Maginnes: Beem's best isn't behind him  PGATOUR.com Contributor Let me introduce you to a guy whom you have known for years even if you are just a casual golf fan. I say introduce because he is not the same person he was when he burst onto the scene back in 1999 with his win at the Kemper Open. He is not the same guy who was featured in a book along with then-caddy Steve Duplantis. The book, you may recall, featured a boy who partied more than he practiced. When it comes to books about the TOUR and TOUR players I am always reminded of a quote from Edgar Allen Poe: "believe none of what you hear and only half of what you see."  Rich Beem has matured on and off the course. (Grayson/WireImage)
The ride continued and culminated for Rich Beem in the summer of 2002. Who can forget him outlasting Steve Lowery at The INTERNATIONAL despite the double eagle from Steve on the 71st hole. Then he held of a hard-charging Tiger Woods the following week and captured the PGA Championship. If that were Rich's only contribution to the game of golf it would be enough but I don't think that will be it. The absence from the winner's circle over the last five years has more to do with shifting priorities than anything else. Since 1999 Rich has calmed down, grown up and gotten married -- not necessarily in that order. He has two young children who often travel with him and who certainly have altered his focus in all the right ways. TOUR players are just like the rest of the male population when it comes to fatherhood. Children change everything. What you don't realize until you are lucky enough to become a parent is that your children raise you as much as you raise them. They immediately alter your perspective and align your priorities. In this regard Rich is certainly no exception. I was lucky enough last summer to spend a day with Rich in South Dakota at the club where he was an assistant after college. He invited me to a pro-am that he hosts for local charities. We had loads of fun, but the thing that I took away from the event was the grace with which Rich conducted himself. Rich spoke and answered questions at a reception the night before the pro-am. The whole tone of the evening could have very easily taken on the return-of-a-conquering-hero feel but it didn't. Rich spoke candidly about the life-changing event that was winning a major championship. He spoke to these people the same way that he spoke to them years before when they called for tee times. He was honest in a way that professional athletes aren't these days. He was, in effect, himself. If Rich's best golf is behind him then it is was a heck of a ride. However, I don't believe that is the case. This year marks the final year of Rich's exemption from the PGA Championship victory. This may seem like an inconsequential fact to many of you, but I believe it is just the opposite. Rich is a guy who seems to rise to the occasion when his back is against the wall. He has a gun-slinger mentality that he brings to his golf game -- as most streaky players do. We have seen in the past what happens when Rich is riding a hot streak. I wouldn't be at all surprised if we see it again soon, maybe even this week at the Buick Invitational where he enters Saturday's round tied for third, four strokes off the lead. I just hope that in the last five years that he has learned a new dance. |
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