One tournament, one cut, season made
Rich Beem at the 2019 PGA Championship at Bethpage Black. Photo: Peter Casey/USA TODAY Sports
Much was made of the fact that Tiger Woods didn’t play any tournaments between his exhilarating Masters triumph and the PGA Championship, a four-week hiatus that brought into question his preparedness for the second major of the year. Well, Rich Beem didn’t play in a tournament for nine months heading to Bethpage Black, home for the 101st edition of the PGA Championship. Tiger missed the cut. Beemer made it on the number. Go figure. Against odds Einstein would have had difficulty in calculating, Beem took on the ultimate underdog role to advance to the weekend and lit up an appreciative New York crowd that was at the ready to howl at any player’s misfortune. He was the diminutive David vs. the gargantuan Goliath known as the Black Course at Bethpage Black, a course he called the longest he’s ever played. He had no chance of making the cut, for in today’s power game, the Beemer is in desperate need of muscle.
But his power comes from his personality, as he’s a 5-foot-8 walking smile who treats each day as if it’s his last and finds that proverbial silver lining in the darkest of days. Still, he was the longest of longshots, especially knowing most all of the golf he plays these days is with a golf cart and a cooler of beer. He makes his living as a cracking commentator on the PGA Tour for Sky Sports. And he plays one tournament a year. That’s not a misprint. One. And it’s a major. Oh, and he was 48.
“Making the cut is just silly,” he said after his third round. “This game is so unpredictable, it’s a joke.” After getting bruised by Bethpage Black in his 5-over-par 75 in the first round, Beem turned the script on its ear while still doing his day job for Sky Sports. Alongside his caddie, Basil Dalberto, who played college golf for Beem’s father at New Mexico State, Beem became the guy who won the 2002 PGA Championship when he held off Woods when the red shirt was in his prime, which afforded him the opportunity to play the major every year until he was 65. So, he has. Missed 11 cuts since he kept Woods at bay in 2002.
And the trend was continuing when Beem went to the 10th tee in the second round. He was 9 over and well outside the cutline. Then the man with three Tour titles on his resume started pouring in birdie putts, from 18 feet on 13, from 9 feet on 14, from 18 feet again on 16, from 9 feet again on 17, from 17 feet on the 18th to sign for a 69. Boom. Beemer made the cut. Despite Bethpage Black kicking him in the teeth when he needed 82 whacks in the third round, he remained on a sugar high, never lost the bop in his step or the smile on his face as he conversed with the galleries and high-fived the kids. Then he came home with another 69. While he beat just one guy, while Brooks Koepka walked away with the Wanamaker Trophy, Beemer was a headliner in the shadow of Broadway. He earned world ranking points and is now the 1,549th-best player in the world.
That makes him smile once again. He talked the talk that week. And he walked the walk that week. It was something to see.
— Steve DiMeglio
