McIlroy, Fleetwood prepare for BMW PGA Championship as Ryder Cup looms | Golf Central | Golf Channel

McIlroy, Fleetwood prepare for BMW PGA Championship as Ryder Cup looms | Golf Central | Golf Channel

Golf Central on YouTube is brought to you by the new Chrome Tour Golf Ball from Callaway. Welcome to Golf Central on a Tuesday. Damon Hack joined by Paige McKenzie and Paige. Another busy and important week in the game as we get closer and closer to the RDER Cup. What’s on your mind on this Tuesday? Everything just feels a little different in a Ryder Cup year. I feel like it’s similar in when we talk about Olympic year where it’s qualifying, it’s extra anxiety, and now as we ramp up just a week away from Beth Paige, you start to feel that how are these teams going to come together and we get a chance to see a lot of them in action this week. Well, Paige, how about this scene on the 72nd hole on Sunday in the Irish Open? I know you were watching Rory Mroy putting for Eagle from 28 ft drains it and the reaction from the Irish crowd as their hero forces the playoff. Rory would seal the victory with a birdie on the third hole of the playoff to secure his second win in the Irish Open. Incredible scenes in what’s been an year that you’ll never forget. Historic, unforgettable, bountiful. You choose the adjective. Pebble Beach win, players win, Masters win, and a second win in the Irish Open. Now, Rory continues his season this week with another Rolex Series event as the DP World Tour moves from Ireland to England. BMW PGA Championship. The DP World Tour’s flagship event is at Wentworth this week. Live first round coverage coming your way this Thursday, 700 a.m. Eastern time, right here on Golf Channel. Fantastic field as you would imagine. Matt Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleewood. Defending champ is Billy Horsel. You got Seiwoo Kim, Brooks Keepka, Shane Lowry, Bobby McIntyre, Hideki Matsyama, Rory Mroy, and Justin Rose. And speaking of the winner of the Grand Slam, he met the media earlier today. You said last week that it wasn’t a necessity to win a game before the Ride Cup. Now that you have, how much of this week is, you know, building on that win? How much of it is preparing your game for the Ryder Cup? And how much of it is sort of, you know, spending time with your team as well this week? I think it’s um probably a blend of all of those. Uh I think there’s still some things in my game that I want to tidy up. Um I think there’s always things in my game that I want to tidy up regardless of what I’ve just won or what I’ve you know, you’re always trying to find ways to see if you can get better. Um, but also I think it’s important this week to put in a good performance because that’ll give me confidence going into the RDER Cup. It will also um hopefully provide me with more of a cushion in the race to Dubai going into the the back end of the year. Um and then yeah spending some time with teammates whether that’s you know tonight we have a dinner or um you know depending on what the pairings are for the next you know for Thursday Friday you know I’ll probably get to spend some time with a couple of them on the golf course. Um, so I think it’s a bit of everything, but first and foremost, I want to play well because, um, I confidence-wise I want to be in the right state of mind going into the RDER Cup. And then I also, you know, I think it’s a another good week and a good opportunity to add to the win column, but, you know, give myself that cushion um, looking towards the end of the year and the race to Dubai. Paige Rory coming off another strong performance and a win over the weekend. Now we’re at Wentworth. What do you notice about his game and how he might play this week? Well, first I want to comment on the fact that he was talking about these incremental things that he’s been working on his game. He kind of never feels satisfied. At least it appears that way. And I want to point out the fact that he did put new wedges in his bag last week. So, he’s continuing that that quest for for trying to find the best combination of his golf game, golf swing, golf equipment. Um, and I love to hear that from the world number two. Uh, the other thing that he talked about is the confidence that he’s looking forward to getting as he leads into this RDER Cup. Of course, last week again, not just enough to win in Ireland, but looking forward to playing well here. And part of it has to do with the fact that he has great results here. Uh, but it’s been an evolution. He hasn’t always played this tournament well, this golf course well. And while there has been some date changes over the years, and maybe that’s part of the contributing factor, it’s