Brian McCormack loves this time of year. A mid to late summer run of big events that he can sink his teeth into.
The Brown and Brown PGA Championship tees off in Monkstown on Tuesday and the Tullamore man is one of the form horses having scooped back to back victories at the Elm Park and Bellewstown pro-ams.
Practice time has been limited for McCormack for much of the season with a thriving business at Tullamore Golf Club as well as online mental coaching filling most of his diary and it was reflected in some of his early season results.
But in the last month he has been able to knuckle down and things turned for him when he shot a round of 67 in Luttrellstown to claim second place a fortnight ago – two wins have quickly followed.
“You’re trying to play well every time you tee it up, I try and stay patient,” said McCormack who had the PGA Championship and €100,000 K Club Pro-Am circled. “I have a trend where I am hit and miss in terms of first few events of the year but the second half of the year I pick up a win and the form continues.
“I prefer that because it means you are playing well coming into the bigger events. I keep the same process every year the way I train and prepare.
“I worked on a couple of things in my game and the following week I shot the 67 in Luttrellstown and I missed three putts inside six feet and had two penalty shots in that round. I left there feeling if I can shoot 67 on a really strong golf course while leaving five of the most obvious shots out there it was confidence building.
“I kept the head down, won in Elm Park and had the best ball striking round in a long time. I felt I left three shots out there.”
The phrase ‘beware of the injured golfer’ is evergreen and it rang true for McCormack on Friday in Bellewstown.
McCormack twisted a muscle in his back while fixing a driving range machine earlier that morning and was unsure when he arrived at Bellewstown if he was going to be able to last the full eighteen holes and even feared missing out in Monkstown next week.
“I said whatever happens, 61 or 81 just see if you can hit the ball adequately so you can compete next week. There wasn’t too much pain hitting the shots, it was more walking.
“I didn’t drive it well but anytime I had an opportunity from the fairway I was hitting it close so my wedges and irons were very good.”
McCormack got off to a lightning start, roaring to four under through six holes, including a kick in eagle at the fifth. A bogey on the ninth amazingly seemed to settle him down as he regained his focus with back to back birdies before reaching six-under with three to play.
He was pleased with how he kept his foot on the gas down the stretch.
“I was four-under through six holes and made a little mistake on the 9th which probably settled me. Anytime I have dropped a shot or two this year I have followed it with at least one birdie. So, I knew how good my bounce back ability was.
“I got back to five under, in my head I knew five was good enough to win but the man who makes his winning speech on the back nine never gets to make it.
“I set myself two personal playing goals for when I am in a position to excel. Instead of hanging on, I haven’t shot seven under in a long time in a tournament so that was one goal.
“That was all I was working towards. I kept staying aggressive. I reassess my goals relative to myself rather than looking at leaderboards. I know if I stick to my processes and it clicks, you will win.”
Practice will be limited for McComack ahead of the PGA Championship next week, but he feels he has played himself into a rhythm where if he can focus on mentally preparing correctly he will be in a good spot to attack the three-day event and win his maiden championship.
“The physical game is always there for everybody. The difference that separates the lads that win and the lads that don’t is their belief in their ability and their ability to manage themselves in the pressure situations.
“I haven’t been practicing as much with my swing or my putting but the key is to have your mind in the correct zone. I can control where my nerves are, that level of adrenaline I can bring it back down.
“Also if you go out and for whatever reason you’re just not mentally in it. I have systems where I can bring myself up and create some adrenaline. In terms of the focus I have a system to increase the focus or relax the focus so you don’t get too hyped up. That’s all I have been practicing.
“If I can control my emotional and physical states my game can slot into shape when I’m in that good zone so the goal has been to get into a really good emotional state for the PGA Championship.”
