Thursday 22 January 2015 16:24, UK
Rich Beem's debut for Sky Sports provided plenty of entertainment at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. The 2002 PGA champion reflects on an enthralling week at Kapalua and looks forward to seeing Rory McIlroy's return in Abu Dhabi.
My first tournament of the year, the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, was incredible. I was a little nervous ahead of my debut for Sky Sports, but many thanks to Sarah Stirk, Simon Holmes, Denis Pugh and our producer Miles Hawthorne and his crew for making me feel so at ease.
I had never done a studio show like this before and I enjoyed every minute of it. Well, maybe not quite every minute as we worked quite early into the mornings, but it was well worth it and I'm not complaining at all. It was an amazing all-round experience and I look forward to getting back into the studio again for the Humana Challenge later this month.
Although I have experience of working for TV and radio in the United States, there is nothing that I've done previously to compare to this. In saying that, I truly believe that commentating on what has just happened is tougher than I had imagined.
It was an amazing all-round experience and look forward to getting back into studio again for the Humana Challenge
Instead of calling the shot at hand, reacting to it afterwards certainly provided its share of challenges. You don't want to repeat what the American commentary team had just said, but you need to use their comments and expand on them.
But overall, I think that my work in the studio over the tournament will help me immensely when I am covering live golf for Sky Sports over the rest of the year.
Aggressive
As for the tournament itself, we saw some really good scoring over the four days and the lack of wind this year at Kapalua was a huge equaliser. With such benign conditions, players could be as aggressive as they wanted to be.
I was surprised that it took until Sunday to see some really low scores, when Jason Day and Chris Kirk both closed with 11-under 62s, but the Plantation Course greens can be tricky and it looked as though it took some of the guys a few days to feel comfortable on them.
I felt bad for Jimmy Walker, who appeared destined to start the year with a win as he looked in total control all week. But as we saw on the European Tour on Sunday with Charl Schwartzel being pipped at the post by Andy Sullivan in South Africa, winning any tournament is not a foregone conclusion.
Hats off to Patrick Reed, who bogeyed the 71st hole but came back to birdie the last which ultimately got him into the play-off against Walker. I'm pretty sure we'll see Patrick winning a major in the next few years.
Next week is another exciting challenge for me as I'm heading to the Middle East to cover the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship - the first event of the European Tour's Desert Swing. Since I've never been to the United Arab Emirates, it has been a place that I've wanted to visit for some years now.
Fantastic week
This might sound strange, but as much as I am looking forward to seeing some world-class golf from the likes of Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson, I'm also looking forward to seeing the hotel I'm staying at! Apparently it has an F1 track going through the middle of it - that sounds just amazing.
But it's going to be a fantastic week and I look forward to my maiden on-course gig with Sky Sports.
Even though Rory hasn't really practiced much in the last four weeks, I'm fairly confident it won't take long to find his rhythm. It usually doesn't take long to warm up a Ferrari!
I haven't had a chance to watch him up close on the course yet, but I am eager to do so this week. He's obviously an impressive talent and a good guy to boot - it will not be hard to root for Rory.
It's a big field out there, and Rory needs to be in good shape as guys like Justin, Henrik, Rickie Fowler and Martin Kaymer are all capable of winning any tournament at any time.
I'm also looking forward to seeing some friends from my European Tour adventures from 2012, most notably Tommy Fleetwood and Simon Dyson. Both are exceptional talents and even better people.
I reckon there ought to be plenty of story lines this week in Abu Dhabi.
Set your alarms for live coverage of the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, which starts on Thursday at 5.30am on Sky Sports 4 - your home of golf.
