing in the first place, so there can’t be that many thoughts when you don’t practice. It served me well today.”

Partnering with Summerhays, his fellow Utah resident and a friend for more than a decade, they combined to make 12 birdies during an opening round that left them only two shots back of the early lead.

Asked afterward how his ankle felt, Finau said: “Feeling a lot better after that 62. A great remedy for something hurting is some good golf.”  

Tiger Woods will tee it up each of the next two weeks, having officially committed to both the Wells Fargo Championship and The Players.

Woods' commitment to next week's event in Charlotte was confirmed by multiple Golf Channel sources and first reported during Thursday's "Golf Central."

The 42-year-old later took to Twitter to formally announce that he is ready for another back-to-back stretch:

Break over. Time to get back to work at @WellsFargoGolf and @THEPLAYERSChamp. See you out there.

— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) April 26, 2018

Woods has not played since a T-32 finish earlier this month at the Masters. A winner at Quail Hollow in 2007, Woods has not made the cut there since a fourth-place showing in 2009 and has not played Wells Fargo since 2012. He missed last year's PGA Championship at Quail Hollow because of injury.

Woods' return to The Players will mark his first trip to TPC Sawgrass since 2015. He won on the Stadium Course in both 2001 and 2013. This will be Woods' second back-to-back of the season, having missed the cut at the Genesis Open before finishing 12th the following week at the Honda Classic.

After starting the year ranked No. 656 in the world, Woods is up to No. 91 in the latest world rankings. He recorded three straight top-12 finishes during the Florida swing, including a runner-up finish alongside Patrick Reed at the Valspar Championship and a T-5 finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.