Well, I’ve enjoyed my first visit to the famed Bethpage Black, an awesome public golf course on Long Island, where keen golfers sleep in their cars overnight to have the chance of procuring an early tee time.  With a cranky back and advancing years I’m not sure I’d be flexible enough to manage that before attempting to negotiate a course that seriously challenges you mentally and physically no matter which tees you play off.

Last week Bethpage Black hosted the 101st PGA Championship, the first time for a few decades that it wasn’t necessary to fight high August temperatures and threatening thunderstorms.  Hooray for the new date in May, even if it did mean wearing a few extra layers.  The players still had plenty of battles on their hands, the first being how to cope with a penal A W Tillinghast design that favours diagonal hazards (because it challenges the better players the most), angled elusive greens that repel golf balls as opposed to gathering them and brutal rough.  Throw in to the mix gusting winds and raucous New York sports fans and it becomes a mental test just to survive, never mind contend and ultimately triumph in a major championship.

That was the examination paper that the 156-man field faced and it was Brooks Koepka who dominated, then wobbled slightly with four consecutive bogeys late on Sunday before regaining his balance and clinching his fourth major in less than two years.  To say he was impressive would be an understatement and despite his final round lead shrinking from seven to one his immaculate play over the first 64 holes afforded him enough of a cushion to outlast the fast-finishing Dustin Johnson.

Matt Wallace, a 29-year old Englishman, was the best of the European contingent, finishing joint third with Jordan Spieth and Patrick Cantlay.  He had thrust himself into the Ryder Cup conversation last year with three wins in very short order in 2018 but was overlooked in favour of players with more proven pedigree.  Well, he’s set about polishing up his credentials very nicely indeed.  He has already proved he has a winner’s mentality.  He won five consecutive events early in his career on the Alps Tour, then won on the Challenge Tour before graduating to the European Tour where he now has four victories.  Mind you, he missed a golden opportunity to add to that total a couple of weeks ago at the British Masters at the glorious Hillside golf course where he finished runner-up to Sweden’s Marcus Kinhult.  He seemed a little jumpy and fidgety that week but this was a much more polished performance on a grander stage.  Of course, it does help to have the vastly experienced Portrush man, Dave McNeilly, on the bag.

Wallace couldn’t have played in front of two more different galleries in the last two weeks.  Firstly, the hugely supportive, knowlegeable and respectful golf fans at Hillside and then, well, then there’s the New York sports fan.  There never seems to be actual silence during any shot.  The best you can hope for is a low level buzzing but this can lead quickly to jeers and chanting if you produce a mediocre shot or look, as Koepka said, “as if you’re half-choking it away”.

They cheer madly for good shots no matter which quarter they come from but your eardrums are constantly at risk from random shouts bellowed out by individuals seemingly trained to develop enormous lung capacity.  This could get seriously out of hand at the Ryder Cup which is scheduled to be there in 2024.  I asked Matt was he ready to pencil his name on to the team sheet for 2024 knowing now what the atmosphere was likely to be.  His response?  “I looked in the mirror this morning and told myself I belonged out here.  I didn’t necessarily feel that at the start of the week, but now I do.  I want to be there.”

Don’t forget your earplugs.

The only other notable finishes from a European perspective came from two of Ireland’s best, Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy, who finished in a tie for eighth spot with four other players on 1 over par.  Lowry opened with a lacklustre 75 but was 4 under for his final 54 holes, an effort bettered only by runner-up Dustin Johnson who was 5 under.  That was a heck of an effort and Lowry is bubbling with confidence again and the pep is back in his step.

McIlroy too can take a lot of pride in sticking in so well in the face of adversity.  I followed him the first two days and he was 7 over after 29 holes and well out of reach of making the cut.  At that time a top eight finish would have seemed unfathomable but a 69, 69 weekend was impressive.  Realising that his best stuff is oh-so-close he is choosing to be encouraged by that and keep his frustrations at bay as best he can – more evidence that this phenomenally talented player is continuing to mature.

And so the major caravan will roll in to Pebble Beach in a little over two weeks’ time when we will do it all again.  And after that…..Portrush!

 

At the moment all my thoughts are turning to my next broadcasting stint, the PGA Championship which bounds into the May section of the calendar, as opposed to the August part, next week.  Seventeen majors have come and gone since Rory McIlroy added to his total and in that time only four Europeans have managed to get over the line in one of the “big ones.”  So, what price a European victory at Bethpage Black next weekend?

