The breakout star of this open championship did not hit a single shot

Portrush, Northern Ireland – it was difficult for Graeme McDowell to say no.

Not only because European tour productions offer a paid job during a otherwise salary check week in the golf calendar, but also because the job for a professional golfer was so close to work.

McDowell grew up here. How Exactly hereIn Portrush, the same small coastal city that greeted a quarter million fans from all over Ireland and Northern Ireland for Golf's Final Major. The same portrush – population: 6,150 – that can be ended from the end in the course of a brisk morning walk. The same portrus with almost as many golf courses (two) like main roads (three). McDowell's roots in the city go back to his parents Kenny and Marian, who grew up in the “villages” in front of the main street (if such things can exist in such a small coast). He played his kindergolf in the Rathemore Golf Club, also known as the place that is less than a wedge from the action at Royal Portrush.

There was also the question of work. Before qualifying, McDowell knew that he would be Portrush for the 153rd Open Championship, regardless of whether he was in the field or not. When the qualification went south, the thought of another job for the week sounded quite fascinating. And when European tour productions offer a paying appearance as a color analyst for the “World Feed” of the R&A, McDowell found that the upward trend was pretty good.

It is possible that no party knew how well McDowell would do for the week at Open in the shipment stand. The golfer was a beginner of the radio when he was registered as a TV voice for the world feed-one R&A-operated program, which was sent to dozens of countries for reproduction in their networks. His career as a player included many thoughtful comments, but none that rose to the career in the career of TV executives who received his LIV colleagues Phil Mickelson and Jon Rahm.

But almost immediately, when the game started, fans who watched Peacock/NBC in the United States in the United States and abroad in the many English -speaking countries of World Feed were suitable that McDowell was suitable. He offered a careful, impressive analysis, he cracked jokes and brought the process that immediately gave an impression on those who watched remotely.

It helps McDowell are familiar with the environments. But it also helps that it is actually Good With it. And with McDowell, 45, in the later phases of his career as a player, it is difficult not to see the attempt this week as an insight into life that could one day be.

He wouldn't be the first golfer to try it. It was only last year that Kevin Kisner from NBC appeared in the stand to make a long attempt with the network. He waited until the low season, when it seemed clear that his PGA tour status could possibly fall to sign a contract with the network. At this tournament a year ago, the European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald in Troon was tested as a senior analyst on the television program of NBC, and obviously also tested the waters of a career on television.

Television is a siren song for professional golfer who approach the end of their career and are used to the rhythms of the Pro Golf calendar. It offers the opportunity to stay close to sport that has defined her adult life, and in some cases like Nick Faldo and Johnny Miller to extend their Golf celebrity to the next generation.

McDowell, the US Open Champ from 2010, fits the billing of the family tree of the large championship. And at the Open Championship this week, his work has already appointed him one of Portrus' biggest winners.