I was reading some article the other day about mindfulness, which is the quality of being present and fully engaged in the moment. And then I got bored.

What was I talking about again? Oh yes, mindfulness. Apparently, research has shown that the average brain has up to 70,000 thoughts a day. Blimey. I often struggle to rustle up one meaningful thought for this bloomin’ column.

In that respect, it’s perhaps unsurprising that I once received a letter from a cheesed off reader who suggested that I was, “shallow and cheap.”

Given the on-going cost of living crisis – the cost rose again just there, halfway through typing the word ‘cost’ – I consoled myself with the theory that it’s better to be shallow and cheap than deep and expensive.

Funnily enough, that’s what the sports editor said when he handed me my wages in used 50 pence pieces.

Anyway, we certainly all got our money’s worth at the 106th US PGA Championship, didn’t we? The second men’s major of the season was full of intrigue and incident both on and off the course.

Xander Schauffele, who’s had more close shaves than Victor Kiam promoting his Remington razors, was a wonderfully deserving champion, while the kerfuffle and subsequent arrest of the world No 1, Scottie Scheffler, provided a startling snap that will endure like some of the game’s most iconic images. For all the wrong reasons, of course.

That photographic hall of fame is jam-packed, whether it’s the great Seve in his navy Slazenger v-neck punching the air after that momentous Open conquest at St Andrews in 1984 or Jack Nicklaus hoisting aloft his putter en route to a magical Masters win in 1986 to name just two.

The hall of infamy, meanwhile, now includes a gloomy police mugshot of Scheffler. At least he’s got Tiger Woods for company on that front.

I look forward to sitting on the rocking chair in my dotage and explaining to my bewildered grandchildren that, yes kids, two of the world’s best golfers were both nicked by the cops back in my day.

On the home front, it was a fine, keep-the-faith kind of week for our own Robert MacIntyre. The Scot’s eagle on the par-5 final hole was certainly worth plenty.

In a stroke – well, three actually – he vaulted from 18th playing the last and into a share of eighth, which earned a return to the PGA of America’s flagship event next year. His thrilling three earned him $300,000 more than a regulation par. It wasn’t a bad 570-yards of work.

The value of all that to MacIntyre’s general morale and state of mind will probably be worth much more. Just a couple of weeks ago, on a video conference call with the golf writers, MacIntyre wasn’t quite his usual perky self. Being confronted by the grisly sight of us lot can do that to people.

Not for the first time, MacIntyre talked of the challenges that he has faced during his transition to a new way of golfing life in the USA and a sense of loneliness that could’ve been accompanied by a yearning Roy Orbison warble.

Chasing the American dream ain’t for everybody. Paul Lawrie, for instance, dipped his toe in the PGA Tour waters after winning The Open in 1999 at Carnoustie but never settled and his family back in his native Aberdeen came first.

Funnily enough, the golf scribblers were back at shimmering, sun-soaked Carnoustie yesterday for a chinwag with the redoubtable Colin Montgomerie to promote this summer’s Senior Open over the formidable Angus links.

Monty, despite all his grand achievements during his pomp, never managed to crack America and a PGA Tour win eluded him amid countless gallant endeavours.

Scotland’s latest standard bearer on the global stage is slowly finding his feet and Monty is quietly confident that MacIntyre’s valiant Valhalla validation can have him walking tall.

“Let’s hope he can go forward now and feel like he belongs (on the tour) because that is the key thing,” said Montgomerie of the young Scot’s statement of intent. “Last week was good for him, very good for him. To be in contention? Well done him.” Classic Monty praise, eh?

As MacIntyre’s American odyssey continues, the wider golfing world continues to wonder if it’s the end of the road for Tiger Woods after another missed cut in another rare outing.

Montgomerie recently declared that Tiger should’ve bowed out of major championship golf at the 150th Open in 2022 with a dewy-eyed, cap-doffing swansong over the Swilcan Bridge. He stands by that statement.

“It’s a shame to see Tiger perform the way Tiger is performing,” he said. “He says he is competitive, but we know playing once a month in a major, four times a year, is not competitive. I don’t like to see it.”

Many onlookers, and quite possibly you reading this, will agree with Monty’s opinion. But then, Woods has earned the right to go out on his own terms. He’s still convinced he can win but the evidence remains unconvincing.

All and sundry wrote him off before he won the Masters back in 2019. We were spectacularly wrong then, weren’t we? As the cries of ‘Tiger must retire now’ grow in volume, there’s almost a sense that we have to be right this time.

Time, of course will tell. Unless Tiger tells us first?