You’d think it’s certainly time that the world No 2, Justin Rose, added to his slimline total of one major, the 2013 US Open.  A third place finish last week is evidence enough that the missed cut at the Masters was an uncharacteristic aberration and I expect him to contend strongly.  He must be wondering, though, just what he needs to do to double his major tally.  He’s in the prime of his golfing life and he needs to take advantage of that fact, converting his form into the currency by which great golfers are judged – majors.

There was also an encouraging fourth place finish for 2017 Masters Champion, Sergio Garcia, last week.  The mercurial Spaniard has all the physical tools to win another major, but his frequent and repeated mental walkabouts cast a huge doubt over his ability to stay the course and, sorrowfully, I have concluded that that one major triumph is it for Sergio.  Who’d have ever thought the young, effervescent, leaping Spaniard of 1999 fame would still only have one major win two decades later?

One of the European contingent currently playing the best golf is the Italian metronome Francesco Molinari.  Winner of the Open Championship last July, hunter-gatherer of five points out of five at last September’s Ryder Cup and serious contender for the green jacket last month, Molinari seems to have found the answers to most of the conundrums thrown up by this sport.  His work with performance coach Dave Alred has elevated his mental toughness and resilience, allowing him to produce his best under the severest pressure.  He is not finished with winning majors yet and I feel 2019 will yield another for him.

One name never far from the major conversation is Rory McIlroy.  Such is his talent and star power that his 2019 results, which read as follows – tied 4th, tied 5th, tied 4th, 2nd, tied 6th, 1st, tied 9th, tied 21st, tied 8th – is producing, not the universal admiration you might expect, but, rather, exasperation and endless questioning of his ability to finish things off.  McIlroy is stubborn – it’s part of what makes him so good – but he’s no fool.  He is working tirelessly to find the missing pieces for his jigsaw and engaging in meditation and mindfulness can only be helpful to his performance.  It will also be vitally important in not letting the constant undermining criticism, which is the bane of every really great player, worm its way into his consciousness.  I do expect another spurt of major victories from the Irishman – I’m just not sure when they’ll arrive.  Soon, I hope.

And don’t forget Tommy Fleetwood, Paul Casey, Jon Rahm and Ian Poulter.  None of them would be a surprise winner and, with a green-jacketed, striped Tiger back in their midst hogging all the limelight, it’d be a great time to fly under the radar and snatch the biggest prize of their lives.

Once again, I’m lucky enough to have a front row seat when a player has an opportunity to join the five who have already achieved a career grand slam – the winning of all four majors.  At Augusta it was Rory’s turn to have a go; now at the PGA, it is the turn of America’s Jordan Spieth.  Can he join Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods in this most exclusive of clubs?  Current form would suggest that it isn’t going to happen this year…..but, you never know.  And, of course, speaking now of American players, what price a Tiger Woods 16th major win?  It’ll depend a lot on how well he has recovered from that stellar effort at Augusta and whether he will be ring rusty not having teed it up at all between majors.  Then there’s the defending champion Brooks Koepka who is already up to an impressive tally of three majors, accrued from his last seven outings.  Or Dustin Johnson – surely far too talented to remain stuck on a single major?  And isn’t it about time Rickie Fowler ditched the “best player never to have won a major” tag?

So many interesting back stories and potential history to be made.  Here’s hoping the PGA delivers at Bethpage Black.

There hasn’t exactly been a dearth of exciting golf in the lead up to next week’s Ryder Cup.  Last week was the women’s fifth and final major of the year, the Evian Championship, and this week there’s the climax of the PGATOUR season at East Lake golf club in Atlanta.  There, on Sunday, the Tour Championship winner will be crowned as well as the Fed-Ex Cup champion – a bit like crowning the winners of the Premiership title alongside the winners of the FA Cup.  The celebrations can get a little muddied and muddled.  To whom does the moment belong?

