Rich Beem

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.

Rich Beem
Personal information
Full nameRichard Michael Beem
Born (1970-08-24) August 24, 1970
Phoenix, Arizona
Height5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Weight165 lb (75 kg; 11.8 st)
Sporting nationality United States
ResidenceAustin, Texas
Career
CollegeNew Mexico State University
Turned professional1994
Current tour(s)PGA Tour Champions
European Senior Tour
Former tour(s)PGA Tour
European Tour
Professional wins4
Highest ranking16 (July 27, 2003)[1]
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour3
European Tour1
Other1
Best results in major championships
(wins: 1)
Masters TournamentT15: 2003
PGA ChampionshipWon: 2002
U.S. OpenT78: 2008
The Open ChampionshipT20: 2007

Career

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 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 was the second place player, 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 caddie, 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.[2][3][4]

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 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.[5]

In 2015, Beem joined Sky Sports as a television commentator and golf analyst.[6] 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.[7] In 2020, Beem was a color commentator for the video game PGA Tour 2K21. Two years later, he returned in the same role for the PGA Tour 2K23.

Beem resides in Austin, Texas.

Professional wins (4)

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 pts (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 by par on third hole
Atwal and Jobe eliminated by par on first hole

European Tour wins (1)
Legend
Major championships (1)
Other European Tour (0)
No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victory		Runner-up
1 Aug 18, 2002 PGA Championship −10 (72-66-72-68=278) 1 stroke United States Tiger Woods

Other wins (1)
No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victory		Runners-up
1 Nov 17, 2002 Hyundai Team Matches
(with Australia Peter Lonard)		 2 and 1 United States Mark Calcavecchia and United States Fred Couples

Major championships

Wins (1)
YearChampionship54 holesWinning scoreMarginRunner-up
2002PGA Championship3 shot deficit−10 (72-66-72-68=278)1 strokeUnited States Tiger Woods

Results timeline

Results not in chronological order in 2020.

Tournament 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Masters Tournament T15 CUT CUT T42 54
U.S. Open CUT CUT CUT CUT CUT CUT T78
The Open Championship CUT T43 T71 CUT CUT T20 WD
PGA Championship T70 1 CUT CUT CUT T49 CUT CUT T43
Tournament 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open
The Open Championship
PGA Championship CUT T36 CUT CUT CUT T73 CUT CUT
Tournament 2019202020212022
Masters Tournament
PGA Championship T80 CUT CUT CUT
U.S. Open
The Open Championship NT
  Win
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
WD = Withdrew
NT = No tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

Summary
TournamentWins2nd3rdTop-5Top-10Top-25EventsCuts made
Masters Tournament00000153
PGA Championship100111217
U.S. Open00000071
The Open Championship00000173
Totals1001134014
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 2 (2002 PGA – 2003 Masters)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 1

Results in The Players Championship
Tournament 200020012002200320042005200620072008
The Players Championship CUT T44 CUT CUT CUT T66 T58 CUT
  Did not play

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships
Tournament200220032004
Match Play R64 R64
Championship T49 T59
Invitational T6 T67
  Top 10
  Did not play

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied

Results in senior major championships
Tournament202120222023
The Tradition
Senior PGA Championship T40 WD
U.S. Senior Open CUT
Senior Players Championship
The Senior Open Championship T11 CUT 70
  Did not play

CUT = missed the halfway cut
WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place

U.S. national team appearances

Professional

See also

References
  1. "Week 30 2003 Ending 27 Jul 2003" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  2. "Nissan Open Championship - An Interview with Rich Beem" (PDF). Sports Transcripts.com. February 17, 2007. Retrieved February 18, 2012.
  3. "Profile - Rich Beem". PGA Tour. Archived from the original on March 1, 2012. Retrieved February 18, 2012.
  4. "Beem may be '1' to watch again". Los Angeles Times. February 18, 2007. Retrieved February 18, 2012.
  5. "Notebook: Beem decides to give Europe a try". PGA Tour. April 24, 2012. Archived from the original on April 28, 2012. Retrieved April 25, 2012.
  6. "Former PGA champion Rich Beem joins the Sky Sports Golf team". Sky Sports. January 12, 2015.
  7. 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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