I was selling car stereos and cell phones to make ends meet – then I beat prime Woods at the height of Tiger-Mania to clinch stunning PGA Championship
Few golfers were able to stop Tiger Woods in his prime.
Rich Beem was one of them.
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Beem finished one shot ahead of Woods to claim his maiden major titleCredit: AFPThe PGA Championship tees off at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville this week with Masters champion Scottie Scheffler and two-time champion Rory McIlroy looking to lift the Wanamaker Trophy.
Many of golf’s biggest names have won the PGA Championship, one of the four major tournaments.
However, few wins have been as surprising as Beem’s stunning victory in 2002.
Beem, the son of a former PGA professional, graduated from New Mexico State University and turned pro in 1994.
READ MORE GOLFBut he quickly fell out of love with the game and followed a girlfriend to Seattle where he sold car stereos for a period and took a job as a mobile phone salesman to make ends meet.
Beem only lasted a year in those jobs and barely picked up a golf club in eight months.
He was eventually persuaded to get back into the game after watching former foe Paul Stankowski win the 1996 BellSouth Classic on the PGA Tour.
At the same time, a young golfer by the name of Tiger Woods was establishing himself as golf’s pre-eminent force with a record-breaking victory at the 1997 Masters.
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Woods had won six of the last nine majors heading into 2022 PGA ChampionshipCredit: Getty
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Beem was ranked 73rd in the worldCredit: ReutersLittle did Woods and Beem know they were on a collision course at one of the sport’s most prestigious events.
Heading into the 2002 PGA Championship at Hazeltine National, Woods had won six of the last nine available majors at the time while Beem was ranked 73rd in the world and 284th at the start of that year.
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Beem shot a par 72 in the first round followed by a six-under 66 in the second round which had him in a five-way tie for first place.
He had one of the rounds of the day on Saturday, again shooting 72 to leave him solo second, three strokes behind leader Justin Leonard.
Woods, meanwhile, was in a tie for fourth, five shots off Leonard and two behind Beem.
In the fourth round, Beem fended off Tiger, posting birdies on the 3rd and 4th holes before picking up another at the par-5 7th. Leonard, on the other hand, buckled under the final round pressure and fell away leaving Beem and Woods to battle it out.
Beem eagled the 11th while Woods dropped shots at the 13th and 14th holes.
He was in command but Woods asked questions of him by birdieing his last four holes.
The ex-salesman held his nerve and, despite a three-putt bogey on the 18th, won the tournament by one.
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He held off Woods, who birdied the last four holesCredit: AP:Associated Press
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Beem did a little jog as he recorded a final round 68 to win the tournamentCredit: Reuters
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The victory catapulted him to 20 in the World Golf RankingsCredit: AP:Associated PressBeem performed a little jig on 18th green as he celebrated taking down the world’s best player at the height of ‘Tiger-Mania’.
“Nah, he wasn’t playing that good,” Beem joked with talkSPORT.com about Tiger’s form in the final round.
“He was struggling!”
And it turns out Beem has been living rent-free in Woods’ head ever since beating him all those years ago.
Beem recalls: “In 2016, when the Ryder Cup was at Hazletine, Tiger was a Ryder Cup captain for the US squad and I was up at the 12th green, just waiting for the next group of Americans to come through, I was just walking the golf course.
“He was in the group walking down 12 fairway and he just blurts out from about 20 yards away, ‘How the f*** did you reach the 11th hole in two?’
“I needed a little bit of help and I got it from him, but I also played extremely well. He would’ve had to play that much better than me and thankfully he didn’t.
“If he wants to ask me about that second shot again, I would be happy to describe it to him in full detail. It was pretty wild.”
Read More on talkSPORTBeem is currently a golf analyst for Sky Sports, The Golf Channel, and CBS Sports.
He will be part of the field at Valhalla this week and will be caddied by friend and filmmaker Erik Anders Lang.
