Rich Beem
Golf Expert & Columnist
PGA Championship: Rich Beem reflects on making cut at Bethpage
Last Updated: 18/05/19 12:20am
Rich Beem reflects on his incredible back nine at Bethpage Black and tries to comprehend making the cut at the PGA Championship.
Second round as it happened
Relive the second round of the 101st PGA Championship at Bethpage Black.
I haven't played competitively since this event last August and this is my first tournament of the year, so to shoot 30 on the back nine to make the cut is just silly! That back nine is one of the toughest nine holes I've ever seen, so it's really hard for it to sink in.
I might have to do a little bit of washing because I wasn't really expecting all of this! There's no let-up around this course and you have to mentally be on your game the entire time, so I can hold my head for a very long time knowing that was damn-good round of golf.
It's hard to fathom that I went from being nine over at the turn to somehow having a chance of making the cut. At the time I didn't really think about it too much, I was just thinking about giving myself some chances.
I first saw this golf course on Monday and I was thinking how it's the longest golf course I've ever played! It may have been playing a little bit shorter since Monday because of the weather, but it's still a beast!
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I was hitting the ball well finally for a change and once I hit it close at 17, then it sunk in a little bit more. After making the putt, I stood on the 18th tee think about trying to get one more. You're thinking five over will still give you the chance, but you know that four over is better than five!
The putt on the 18th wasn't necessarily the hardest to make, but I also knew what it meant in the sense it would make me a huge step closer to making the cut. One that went in, it was very emotional.
A lot of the players and caddies were in shock to begin with and this round shows them that I can still play, so if I do make a comment that they don't like in my position as a commentator, then it's coming from a place I know about!
That's almost just as big as what happened on the golf course, as they know that I can talk the talk but also from time to time still walk the walk!
My caddie this week used to play for my dad in college, so I'm super happy he has been on the bag this week and he's one of the reasons why I was staying relaxed out there and having fun.
I haven't played this much golf for a long time and I'm little bit sore in places I haven't been sore in for a while, but I'll figure out how to get through it all and I'm just over the moon to make it into the weekend.
Watch the PGA Championship throughout the weekend live on Sky Sports. Live coverage continues on Saturday from 4pm on Sky Sports Golf and 5.30pm on Sky Sports Main Event.
