Wednesday 27 May 2015 10:13, UK
Rich Beem looks back at a hectic few weeks and gives his thoughts ahead of this week’s Irish Open.
My busy schedule started at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, went onto the Match Play in San Francisco, headed back across country to Sawgrass, got 36 hours at home before going to Charlotte, then went back home for another 36 hours before making the trip to the UK.
While In London it has been nice to get out of the hotel and play a couple of rounds of golf, including a great day at Swinley Forest with Rob Lee, where we got round in less than three hours and kept it in play for most of the day. It was a lot of fun, it’s a really beautiful golf course and they were very kind to us.
As far as the prestige of the events are concerned, I’d put the BMW PGA Championship up there with the Players Championship.Fatigue was always going to be the biggest hurdle McIlroy had to clear when arriving at Wentworth after a busy few weeks.
He played a lot of holes at the Match Play and had to grind out results at times, so to then go and finish eighth at The Players was pretty good. I can see why he didn’t putt as well as he did at Harding Park, as there’s a big difference between the two courses in terms of the greens.
When he got back on Bermuda greens at Quail Hollow, he played better than anybody I’ve seen in a very long time. A combination of great ball-striking and holing key putts meant he knew from the opening tee shot on Sunday there was no way he was losing that tournament.
The way he played 16 on Sunday will be talked about for a very long time, reducing a 508-yard par-four to a 364-yard drive and a gap wedge to a foot is the stuff of legend. It wasn’t a fair fight! There was never a sign of panic, even when his lead was down to three strokes.
He’s a different animal to Tiger. If Tiger had a lead like that in his prime, he wanted to crush them. He knew he was going to win anyway, but wanted to win by a bunch just to make a statement. Rory is the same in terms of knowing when he’s going to win and has won a couple of majors by big margins, but he does it in a calmer, easy-going manner.
Exciting times
I’m really looking forward to working for Sky Sports at Royal County Down this week and have been for some time. I had the chance to play at Royal Portrush two years ago, where I had the worst of the weather for the five hours I was on the course each day.I remember standing in the fairway with my umbrella pointing into the wind, sneaking a peek around it to see where the green was!
But I can’t wait to go back, I’ve heard extraordinary things about Royal County Down and I’ll take my clubs over there and try and get in a couple of rounds. I’ve always enjoyed going to Ireland for many reasons, but the golf is obviously top of the agenda this week. Rory is there, Rickie is there and it’s a world-class field.
With Rory’s name now attached to the tournament as host, I think we’ll soon be seeing the likes of Jordan Spieth and some of the younger Americans showing up to play. What better for the Americans to come across the pond and take on the world No 1 on his own turf in his own tournament? I think there will be a few that would relish the chance to do that.
