You can’t beat a bit of Bully, croaked Jim Bowen at the end of quirky, darts-based Sunday night staple Bullseye as Trevor and Reg from Runcorn celebrated winning a Talbot Samba in the 101 or more in six darts gamble.
Here in the world of golf, there seems to be one bully boy who continues to grow in stature on both sides of the Atlantic. “He’s a bull of a man and a bully of a golfer in terms of what he can do to a golf course,” reflected Dean Robertson, the Scottish European Tour winner who has been keeping a keen eye on the surging development of Spain’s Jon Rahm. “What he has is a potent mix.”
Nobody will disagree with that statement after the 23-year-old underlined his abundant talents with a second victory on the PGA Tour last weekend which hoisted him up to No.2 in the world ahead of his defence of the Farmers Insurance Open this week.
Robertson has witnessed Rahm’s rapid rise at close hand. As the high performance coach at Stirling University, the 47-year-old is party to plenty of amateur dramatics.
Rahm swiftly became one to watch during a shimmering career in the unpaid ranks which saw him top the world amateur rankings for a record total of 60 weeks while racking up a prolific haul of wins on the ultra-competitive US college circuit during his time at Arizona State.
In his role at Stirling, Robertson would regularly take his team to The Prestige at PGA West, an annual shoot-out among some of the top college and university sides. The trip to California was always an eye-opening experience.
“I got to know Jon well and taking the boys over there was always quite an education,” said Cochrane Castle man Robertson. “That event often provided the benchmark and if any player wanted to aspire to something in golf then that showed them what the standard was. What was quickly apparent was just Jon’s absolute belief and aggression.
“He’s good and he knows he’s good but he’s a nice lad with it. I know, emotionally, he can spill over at times. He gets the red mist but he can keep the passion as long as he can harness it. He has that flamboyance, he generates so much power and he’s pretty much fearless.”
Robertson was heavily involved in the Palmer Cup, an annual tussle between some of the best college golfers from Europe and the USA.
After performing the role of captain and coach to the Europeans, Robertson got his fellow Scot, Andrew Coltart, involved in the Palmer Cup and Rahm would be part of Coltart’s 2014-winning team at Walton Heath.
“Dean had been covering a lot of the amateur scene and he told me that Jon was an incredible talent,” reflected Coltart. “You had to agree. He was pretty special, a tough competitor and super confident too.
“It’s been a phenomenal rise. It can be hard to keep going at that rate but he’ll have a balanced reflection and not put too much pressure on himself. Fortunately for us, he’s a European too.”
The Ryder Cup may be some eight months away but with Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood and Sergio Garcia completing a triple whammy of European wins across the golfing globe last Sunday, the chatter about the little gold chalice continues unabated.
In Dubai yesterday, Ryder Cup talisman Colin Montgomerie suggested that European golf was on the cusp of “a new golden era” and Robertson certainly agrees with his celebrated compatriot on that front.
“Rahm and Fleetwood will be the heads of that team, it’s a real changing of the guard,” he said. The USA have been warned.
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