Cameron Beckman receives confidence boost from sister

Tiffany Mattick watched the final round of the PGA TOUR Champions DICK’S Sporting Goods Open on Sunday in a tiny bar in the north woods of Wisconsin while on vacation with family and friends.

Her voice was still recovering from the yelling on Tuesday, two days after her older brother, Cameron Beckman, had claimed his first Champions Tour victory and his first win since the 2010 PGA TOUR Mayakoba Classic. Beckman shot a 4-under 68 to beat Ernie Els by a stroke.

It was quite the turnaround for the 51-year-old with three PGA TOUR victories on his resume but less than full-time status on PGA TOUR Champions. He had made eight starts in 2021 prior to the DICK’s Sporting Goods Open and had only one top-25 finish, a 20th at the Insperity Invitational.

Beckman had called his little sister on Monday while driving to Endicott, New York, for his ninth Champions Tour start of the year.

“I said I‘m playing terrible. I’m not good,” Beckman said on Tuesday. “We did a Facetime and talked for three hours. And a week later I’m kissing a trophy.

“She changed my perspective. I wasn’t thinking right. We talked every night the whole week and she helped my mind. I’d been practicing a bunch and really playing well and just not getting any results. I started thinking better and then all of a sudden everything showed up and I had a great week.”

Mattick, 49, is a career growth coach. She’s normally focused on empowering women in business through her company There She Grows. But she certainly was eager to help her brother.

“He texted me and said I’m playing awful and when I saw that I was like, ‘OK, if you wanna brainstorm ideas let’s talk,’” Mattick said. “That’s not an unusual offer from me, but for some reason this was actually the week he gave it time. We weren’t rushed; he wasn’t moving on. He had patience and really allowed me to do what I do, time to get inside his head and understand what he was thinking and how he was feeling.

“I could tell in text he was so frustrated. He loves playing and cannot wait to get there. The big insight came when we realized he was shooting 6 to 10 under at home. The problem was between the ropes. We got inside his head -- what is it about the ropes robbing you of being at your best? We got very clear about what was going on his head. It was just a lot about the weight of expectations. … It becomes heavier and you can’t carry it anymore.”

Yes, Beckman has a sister who is a longtime mental coach in the business world, and he had never turned to her in earnest for help before last week.

But he felt the Champions Tour had become “too grindy” for him in 2021 and he wasn’t enjoying it nearly as much as he wanted to, planned to or figured he would. Then he went out in the final group on Sunday with major champions Els and Darren Clarke and promptly stared down both.

“I can’t have more fun playing golf,” Beckman said. “I suspect I wasn’t … obviously everyone was expecting others to win. That made it a fun little challenge. Everything felt great, it worked out perfectly.

“Obviously just winning is great. But yeah, how do I explain it. I’ve never done that before. Never been in that spot, playing against guys who’ve won majors. My other wins I was not battling anyone who’s in the hall of fame. I’m older now, it’s not .. this Tour is a little different. Everyone is still competitive, but it’s not the same as it was. I had a mindset of just kind of a fun challenge, so to speak. I just let myself play. More like was playing a game at home against a bunch of guys. I just had fun with it.”

A five-birdie barrage to start the back nine took Beckman from back in the pack to a four-shot lead over Els. The Minneapolis native played the final four holes in 2 over, but Els couldn’t make up all the ground he had lost.

Beckman said he had no idea his lead ever ballooned to that much. He was just playing and soaking it all in. He wasn’t watching leaderboards, which he admitted might not have been the best strategy.

“It was kind of strange. I was so into what I was doing,” Beckman said. “I was just engaging the crowd and doing things I normally don’t do. Just trying to stay real open to … when we as golfers play badly we start closing off to the whole thing. We start worrying about things that we shouldn’t. Normally I might have clammed up and got nervous, and I just didn’t do that. I just wasn’t into the scoreboard. I made that long birdie putt on 14 and was so into that I didn’t look at the board. When we got to 18 I didn’t really know what I was at. I was so focused on what I was doing. So I think ultimately it helped me. I ended up hitting in the water on 18 and that kind of shook me a titch. I hit a good shot in there and was able to two-putt and was fortunate Ernie didn’t birdie. I was just so focused I didn’t get out of whack after I hit it in the water.”

Beckman looked calm despite the poor tee shot. And he was. He said his only worry was going left of the water, which would have been out of bounds. When the ball went directly into the water, he said he knew he’d have an 8-iron in and wasn’t worried about a double bogey.

“I was peaceful,” Beckman said. “That was one of our thoughts for the week. Be at peace. Not be so in my own way.

“I felt like I wasn’t getting anything out of my game. The goal was to be peaceful. I was getting irritated on the course because I hadn’t been getting results, and that’s not me, not how I live my life. I took my regular old self out there last week.”

Mattick gave Beckman some specific techniques and as she phrased it “permission” to leave baggage and bad thoughts on the side.

“The majority of these guys … they love the game,” Mattick said. “He loves the game, but he wasn’t letting love win. Instead he was going in with all the weight and expectations. We walked in with a clean slate.

“I had worked with him all week. We went through things situationally. One of the things … it’s like they almost don’t perform until they absolutely have themselves in a total bind. He has to perform now! They can’t let it be easy. This whole week was let it be easy. If you love the game why aren’t we making this fun and easy and light?”

Beckman is eager to take his new mental approach into this week’s U.S. Senior Open, for which he qualified with his victory. He plans to keep up his sessions with his sister, too.