It’s a carefree demeanor that extends to any player who might throw him some side-eye on the range at Bethpage Black. “I’m going to enjoy it while I can because pretty soon I’m not going to be able to tee it up and I’ll be pretty damn disappointed.”īeem has the kind of nonchalant attitude you’d expect in a man who once took a break from playing professional golf to sell car stereos in Seattle. “I know my limitations and I can’t see myself getting out there much past 55,” he says. But they’re still encouraged to play.”īeem’s exemption runs another 17 years – just beyond the last date for which the PGA of America already announced its venues - but he’s figuring on only another seven or eight starts. They still have guys that tee it up who don’t really have a great opportunity to make the cut. “Go to the Masters, the Open Championship. “Not my rules, PGA of America’s rules! I’m abiding by them,” he says. The killjoy argument favored by some is that having long-ago earned a spot in the 156-man field doesn’t mean Beem ought to actually take it, that he’s denying an opportunity to a presumably more competitive alternate. Now whether it’s good enough to make the cut is another thing.” It wasn’t good enough at Bellerive, missing by three. I don’t feel like I’m going out there to embarrass myself or I wouldn’t play,” he says. I feel like I always have a decent chance of making the cut. That resonated with Beem, who plans to increase his competitive schedule when he joins the PGA Tour Champions in 2020. I’ve earned it so I’m going to play for as long as I want to,” Duval told him. Duval won the ’01 British Open and continued to show up every year despite having long since lost his game and status. Until a chance conversation with David Duval at Royal Troon three years ago. Eleven missed cuts in 15 years had him considering forgoing the berth in the field accorded former champions under age 65. “And my answer would be ‘Yep, I certainly am!’ ”ĭespite living in Texas, Beem isn’t impervious to reality. “I’m sure there are a few players looking at me and thinking, ‘That poor guy, he’s playing the only tournament he can possibly get into’,” he says cheerfully. Even years after injuries and poor form segued him into television, Beem will arrive on the range at Bethpage Black with the cocksure strut of a man who knows he belongs there. His improbable victory came back in 2002 when he held off Tiger Woods by a single shot at Hazeltine. O nce a year Rich Beem laces up his spikes and plays on the PGA Tour in the only one of the three events he won that still exists: the PGA Championship.
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