Rich Beem

Rich Beem
 Golfer 
Personal information
Full name Richard Michael Beem
Born (1970-08-24) August 24, 1970
Phoenix, Arizona
Height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Weight 165 lb (75 kg; 11.8 st)
Nationality  United States
Residence Austin, Texas
Career
College New Mexico State University
Turned professional 1994
Former tour(s) PGA Tour (1999–2012)
European Tour (2012)
Professional wins 5
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour 3
Other 2
Best results in major championships
(wins: 1)
Masters Tournament T15: 2003
U.S. Open T78: 2008
The Open Championship T20: 2007
PGA Championship Won: 2002

Richard Michael Beem (born August 24, 1970) is an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and is best known for his upset victory at the 2002 PGA Championship.

Beem was born in Phoenix, Arizona, grew up in El Paso, Texas, and played college golf at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces.

Beem turned professional in 1994. His early career was broken up by a spell in Seattle selling car stereos and cell phones. He later regained interest after J. P. Hayes won the 1998 Buick Classic .

This changed in 1999 when Beem won the Kemper Open as a rookie. His career took a further leap forward in 2002 with a victory at the The International in Castle Rock, Colorado.

Two weeks later, Beem won the 2002 PGA Championship at Hazeltine National, one of golf's four major tournaments. He shot a par 72 in the first round, but followed that with a six-under 66 in the second round to pull into a five-way tie for first place. In the third round, he again shot 72 and found himself alone in second place, three strokes behind leader Justin Leonard. In the fourth round, Beem fended off Tiger Woods, who birdied his last four holes but finished one shot behind Beem, who shot a final round 68 to Woods' 67. This victory helped establish Beem in the top 20 of the Official World Golf Ranking.

Until this win, Beem was best known for the book Bud, Sweat and Tees: A Walk on the Wild Side of the PGA Tour by Alan Shipnuck, which profiled his rookie year on the PGA Tour and the often wild lifestyle of him and his caddy, Steve Duplantis.

At the 2007 Nissan Open at Riviera, Beem made a hole-in-one at the 14th hole on live television on Saturday to win a new red Altima coupe, which he immediately ascended, embraced, and sat atop of in triumph. The sequence was later made into a Nissan commercial. (video) Beem credited Peter Jacobsen for inspiring his reaction; Jacobsen aced the same hole in 1994 and hopped into the nearby 300ZX convertible and pretended to drive it.[1][2][3]

Beem was sidelined in 2010 after undergoing back surgery to repair damage to his C6 and C7 vertebrae. While Beem was expected to only miss six weeks, rehabilitation issues caused the layoff to encompass the remainder of the 2010 season. Beem played the 2011 season on a medical exemption that required him to make $658,100 in 17 events. He missed the his first six cuts of the 2011 season before making the cut at the Valero Texas Open. He finished tied for 15th. Beem made just five cuts in 21 events. As a result, he lost his tour card and played the remainder of the season out of the "past champions" category in 2012. He played on the European Tour in 2012, the last year of his ten-year exemption on that tour for winning the 2002 PGA Championship.[4]

In 2015, Beem joined Sky Sports as a television commentator and golf analyst.[5] He also planned to play at the UBS Hong Kong Open, but gave up his sponsor exemption to allow Ian Poulter to keep his European Tour card.[6]

Beem resides in Austin, Texas.

Professional wins (5)

PGA Tour wins (3)

Legend
Major championships (1)
Other PGA Tour (2)
No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 May 30, 1999 Kemper Open −10 (66-67-71-70=274) 1 stroke United States Bill Glasson, Australia Bradley Hughes
2 Aug 4, 2002 The International 44 points (10-0-15-19=44)* 1 point United States Steve Lowery
3 Aug 18, 2002 PGA Championship −10 (72-66-72-68=278) 1 stroke United States Tiger Woods

PGA Tour playoff record (0–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponentsResult
1 2005 BellSouth Classic India Arjun Atwal, United States Brandt Jobe,
United States Phil Mickelson, Spain José María Olazábal
Mickelson won with birdie on fourth extra hole
Olazábal eliminated with par on third hole
Atwal and Jobe eliminated with par on first hole

*The International used Modified Stableford scoring.

Other wins (2)

Major championships

Wins (1)

YearChampionship54 holesWinning scoreMarginRunner-up
2002 PGA Championship 3 shot deficit−10 (72-66-72-68=278) 1 stroke United States Tiger Woods

Results timeline

Tournament 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Masters Tournament DNP DNP DNP DNP T15 CUT CUT T42 54 DNP DNP
U.S. Open DNP DNP CUT DNP CUT CUT CUT CUT CUT T78 DNP
The Open Championship CUT DNP DNP DNP T43 T71 CUT CUT T20 WD DNP
PGA Championship T70 DNP DNP 1 CUT CUT CUT T49 CUT CUT T43
Tournament 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Masters Tournament DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
U.S. Open DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
The Open Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
PGA Championship DNP CUT T36 CUT CUT CUT T73

DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
WD = Withdrew
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10

Summary

Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 3
U.S. Open 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 1
The Open Championship 0 0 0 0 0 1 7 3
PGA Championship 1 0 0 1 1 1 15 6
Totals 1 0 0 1 1 3 34 13

See also

References

  1. "Nissan Open Championship - An Interview with Rich Beem" (PDF). Sports Transcripts.com. February 17, 2007. Retrieved February 18, 2012.
  2. "Profile - Rich Beem". PGA Tour. Retrieved February 18, 2012.
  3. "Beem may be '1' to watch again". Los Angeles Times. February 18, 2007. Retrieved February 18, 2012.
  4. "Notebook: Beem decides to give Europe a try". PGA Tour. April 24, 2012. Retrieved April 25, 2012.
  5. "Former PGA champion Rich Beem joins the Sky Sports Golf team". Sky Sports. January 12, 2015.
  6. Ferguson, Doug (October 20, 2015). "Rich Beem explains decision to step aside for Ian Poulter in Hong Kong". PGA of America. Associated Press.
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