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1. PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan told USA Today last week that the Tour would welcome the legalization of sports gambling, a matter the Supreme Court is expected to rule on before its July recess. Monahan contends that regulated gambling would "better ensure the integrity" of tournaments. He also spoke about the potential commercial opportunities for the Tour if the ban were lifted and said he believes that gambling would help the Tour reach a broader audience. Is he right? Would legalized gambling be good for golf?

Jessica Marksbury, senior editor, GOLF (@Jess_Marksbury): I'm not a gambler, really, but my friends and colleagues seem to have a great time betting on golf when they cross the pond for the British Open. If there's a downside, I'm unaware.

Alan Shipnuck, senior writer, GOLF (@AlanShipnuck): It's definitely part of the fun of Open week. Golf offers so many possibilities — only one team wins a football game, but at the Open you can bet on every tee time, picking which player in the group will have the lowest round. And there are four days of competition pretty much every week of the year, so the possibilities really are endless.

Josh Sens, contributing writer, GOLF (@JoshSens): Glad to see the Tour embracing reality. Legalized gambling is coming. Might as well try to get ahead of it and spare us all any phony moral and ethical hand-wringing about it. Good for golf? It will definitely draw more viewers. And it will be very good financially for the Tour, which says it wants 1 percent of the handle and also stands to profit from selling its data, much as professional tennis has. No sport is above corruption (see the gambling scandals that have come with the growth of tennis betting). But it's true that regulation makes it easier to sniff out the shady stuff. As it stands now, in states where sports gambling is legal, the limits on golf bets are relatively low, so not a huge incentive to draw big-time players. Also, most of the lines are on the big-name players, who have less obvious incentive to get involved in fixing anything. But what happens when you can start betting on developmental tours here, or smaller tours overseas? The potential for Chicago Black Sox stuff grows the further down you go into the money-making ranks.

Michael Bamberger, senior writer, GOLF: Legal gambling is the future. Illegal gambling has had a glorious past. The young fan wants more numbers, more action, less personality. They like what is measurable. They will be disappointed by golf as a betting vehicle.

Dylan Dethier, associate editor, GOLF (@dylan_dethier): Sens has and will continue to write thousands of words on this topic so I'll double down on his take. One unfortunate byproduct (which you already see in fantasy football and daily fantasy contests) are some morons hate-tweeting the players that have let them down. Another is the possibility that a spectator emboldened by a few drinks who has, say, $50 on Rickie Fowler to win the Masters may be more likely to do something to mess with Patrick Reed. But in small doses to guide the casual fan's rooting interest, there's a lot of fun to be had here.

​2. Speaking of betting, according to Vegas, the three early favorites for the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills are Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy. Yes, we're still two months out, but who's your early pick?

Marksbury: I can't argue with those selections. But based on what we've seen of late, you have to throw Jon Rahm's hat in the ring. And that stellar Sunday performance in Augusta puts Rickie on my short list too.

Shipnuck: Yeah, with his win today in Spain, Rahm has now won five times in the last 15 months. Pretty stellar start to a career. Straight chalk looks good, but don't forget Phil — in '04 he played some of the best golf of his life at Shinny and should have won that thing.

Sens: Tommy Fleetwood is currently listed at 40 to 1. That's good value, I think, especially given the linsky venue, just the kind of golf he cut his teeth on.

Bamberger: My early favorites: Alex Noren, Fleetwood, Fowler.

Dethier: Let's not forget about World No. 2 Justin Thomas, who (I think) holds golf's championship belt of Best Player Right Now. Tiger will join this list too, if he continues to show signs of form. No bad answers, but some recent bias from Augusta has me high on Rory and Rickie in particular.

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