No muddy waters in sight at Evian where American Angela Stanford, in her 18th year on Tour, finally won her first major a couple of months shy of her 41st birthday.   As she herself said, she wasn’t really looking like pulling it off on this occasion.  She started the final round five shots behind leader Amy Olson and for much of the day she hung around a couple back.  That all changed on the 15th hole, however, when a brilliant 7-wood second shot set up an eagle three and she was tied for the lead.  And then she struck a chord with most of us watching.  We saw her react to the realisation that this was as close to a major title as she had been in 15 years – and she instantly double-bogeyed, dropping back to the slightly more comfortable position of being two behind.  But this is where we mere mortals cease to be able to identify with her.  She dug oh-so-deep, birdied the 17th and hit two stunning shots into the 18th, the most difficult hole on the course.  How her putt failed to drop is a mystery and she sank to her knees thinking this was a script she knew only too well.  But it wasn’t.  Thirty minutes later she was a major champion with Olson, still leading on the last by one, taking 6, and so missing out on a play-off.  Neither Mo Martin nor Sei Young Kim could birdie the last to match Stanford’s 12 under total.

The floodgates opened for the new champion as the intensity of her focus during competition dropped away and she realised that all those years and years of endeavour had culminated in one of golf’s greatest prizes.  Her backstory is revealing too.  Nine years ago her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and Angela and the family supported her through the worst, thrilled to see her return to full health.  However, earlier this year the bad news came that the cancer had returned and spread to the bones.  Only a couple of weeks ago her Mum was out at a tournament with Angela as she battles through the latest treatment.  Things are tough.

So, in light of all this, I was really, really annoyed with the great god that is television that they didn’t even afford Angela a minute or two to gather herself together before springing a live, winner’s interview on her.  I know that TV had possibly overrun their coverage and needed to get off air – but, come on!  This was thoughtless in the extreme and does anyone really want to see a person heaving with sobs and with an inability to form words or answer questions at that moment?  Two minutes would have been all she needed to get past that first rush of overwhelming can’t speak/can’t breathe moment and, articulate a person as Angela is, she could then have given so much more.  I found it insensitive, unnecessary and a very uncomfortable watch – certainly not the joyous interview that we all wanted.  But what a championship and what a winner!

My own Ryder Cup preparations are well underway – not sure about Patricia’s.  We are having a sisters’ week in Paris intending to take in a bit of shopping and a bit of sightseeing as well, of course, as three days of tramping around Le Golf National, a stone’s throw from Versailles.  We have bought a Ryder Cup travel pass each for 40 euros that for seven days allows us to hop on any bus, tram or train in and around Paris – it even works from as far out as Charles de Gaulle airport.  It is for this reason we are going sans voiture and therefore I needed an in-between-sized wheelie suitcase – bigger than a weekend one but smaller than my US travel luggage.  I found an ideal one in a multitude of colour options, finally plumping for the raspberry one, my thinking being I’d be less likely to leave it behind anywhere if it were brightly coloured.

This Ryder Cup is a work-free zone for us both – pretty blissful from my point of view when I consider that I have attended seven out of the last eight matches and have had some sort of working commitment at all of them.  Don’t get me wrong – I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every one of them.  The prospect of a week in Paris, however, without the stress of driving (and getting lost) round the Peripherique and without any responsibility to any broadcaster is very exciting.  As I see it, I only have three things to accomplish the whole week:-

1  Cheer Europe to victory.

2   Bring my shiny new raspberry case home with me.

3   Don’t lose Patricia.

Can’t be hard, can it?  Answers on a postcard………..

Tiger Woods

I never thought it possible for Tiger to get back to the level where he would genuinely compete again in majors.  At best I thought he might possibly have a decent run in one or two smaller events.  I never dreamt he would be the king of the course again, as he was this last week at the USPGA at Bellerive.  I never doubted him mentally.  I just thought it would be beyond him physically.  When will I learn?  Never say never.

When I first started working in the States in 2006, I did dozens of Tiger’s rounds.  I spent hours inside the ropes with him seeing what he had to deal with – the constant movement of thousands of fans wanting to touch him, make eye contact with him and the energetic rush, rush, rush to get in place to actually see him play.  His office was not a place of peace or calm tranquillity.  I didn’t like him much back then.  I always loved his golf game, but I too often witnessed his scornful treatment of good people, sound professional journalists.  Scorn is a terrible thing.  I interviewed him many times and he looked at you with barely concealed impatience (this was radio so no need to look interested) and it was obvious he was wishing to be elsewhere.  Fast forward a dozen years and the landscape of golf has changed quite considerably.  He has bred this new generation of young, strong, fearless golfers who can, now, occasionally, play like he used to all the time.  And, if anything, things have intensified even for him out on the course.  The roped-off corridors leading from green to tee are wider now to accommodate a forest of outstretched arms on each side all begging for a low five from their hero and in front of the thousands of faces are little black oblong screens – mobile phones are allowed on the courses now – snapping endless photos so that the owners can say, ” You remember Tiger finishing runner-up at Bellerive?  Well, I was there!”

