Richard Michael Beem (born August 24, 1970) is an American professional

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

er who played on the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...

and is best known for his upset victory at the 2002 PGA Championship. Beem was born in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the on ...

, grew up in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...

, and played college golf at

New Mexico State University New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public land-grant research university based primarily in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest public institution of higher education in New Mexico and one of the state's ...

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 The FedEx St. Jude Championship, founded as the Westchester Classic in 1967, is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour. Since 2007, it has been played as the first tournament of the playoff system for the FedEx Cup, with the field limit ...

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This changed in 1999 PGA Tour, 1999 when Beem won the

Kemper Open The Kemper Open was a golf tournament on the PGA Tour from 1968 to 2006. Perhaps more so than any other "regular" PGA Tour stop, the event wandered about, not just from course to course within a given metropolitan area, but along the East Coast. ...

as a rookie. His career took a further leap forward in 2002 with a victory at The International in

Castle Rock, Colorado Castle Rock is a home rule town that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Douglas County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 73,158 at the 2020 United States Census, a 51.68% increase since the 2010 United St ...

. 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 Justin Charles Garrett Leonard (born June 15, 1972) is an American professional golfer. He has twelve career wins on the PGA Tour, including one major, the 1997 Open Championship. Early years Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Leonard graduated ...

. In the fourth round, Beem fended off

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in PGA Tour wins, ranks second in men's major championships, and holds numerous golf records. * * * Woods is widely regarded as ...

, 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 The Genesis Invitational is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour in southern California, first played in 1926 as the Los Angeles Open. Other previous names include Genesis Open, Northern Trust Open and Nissan Open. Played annually in ...

at Riviera, Beem made a

hole-in-one In golf, a hole in one or hole-in-one (also known as an ace, mostly in American English) occurs when a ball hit from a tee to start a hole finishes in the cup. A ball hit from a tee following a lost ball, out-of-bounds, or water hazard is not a h ...

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. 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 The Texas Open, known as the Valero Texas Open for sponsorship reasons, is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, played near San Antonio, Texas. It dates back years to 1922, when it was first called the Texas Open; San Antonio-based Val ...

. 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 The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fi ...

in 2012, the last year of his ten-year exemption on that tour for winning the 2002 PGA Championship. In 2015, Beem joined

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

as a television commentator and golf analyst. He also planned to play at the

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, but gave up his sponsor exemption to allow Ian Poulter to keep his European Tour card. In 2020, Beem was a color commentator for the video game PGA Tour 2K21. Beem resides in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

Professional wins (4)

PGA Tour wins (3)

PGA Tour playoff record (0–1)

European Tour wins (1)

Other wins (1)

Major championships

Wins (1)

Results timeline

''Results not in chronological order in 2020.'' CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
WD = Withdrew
NT = No tournament due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 2 (2002 PGA – 2003 Masters) *Longest streak of top-10s – 1

Results in The Players Championship

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

Results in World Golf Championships

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

Results in senior major championships

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

U.S. national team appearances

Professional * Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge (representing PGA Tour): 2002 (winners)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Beem, Rich American male golfers New Mexico State Aggies men's golfers PGA Tour golfers European Tour golfers Winners of men's major golf championships Golf writers and broadcasters Golfers from Phoenix, Arizona Sportspeople from El Paso, Texas Golfers from Austin, Texas 1970 births Living people