impressive to see the turnaround. The first six times that he played this event, he was 19 overpar over the course of those six uh six times he played it. Three of those were missed cuts. Only one top 10. But the last seven times he’s played, that includes a win, he’s been 80 underpar. Quite the turnaround. nearly a fourshot difference per round um in his recent play here. So obviously a place that he has a lot of confidence coming into and you combine that with the confidence of the the recent form Damon and I think there’s a recipe that you may see Rory Maroy again contending this week once again. Yeah. Victory in 2014 and runner-up finishes to Shane Lowry, Billy Horchel and Francesco Molinari. And of course Rory will be the lynch pin of this European Rder Cup team. As we take a look at the players who will represent team Europe, but it’s nearly the exact same team with the exception you got Rasmus Hygard instead of his twin brother Nikolai who was with this team in Rome back in 2023. It was a 16 12 11 12 victory for team Europe. Let’s hear from some of the leaders for team Europe. It would obviously be great to bring the RDER Cup back to these shores. Um, and look, we know how difficult it’s going to be. Like we, you know, we’re under no illusions. I’m very I have complete confidence in Luke and his vice captains and and the team that they’ve put together. Um, and I keep saying this, we have a a massive opportunity to do something that not a lot of Ryder Cup teams say that they’ve done. Um, I’ve been lucky enough to be part of one Ryder Cup team that that won away. We’ve got a lot of people within that team whether they were whether they’re, you know, myself and Justin Rose that are playing, but then obviously you’ve got Franchesco and Luke um on a vice captain side um that that were there that played. Um so we have experience and in knowing what it takes. Um, but I think we all know it’s going to be very very difficult. And um, you know, you’re not just you’re not just playing the 12 American golfers, you’re also trying to get past the the crowd. And that’s the same thing that they, you know, that they feel when they come here and play in Europe. So, it just it it just it definitely gives you a bit of an inbuilt advantage to start the week. Um, and that’s something that we’re going to have to overcome. I think um I think that is the nature of the Ryder Cup and that’s what makes the Ryder Cup so special is that it does sort of transcend golf a little bit. It sort of becomes a you know a global sporting event. So I think rightfully so that it’s talked about um that way for the buildup. You know it’s once every two years as we all know and um there’s a lot of anticipation for it and I feel like even for me as a player it’s sort of a month-long process. You know, the moment I got picked to play in Rome, it was like it was Ryder Cup week, you know, and that, like I’ve said before, every meal, every workout, every practice session had had the right rider cup in mind. Of course, we don’t know exactly the environment in Beth Page other than it’s going to be something we’ve never faced before. So, it’s hard to prepare for that. This is our last chance to kind of put a scorecard in the hand and prepare and go through those sort of mental checklists that make you feel more comfortable in the heat of competition. So, this is a very important tournament, but at the same time, it’s the BMW PJ Championship, one that I dearly love to win. So, I think every RED Cup that you play, uh, right at the end of it, you all like, how good would it be if we just let’s just keep the team and let’s just go again. And and we you always say that without really like, you know, obviously don’t mean it cuz it never happens. But um uh this time yeah to have to have us all together to have that experience to have um like the team connection that we had last time moving on to this one um I think you know hopefully it will only be you know serve as a good thing for us serve as an advantage I’m excited to be with all the guys and uh yeah I I think you of course every time the team set you know you don’t you couldn’t ask for a better 12 guys and and we’re just all ready to go into that together and and have another pop at um trying to get the

Paige Mackenzie joins Golf Central to discuss the mood surrounding the BMW PGA Championship for top golfers, including Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, and others as the Ryder Cup looms large. #golfchannel #rydercup #golf
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McIlroy, Fleetwood prepare for BMW PGA Championship as Ryder Cup looms | Golf Central | Golf Channel
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