Rich Beem wrote a letter – and now he’s 3 under to start the Houston Open
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HOUSTON – As a past winner of the PGA Championship, Rich Beem will always have a spot in the field. As for any other tournament on the PGA TOUR schedule? Well …
Since 2015, the only TOUR event the Beemer has played each year is the PGA; he doesn’t have status for any other tournament. In fact, most of the time he’s in Europe as a golf analyst for Sky Sports.
He recently returned home to Austin, Texas, from a two-week UK stint, including a week at St. Andrews for the Dunhill Links where he managed to play just one round. “It was too cold and the weather was crappy as usual,” he said, “so I just left the club in the hotel and went out and like everybody else in town, drank beer.”
Beem then got a call from first-year Houston Open tournament director James “Colby” Callaway. Although Beem had written Callaway a letter earlier in the summer in hopes of getting a sponsor exemption – and then stayed in touch with him after that – it still came as a surprise when Callaway gave him the news.
You’re in.
Beem fulfilled the veteran’s exemption in which Chad Campbell was also being considered. When the field list started to shift to allow Campbell, a native Texan, to play under another category, Beem became the choice.
And it all started with a letter, one that Callaway said he tucked away when he first received it before the field started to clear up in the last couple of weeks.
“With the veteran category, one of the requirements we have is you’ve just got to write us a letter,” said Callaway, who has known Beem for several years. “Not a lot of veterans wrote letters, so it kind of came down to a few.
“We really wanted to have a Texas theme, and Rich fits that. The fact that he was a 2002 PGA Championship winner just added to it. We know he’s a big character, we know he’s got a great following. It kind of fit the bill for us this week. I think it was an easy decision.”
And so that’s how the 49-year-old Beem -- who has made just five TOUR starts since 2015, hasn’t played an event other than the PGA since the 2014 Barracuda Championship, hasn’t played a Texas event since 2013 and hasn’t played in Houston since 2011 – came to be in the field this week at the Golf Club of Houston.
“I never expected to be here,” Beem said. “… When I got the call from him, I literally was in shock.”
Perhaps a bigger shock came Thursday, as Beem shot a 3-under 69 that left him in position to make the cut. Given how little practice Beem has managed lately, well …
“I wish I was this good back in the old times, are you kidding me?” said Beem, who famously won the 2002 PGA by holding off a hard-charging Tiger Woods down the stretch. “I don’t think I played this good towards the end of my career, there’s no doubt.
“It was nerve-wracking. I mean, I can’t say I was every fully comfortable out there, you know? I hit some good shots but I think that every shot grabs my attention, no doubt about it, just like in the PGA.”
Beem said he would’ve been happy to just shoot even-par 72, so to go three shots lower “is simply incredible. I never expected this, not by a long shot,” he said.
His lone bogey came on the third hole when his tee shot found the water; it was the only mistake he made After that, he managed four birdies while essentially just aiming for the center of the green.
He’s always kept things simple, which is why he works with Dallas-based coach Cameron Doan – recently inducted into the Texas Golf Hall of Fame – on just two things: Posture and alignment. “If you keep it that simple, everything else … falls into place,” Beem said.
Meanwhile, he’s working with European-based Seamus Sweeney of Callaway golf on his putting. Again, it’s just keeping it simple. “I don’t have 10,000 thoughts going on in my mind with the putter,” he said. “It’s just one thing, and that’s getting my hands as high as I can and pull the trigger.”
While Beem acknowledges he’s uncomfortable over most shots, he knows he’s playing with house money this week. He’s having a blast with 16-year-old son Michael on his bag. The Sky Sports thing is going well. And hey, he’ll turn 50 next August, which means PGA TOUR Champions is a possibility.
And as Thursday showed, he can still knock it around a little.
“That’s the thing about Rich … he’s capable of pulling one out of the hat every once in a while,” Callaway said. “We want him on the weekend.”
Said Beem: “Listen, I’m still not that good because I don’t play enough. But I still know how to play. I don’t think that ever leaves you.”