| Rich Beem | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Personal information | |
| Full name | Richard Michael Beem |
| Born | (1970-08-24)August 24, 1970 (age 54) Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. |
| Height | 5 ft 8 in (173 cm) |
| Weight | 165 lb (75 kg; 11.8 st) |
| Sporting nationality |  United States |
| Residence | Austin, Texas, U.S. |
| Career | |
| College | New Mexico State University |
| Turned professional | 1994 |
| Current tour(s) | PGA Tour Champions European Senior Tour |
| Former tour(s) | PGA Tour European Tour |
| Professional wins | 4 |
| Highestranking | 16 (July 27, 2003)[1] |
| Number of wins by tour | |
| PGA Tour | 3 |
| European Tour | 1 |
| Other | 1 |
| Best results in major championships (wins: 1) | |
| Masters Tournament | T15: 2003 |
| PGA Championship | Won:2002 |
| U.S. Open | T78: 2008 |
| The Open Championship | T20: 2007 |
Richard Michael Beem (born August 24, 1970) is an Americanprofessional golfer who played on thePGA Tour and is best known for his upset victory at the2002 PGA Championship.
Beem was born inPhoenix, Arizona, grew up inEl Paso, Texas, and played college golf atNew Mexico State University inLas 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 afterJ. P. Hayes won the 1998Buick Classic[1].
This changed in1999 when Beem won theKemper Open as a rookie. His career took a further leap forward in2002 with a victory atThe International inCastle Rock, Colorado.
Two weeks later, Beem won the2002 PGA Championship atHazeltine National, one of golf's fourmajor 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 leaderJustin Leonard. In the fourth round, Beem fended offTiger 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 theOfficial World Golf Ranking.
Until this win, Beem was best known for the bookBud, Sweat and Tees: A Walk on the Wild Side of the PGA Tour byAlan Shipnuck, which profiled his rookie year on the PGA Tour and the often wild lifestyle of him and hiscaddie,Steve Duplantis.
Following his victory at the 2002 PGA Championship, Rich Beem has not won another PGA Tour event.[2] His most notable finishes since include a runner‑up finish to Tiger Woods at the2003 Western Open and a playoff loss toPhil Mickelson at the2005 Bellsouth Classic.[3][4]
At the2007Nissan Open atRiviera, Beem made ahole-in-one at the 14th hole on live television on Saturday to win a new redAltima coupe, which he immediately ascended, embraced, and sat atop of in triumph. The sequence was later made into a Nissan commercial. Beem creditedPeter Jacobsen for inspiring his reaction; Jacobsen aced the same hole in 1994 and hopped into the nearby300ZX convertible and pretended to drive it.[5][6][7]
Beem was sidelined in2010 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 the2011 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 theValero 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 theEuropean Tour in 2012, the last year of his ten-year exemption on that tour for winning the 2002 PGA Championship.[8]
In 2015, Beem joinedSky Sports as a television commentator and golf analyst.[9] He also planned to play at theUBS Hong Kong Open, but gave up his sponsor exemption to allowIan Poulter to keep his European Tour card.[10] By the late 2010s, Beem had missed the cut in 11 of the 15 PGA Championships he played in since his 2002 victory. At one point, he considered that he no longer belonged in the field; however, fellow PGA golferDavid Duval encouraged him to continue competing.[11] In 2020, Beem was a color commentator for the video gamePGA Tour 2K21. Two years later, he returned in the same role for thePGA Tour 2K23.
Beem resides inAustin, Texas.
| Legend |
|---|
| Major championships (1) |
| Other PGA Tour (2) |
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner(s)-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | May 30,1999 | Kemper Open | −10 (66-67-71-70=274) | 1 stroke |  Bill Glasson, Bradley Hughes |
| 2 | Aug 4,2002 | The International | 44 pts (10-0-15-19=44) | 1 point | Steve Lowery |
| 3 | Aug 18, 2002 | PGA Championship | −10 (72-66-72-68=278) | 1 stroke | Tiger Woods |
PGA Tour playoff record (0–1)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponents | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2005 | BellSouth Classic |  Arjun Atwal,Brandt Jobe,Phil Mickelson, 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 |
| Legend |
|---|
| Major championships (1) |
| Other European Tour (0) |
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aug 18,2002 | PGA Championship | −10 (72-66-72-68=278) | 1 stroke | Tiger Woods |
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runners-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nov 17, 2002 | Hyundai Team Matches (with Peter Lonard) | 2 and 1 | Mark Calcavecchia andFred Couples | |
| Year | Championship | 54 holes | Winning score | Margin | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | PGA Championship | 3 shot deficit | −10 (72-66-72-68=278) | 1 stroke | Tiger Woods |
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 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | ||||||
| PGA Championship | T80 | CUT | CUT | CUT | CUT | |
| U.S. Open | ||||||
| The Open Championship | NT |
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
WD = Withdrew
NT = No tournament due toCOVID-19 pandemic
| Tournament | Wins | 2nd | 3rd | Top-5 | Top-10 | Top-25 | Events | Cuts made |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 |
| PGA Championship | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 22 | 7 |
| U.S. Open | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 |
| The Open Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 3 |
| Totals | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 41 | 14 |
| Tournament | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Players Championship | CUT | T44 | CUT | CUT | CUT | T66 | T58 | CUT |
CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
| Tournament | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Match Play | R64 | R64 | |
| Championship | T49 | T59 | |
| Invitational | T6 | T67 |
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied
| Tournament | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Tradition | ||||
| Senior PGA Championship | T40 | WD | CUT | |
| U.S. Senior Open | CUT | |||
| Senior Players Championship | ||||
| The Senior Open Championship | T11 | CUT | 70 | CUT |
CUT = missed the halfway cut
WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Professional