Beman's granddaughter a part of this year's PLAYERS

text size

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- There are a lot of kids volunteering at THE PLAYERS this week, but only one of them is the granddaughter of former PGA TOUR Commissioner Deane Beman. Eleven-year-old Molly Beman is a runner on the practice range at TPC Sawgrass and is experiencing the PGA TOUR's signature event from inside the ropes for the first time.

Badz/PGA TOUR

Deane Beman received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the PGA TOUR in 2007. He's still contributing, especially to his granddaughter's golf game.

"This is the first one I have worked," Molly said. "But I have gone to a few before."

It was at last year's tournament that Molly saw the young runners out on the range and told her grandpa, who bought the land here at TPC Sawgrass in the 1970s for just $1, she'd like to give it a shot. "He got me on the list for this year," she said. Though given who her grandpa is, that probably wasn't a difficult string to pull.

Molly's grandpa has done more for her budding love of golf than hook her up with a volunteer spot this week, however. He's been coaching her on her golf game for a while now, and he might just have a star in the making. The elder Beman is teaching his granddaughter, who is naturally right-handed, to swing lefty.

"He realized I saw it better from that angle," she said. "I play softball, and it was kind of mixing too much with my softball swing."

It's no wonder, then, that Molly's favorite TOUR player is Phil Mickelson, a fellow lefty who's really a righty. She got to see him hit on the range this week, and her grandpa secured her an autograph about a month ago.

"It's fun," she said of her week volunteering, and she plans to do it again next year. But she'll be back on the range before then.

"Sometimes I come out here to practice with my grandpa," she said. And he'll no doubt be giving her all the help she wants. Molly hopes to play professionally and make it to the LPGA Tour some day. If her lessons keep going the Phil Mickelson way, she won't need any more strings pulled by Grandpa.