WGC AMERICAN EXPRESS CHAMPIONSHIP

September 18, 2002

Rich Beem

TODD BUDNICK: Welcome Rich Beem, who is currently 4th on the PGA TOUR money list, three top tens in his last ten TOUR events and he took three weeks off after the NEC and played in the German event, European Tour. Were you rusty last week.

RICH BEEM: Yes, and I hit balls Tuesday, and I'm surprised I didn't shank it on the first tee. It was pretty sad, but, yeah, a lot of rust in my game and it definitely showed.

Q. You took a much-needed two weeks off. You must have enjoyed that. You were pretty worn down?

RICH BEEM: Yes, I was, actually. The first week really wasn't that much of a week off, as much as it was entertaining other people back home as far as going to dinners and things like that and just kind of catching up. And then Golf Channel came in and did the Thursday night deal with the boys. They're out of control, those guys. You have to keep some arm bands on them.

Q. Good TV?

RICH BEEM: Yes, it was. The second week, I played once I think in two weeks. I played well, you know, at my home course, but I didn't play at all, so obviously my game has been a little different to find it in the next few days.

Q. What are your plans for the rest of the season?

RICH BEEM: Playing next week in Texas. One week off and then Vegas, Orlando, one week off on the Tour championship. So I've still got 5 out of 7 I guess left. Still keeping a full schedule to hopefully finish in the top 5 of the money list.

Q. I was interested to know what you were thinking on waiting on the 18th green at the International when Steve was putting; it looked like you wanted to die.

RICH BEEM: I did. You were there. I don't know. You go out and shoot one of the best rounds of your life in competition and all of a sudden a guy has a 12-footer to beat you. That was a terrible feeling. It was done, I was going to win or lose on one putt. I don't know how he felt over the putt. I'm sure he was a little bit nervous as well. I was probably just about as nervous as he was, yeah. It was tense, but it was fun, though. That's what that format leads to. Gosh, you sit there on the 18th tee box, the guy behind you and you have a nine-point lead on him, and you think I've got this in the bag. All of a sudden he makes two. Hello. That's the best thing about that format, anything can happen and it obviously did.

Q. Talk a little bit about the beginning of the year.

RICH BEEM: I expected to be here.

Q. Now here you are playing with 49 of the top 50 players in the world. Tell us a little bit about it?

RICH BEEM: At the end of last season, in fact, on the plane trip back from Southern Farm Bureau, I wrote down a bunch of goals, and I had three sets of goals that I wanted to accomplish, and the first one, obviously was I really shot the moon on trying to keep my card, that was the No. 1 goal and then top 70 on the money list to get me in all the Invitationals and things like that, and having so many top-25 finishes, and I don't even know if I accomplished that goal. Then second was to win a tournament and then a third one and then win over $1,000,000. And then the third one would have been to put myself in position to make the Ryder Cup for 2004. Yes, I'm way ahead of the game, so I have to go back to the drawing board and get new goals, I think the first level would be still finish top 40 on the money list or something like that, you know, and hopefully win again and things like that, but I don't know. It's really weird. I don't know really where to go from here. I've totally exceeded every expectation I could ever have dreamed of. I have no idea what to do now.

Q. Do you still ride in the crest of the wave or have you come down and needed to focus?

RICH BEEM: I'm pretty grounded right now. I don't get out on the golf course and think about I won the PGA or the International. I know in the back of my mind I've done it, but it's not something I'm aware of 24/7. Like I said, I'm coming in here and I think I'm looking forward to having a good week. Right now my game doesn't feel 100 percent right now, not like it did at the International and PGA. I have to get back to work to finish in the top 5, which is now my immediate goal.

Q. Is this the first tournament since the PGA to properly focus and prepare?

RICH BEEM: I played last week in the German Masters. It was a week where I went out there and started off really well. I just started off well because I got lucky on a few holes and reached a couple of par 5s and two putted from there. I didn't feel comfortable standing over the shots like I had been in the past. It was a little difficult.

Practice went well here yesterday. I like the golf course, you can be aggressive off the tees or challenge it or lay back. There is a couple of different ways to playing it, I think there is a little bit of risk versus reward, which is what I enjoy. You know I actually work hard. I was out here from 8:00 in the morning until 4:00 in the afternoon working on my game, and I came out this morning and hit a bunch of golf balls this morning, and played a few holes on the back side, but I got in the way of all the grounds crew, so I came back in after hitting a few tee shots here and there.

I'm working on my bunker play, because I think that's going to be a big week. I think it's going to be a huge part of my game this week. I'm probably going to put a different putter into play. Everybody is going to look at me and say don't, but for some reason it doesn't feel good this week so I have to try something else if it doesn't feel good. I will probably get scolded for that.

Q. The Ryder Cup, how important would it be to make that team in 2004?

RICH BEEM: It would be huge, both the President's Cup and Ryder Cup are absolutely, they're so big in my mind's eye. That's the ultimate. That's just as good as winning a Major, I think, just because I mean everything that surrounds it. If you're going on a winning Ryder Cup team you're going to go down in history; if you lose it, you go down in infamy. I think the President's Cup team is obviously -- it's almost the same plateau but I think the history of the Ryder Cup and how everybody gets behind the Ryder Cup more than the President's Cup. I think in the next ten years the President's Cup will get there, but the Ryder Cup will be the ultimate, so that's my main focus.

Q. (Inaudible) do you have any contracts signed?

RICH BEEM: Yes, everybody in the door is banging down -- just kidding. A few things, yeah, fun things, Pepto Bismol has contacted me. You don't have that over here, do you. A couple of different ones, I'm going to do a commercial for sports center in a company of weeks, that's going to be a blast. That's going to be a lot of fun. A few different things have come up, but I think people are still in shock more than anything else, but a few things have come across the door for me to kind of take a look at and hopefully some things will work, if not, no big deal, but it's been fun.

Q. Have you treated yourself with some of your winnings?

RICH BEEM: Actually, I haven't. I bought my wife a big diamond necklace, but no, actually after the International win, I went ahead and we bought a pool. We put a pool in our backyard, and just as much came the landscaping to do afterwards, because they tore up my whole backyard, so I went ahead and had landscapers come in and do work in the backyard. It will be done when I get home.

No, I haven't spent anything; just a big diamond necklace for my wife. I'm hoping to get a porch, though, for Christmas.

Q. Have you considered at all the dangers of wearing out?

RICH BEEM: We definitely looked at that, we've had a lot of offers in the off-season. It's going to be real busy. In fact, right after the Tour championship, I go play in the Wendy's Three Tour challenge which is videotaped for December over in Las Vegas, and then I go home for a couple of days, and then I'm going to help out some friends at Grayhawk in Scottsdale, Arizona, with a Pro-Am they have. And then Hyndai Team Matches with Peter Lonard, which will be great fun, and then the Australian Open grandslam and then the Williams World Challenge.

I do have quite a few things. Fortunately three of them are just two-day events, which is nice. But at the same time, there is a lot of travel going down to Australia and back over to Hawaii and then back over to L.A. As long as I can I can figure out how to get enough sleep on the airplane, I'm all right. I have exactly 28 days, four weeks, from the time I get home from the Williams World Challenge before I have to tee it up again in Maui. I think that will be plenty of time to go home and rest, you know, and do some off season workouts and work with my swing coach for just a little bit. I think a month is plenty because I will be probably ready to go by then.

TODD BUDNICK: Thank you.

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