Tiger, too, has changed – at least for the moment.  Let’s see if it lasts.  He has been on somewhat of a charm offensive on this latest comeback trail and there is a more mannerly edition in front of us now.  In the first round last week he opened with a truly remarkable level par 70.  I had wandered out to the range around 6.30 in the morning to see him warming up.  I was taken aback – he looked knackered and was already resting considerably between shots as the steamy temperatures were beginning to rise.  Then he started double bogey, bogey – 3 over after 2 – and he wasn’t moving well.  What transpired over the next four hours is one of the greatest exhibitions I’ve ever seen of playing the game.  It is an immense privilege to see a person pour every ounce of themselves into a task.  He played as if each stroke were his last, pouring in gallons of pure concentrated effort and focus.  They didn’t all work out – this was not Tiger at his imperious, ball-striking best.  He never looked back, though, just forward, just putting one foot in front of the other.  As the temperatures soared to the high 90s (Fahrenheit) and with the humidity rising (he changed shirts as many as three times) he clawed his way back, ultimately signing off with that level par score.

“Boy, that was a grind,” he said to me in response to my first interview question.  He was absolutely spent but he engaged with all his interviewers in a way that was new to me.  He looked at you as if you were a proper person and not just an inconvenience to him.  He was engaged and thoughtful in his answers.

By the end of the week he was the story of the week.  He didn’t win but the rock-star adulation and massive, massive crowds were for him and him alone.  As he strode from the final green across the elevated walkway to the recording area the chants of “Let’s go, Tiger, let’s go” rang out.  He turned and gave them a thumbs up.  It’s a thumbs up from me for Tiger, too.

Ricky Elliott

Who?  Ricky is Brooks Koepka’s Northern Irish caddy and the pair of them celebrated their fifth anniversary of working together last weekend by winning the 100th USPGA Championship.  Brooks has won three of the last seven majors and Ricky has been on the bag for each victory.  A talented player himself Ricky played college golf for the University of Toledo in Ohio after winning the Ulster Boys’ and Ulster Youths’ Championships back at home.  He dabbled a bit on mini-tours after turning pro but has found his niche as the bagman for the man currently playing the best golf in the world.  He hails from Portrush and still has family there – his parents live there – and his brother has a golf shop in Coleraine.  No shortage of a bed then when the Open rolls into town next July.  After his US Open win at Shinnecock in June I told Brooks that we all considered his win another notch on the Irish major list.  He seemed to find that hilarious – I don’t think he realised I wasn’t joking.  Now we have another to add to the list.  Rock on Ricky.

Adam Scott

Scott was in the final pairing on the last day and it was the first time for a long time that I had been assigned to one of his groups.  With only one top ten finish to his name for the season the tall Aussie with the elegant swing has remained unfailingly courteous and classy despite his ongoing on-course travails.  The week was very difficult for him with the news that his friend and fellow Australian professional, Jarrod Lyle, had died from leukemia at the age of 36.  It was uplifting to see him back in contention at the sharp end of a major and see his game stand up to the rigours of final round pressure.  I look forward to watching him make his way back up the world rankings.

Denis Pugh

I bumped in to Denis at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning as we were walking out to our starting points on the course for the resumption of play after thunderstorms had curtailed activities on the Friday.  I was continuing my second round coverage of Rory, Tiger and Justin Thomas and Denis was on his way to continue following one of the players he coaches, namely, the new Open champion, Francesco Molinari.  Denis has coached Francesco for years and I was thrilled to get the opportunity to congratulate him in person for what must surely be the pinnacle of his coaching career.  He revealed that once the final round at Carnoustie started he got in the car for the long drive home.  At the point that his charge won the Claret Jug Denis was filling up with petrol at a service station. He then sat down to enjoy a tuna baguette to give himself a moment to gather himself together before continuing his journey.  A few days later he joined Francesco and his family in the Bahamas for a few days and had a real celebration.  That night as he was tottering off to bed he asked the new champion where he was going to leave the trophy overnight.  “You take it to your room for the night,” said Francesco.  “And that,” said Denis triumphantly, “is how I got to sleep with the Claret Jug!”

I’m sure the dreams were sweet, Denis.