Keogh reflects on ‘incredible’ PGA Cup

22/09/2022

Playing in the PGA Cup and representing Great Britain & Ireland surpassed all of Adam Keogh’s expectations, even more so after coming away from Foxhills Club & Resort as the team’s highest points scorer.

The 34-year-old has returned to his day job as the head professional at Woodhall Spa Golf Club in Lincolnshire after a week full of highs and lows at the Surrey venue.

“I was meant to be back to work the next day on the Monday,” said Keogh. “But unfortunately, with the sad news we had with the Queen and the funeral my facility was closed so it was back to work on the Tuesday and back to doing the normal day job.”

Keogh was one of seven debutants in David (DJ) Russell’s 10-man team who put up a brave fight against their American counterparts, but unfortunately, they came up just short.

Reflecting on the experience of playing in a PGA Cup, something which had always been an aspiration for Keogh, and asked if the experience lived up to his expectations, he said: “Yes, absolutely! The whole resort, the get together in July that we had as a team and the whole week here at Foxhills, it’s surpassed it to be honest.

“I don’t think you realise the enormity of representing your country. It’s the ultimate honour I guess and the 10 players representing GB&I at Foxhills have been incredible, they’re incredible teammates. You create a close bond in this environment. The players, the partner, the support staff, they all do an incredible job.

“The week is exhausting. There’s a lot of other duties you have to do other than just play golf, but it’s an honour to do that too.”

Despite tasting a 15.5 – 10.5 defeat, Keogh believes all 10 GB&I players gave it their all and left everything on the Longcross Course across all three days.

“The guys could not have done more, it’s just the finer details in terms of the matches, the momentum but that’s golf,” Keogh continued.

“When you look at the numbers, they’ve got 28,000 Members so naturally it’s always going to be a tough test against the PGA of America. They’re good players and as always in match play, you get the right side of it, you get momentum on your side and we didn’t quite get that.”

A break from playing in the build up to the PGA Cup may have been the key ingredient for Keogh as he picked up 3.5 points out of a possible four.

“It was nice to have a couple of weeks off beforehand to try and refresh, practice and come into the week strong.

“At the end of the day, you play with a partner so it’s not just solely down to me. I played nicely over the two fourball sessions. Saturday afternoon in the foursomes, playing with my good friend Simon Thornton, he really dragged me through that to be honest. That was tough going and then again on the Sunday. I was lacking in energy but I managed to get the job done.

“Fortunately for me from an individual point of view, I’ve managed to go the whole week undefeated, 3.5 points out of four, but I’d have swapped all of those to be on the winning side, but it’s not to be.

“boys gave everything and I’m just disappointed to be on the wrong side of the result. That’s golf I guess. The game was played in the right spirit and congratulations to the opposition.”

For now, it is back to the day job for Keogh, although he hasn’t ruled out representing his country again across the Atlantic in two years’ time.

He added: With the qualification process, it can all come down to one event. If you look at the team that’s here, apart from the three players who qualified through the PGA Play-Offs and I was fortunate to be one of those, they’ve predominantly been made up of the guys who did well in the PGA Professional Championship at Slaley Hall.

“Naturally as a competitor and a player you try your hardest and I would encourage anyone to try and get on that plane in two years’ time. We definitely want to get that trophy back so yes, I’d like to be on a winning side that’s for sure.

“From a professional golfer, someone who works in the industry as we all do, it’s an incredible honour. When you think there’s 8,000 PGA Members, to be one of the 10 guys here representing your Association, it’s a good achievement and I would encourage anybody to try and do the same thing.

“I thoroughly love what I do and the place that I work, but I’d love to play in a PGA Cup every week! It’s the challenge, but it’s back to normal on Tuesday and I’ll keep grinding away.”