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Rich Beem on Rory McIlroy: "He was businesslike - that is telling"

Former PGA Tour winner Rich Beem joined us to discuss Rory McIlroy's FedEx Cup win last weekend. ...



Rich Beem on Rory McIlroy:
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Rich Beem on Rory McIlroy: "He was businesslike - that is telling"

Former PGA Tour winner Rich Beem joined us to discuss Rory McIlroy's FedEx Cup win last weekend.

McIlroy faced off against the most recent rival at the very top of the game, Brooks Koepka, and it was the mentality shown by McIlroy that most impressed Beem.

"You don't need to have the banter between you and your opponent," said Beem.

"Off the golf course, you know that you guys are friends. On the golf course, you are there to beat each other up. There is nothing wrong with that.

"I think that is something that he learned again at Eastlake, is that you can be friends with someone off the golf course, but if I want to beat you then I have to change myself mentally and get in the zone to get the best of myself.

"There are going to days when Rory falls out of bed and can shoot 62 or 63 anywhere in the world. But when he is not feeling it, and he gets into a pressure situation, then he's going to have to bear down and be more business-like.

"That is what he was. He was so much more business-like on Sunday - and that is including the third round - and it was impressive to say the least."

It is a Rory that imposes himself on the opposition that Rich believes will be key to his development over the coming years.

"It was a complete change - it looked as if Brooks wanted to win but his game wasn't there and Rory [...] he wanted it so much more than Brooks did.

"He had so much more fight in him.

"Rory knows that he is one of the most talented and gifted golfers in the game today, but he has to go out and really force it, impose his will, and be tougher mentally.

"One of the things that he said to Tim Barter afterwards, where Brooks was talking about increasing his lead as world number one, he said 'You're going to have to go through me first!'

"If that is not a sign of what Rory's intentions are, then I have no idea what else he can say!"

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