98th PGA Championship: Rich Beem enjoys 'special' opening round
Friday 29 July 2016 06:45, UK
2002 champion Rich Beem says he had "a lot of fun" as he shot an opening round 69 at Baltusrol in the PGA Championship.
The Sky Sports pundit started on the back nine and made the perfect start with back-to-back birdies and although he bogeyed the second, fifth and 15th, further gains at eight and 18 saw him finish one under.
"It was a lot of fun," he said at the Sky Cart. "I've got to say I'm a kind of nervous not having another face up there [on the Sky Cart]!
"It was a wonderful day out there today, I had a great start and for some bizarre reason - I don't know why - I just felt pretty calm heading out there. I knew I was swinging it well, I just felt really good about my game going into today and I have no idea why - it's not like I've been putting a lot of time and effort into it!
"I just found a couple of things over the last few weeks and it just helped me. I stood there on the driving range and I felt I knew where the ball was going, my practice rounds were all pretty good and thankfully with the putter, the shakes didn't show up today so that was a good thing."
Beem admitted that he would have happily accepted any score "around par" before the start of his round and was delighted to have shared a "special" round with his family.
"To shoot under par on a golf course like this, it truly was pretty amazing for a guy who is not out there every day." he added.
"It's such a good golf course, the conditions this afternoon got a little tougher, especially on the front nine. To shoot under par - if you'd have even told me that I was going to shoot around par to day I'd have said 'oh hell yeah, I'll just go in the commentary box and hang.'
"So to come out and shoot 69 today was truly something special and even better, I had my family with me. It was a lot of fun out there, I really enjoyed myself."
Watch the PGA Championship throughout the week live on Sky Sports 4 - your home of golf. Live coverage of the second round begins from 6pm on Friday. Or watch from £6.99 without a contract, on NOW TV.
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