Saturday 16 July 2016 15:46, UK
Rich Beem reflects on the challenge of being an on-course commentator in the driving wind and rain at Royal Troon, but he was thankful to be talking about the action rather than trying to play at The Open...
While I was out there on Friday, I was thinking that surely I had been out in worse conditions, but I'm still having a hard time recollecting. I was down the side of the 16th, maybe 200 yards down the fairway, when the weather really came in … and I mean really.
I was getting blown sideways and the rain was coming down in sheets. I'm not sure if they were reading the strength of the wind, but it felt like it was blowing at 45-50mph. It was just crazy.
At least I didn't have to worry about keeping my voice down to avoid distracting the players. I could have been shouting as loud as I liked and nobody around me would have heard me anyway. I'm always far enough away from the players anyway to not have to worry about the volume of my voice.
The thought of being in their places and having to deal with that stuff? Forget about it!
The funny thing is, you'd think that being out there in those terrible conditions would have made me feel cold, wet and miserable. But you'd be wrong.
I suddenly realised that all I had to do was talk about what was going on. I didn't have to try and hit straight shots, so I was doing just dandy compared to how some of the players might have been feeling.
The thought of being in their places and having to deal with that stuff? Forget about it!
Having said that, some of the scoring out there was actually pretty good considering the elements, and I was really impressed.
But the most impressive thing on Friday - bar none - was Shane Lowry covering all 18 holes wearing just a short-sleeved shirt.
That guy must be part marine mammal or something. There's no way I could think about going out there in that weather without several layers on.
It wasn't just wet and windy, it was cold - flat out cold. And there's Shane playing golf in a short-sleeved shirt.
Then again, I'm just a skinny Texan - what do I know about keeping warm?
