KEMPER OPEN

May 30, 1999

Rich Beem

RICH BEEM: I'll try to. Gosh, I don't even know where to begin. I just -- I will just try and go through as brief as I can, my rounds. I don't even want to -- I got off to a great start. Made a great birdie putt on 1, felt great about my golf swing going out there. And felt a lot better over the first tee shot and that helped out a lot knowing what to expect from yesterday. Then carried it over. Hit it green on 3, which was another moral victory; hit it three times in a row earlier. Steve said to me I think you are good enough to hit this green once this week, why don't you show me. I did. I guess I am batting 1,000 if I can hit that green in birdies. Made a good par on 4. Then 5, the ball was going Mach 8 if it didn't hit the hole, I might have knocked it off. But it went in. That set the pace for the rest of the round. I got in a great frame of mind from there, just tried to keep the errors few as possible. The one on 13 was a yardage problem, we thought we had about 180 to the water. We had 165 or so. We just hit an 8-iron too far. I just kept it together and I was just trying to finish the last three holes actually. 16, I was walking up the hill after my tee shot. My legs were about out. I was so tired physically, mentally not trying to think about everything. And 18 what can I say? I just tried to figure out a way to not shoot myself in the foot. I didn't. (laughs).

RICH BEEM: I called my dad. I wanted to call my mom, but I am going to call my mom. I feel bad that I didn't call her second, but I had to call back to El Paso Country Club to my sponsor, JP Hayes. Last year when he won he bought everybody a drink at the Grill. So I had to do the same in good graces. I had to call them and tell them to start the tab. I hate to see it when I get back, but I don't care, I have got a lot of money.

RICH BEEM: Larry.

RICH BEEM: That is a good story. This morning I was lying in bed and I honestly felt like I was going to throw up. I thought oh, no, not this. I couldn't help but think about Billy Ray Brown before last year's or a couple years ago in the Qualifying School. So I went out and did some errands this morning and I was with my buddy David. We went, got Starbucks coffee, muffin and I said I got to go buy some Peptol Bismol I can't survive. So I didn't take it until I got to the golf course. Hid it in my pocket so nobody would see. I carried it into the locker room and went to the bathroom and I was still hiding it. I went into a stall, took a couple of big chugs of it so nobody would see exactly how nervous I was. So that definitely kind of calmed me a little bit. That is the Peptol Bismol story.

RICH BEEM: He called me up. He actually locked his keys and his room key in his hotel room; he had no way of getting out here this morning. He was running but he called me up and he showed up two minutes after I got in the driving range. He called me, told me he was going to be a few seconds late, but I was never worried. I knew he was going to be here no matter what.

RICH BEEM: To be honest, I was just thinking I am going to -- I wanted to make more birdies. I was trying to hit it close. I hit it pretty good on 11, just misread it. 12, I got a little break there again, but I was trying to make more birdies. I was trying to win by five or six. Just trying to get so far ahead of the game, so maybe I would have a little more leniency coming down the stretch. I am just thankful that I had at least a two-stroke lead coming into the last hole. I fought hard starting after hole No. 13 not to make any more errors and I didn't really until 18. 18 really wasn't an error. I think I just tried to hit the driver too hard, adrenaline was flowing and I just tried -- wanted to make the lowest score possible. I knew that I could make 5 and still be fine. Sure enough I did.

RICH BEEM: I was trying to aim left, but I guess I just -- there was a couple of nice fishes floating around the water I guess. I don't know, I like the right side. I hit it there three out of the four days. Actually I hit it over on the right side all four rounds. One day just happened to go into the hazard. When I hit it, I knew it was going to be long enough to stay up. It won't hit on the side. I just wasn't too sure after it hit the green, fortunately it stayed up. It wasn't up by more than a couple of inches, but it was up just enough to hang up there and give myself a nice opportunity.

RICH BEEM: I hit it in the bunker, yeah, just trying to hit a solid tee shot there and knocked it in the bunker and didn't -- I had a hell of a lie. I just kind of gouged it out, 180 to the pin, perfect wedge, hitting it close right there, that was a really big momentum keeper, I think because even though I parred 6 and 7 after birdieing 5, I mean, it was really a big momentum keeper for me. If I would have bogeyed there after Tommy made birdie, it would have --

RICH BEEM: It wasn't that hard a shot. I had a perfect yardage a little down -- ball was on downslope a little bit. I knew I could hit the wedge at least 130 -- exactly 130 to the hole and it was just a perfect, perfect wedge, really wasn't any reason to lay out to the right. I had no fear of going in the bunker. It was the right play. I don't know how far over the bunker it landed, but I knew my yardage. I just hit it to that yardage.

RICH BEEM: No.

RICH BEEM: I had an idea. I had an idea. After hole 10 I saw the scoreboard there. Didn't really see one until I got on 14 again on 14 tee box, but I knew -- I pretty much knew where I stood. Even though I knew where I stood, I still wanted to kind of reaffirm it a little bit. And then I did see it on 16, but I did ask David Feherty, is there anybody else on 9 because I wasn't too sure if Bradley Hughes or Billy Glasson had got it into 9-under par. I knew that they were 8-under for a while, so I asked David Feherty, he said two other guys were at 9.

RICH BEEM: Yeah, walking up to the green. I knew what I had to do. Still had a two-stroke lead. He kind of kept me in the mindset of, hey, hit the shots at hand, everything else will take care of itself.

RICH BEEM: Yeah.

RICH BEEM: He just wanted me to eat something. I haven't eaten really since last night. I didn't eat a whole lot last night. I am hoping I can muster to have a pretty big meal tonight. I am going to take full advantage of not having the nerves anymore. I was tired. I was getting tired. Thank goodness I work out as often as I do, if not, I would have gotten beaten up. I don't know how Tommy felt coming down the stretch, but it looked like, to me, he maybe made a couple of tired swings on 16 maybe -- I don't know -- I don't know Tommy. I don't know how strong he is. But I knew for a fact I was getting worn out. I was tired emotionally, physically, and I was just trying to focus as best I could and try and make it in.

RICH BEEM: He just said, you know, just keep your spirits up, only got five more holes, just conserve your energy, just keep a slow pace, take your time, don't get too excited and don't get too high emotionally. That is about it.

RICH BEEM: No. Like I said, I am super fortunate now to have the luxury of being able to pick and choose a few more tournaments that I can play in since I will have basically and all access pass. I can't tell you how frightened I was that, you know, this dream that I was living was only going to end up for one year, if I didn't make it through this year top 125 or if I would have gone back to Q-School. But you know, I am glad I did not. I did not commit next week to the Memorial, even though I am eligible to play. I have got that laser surgery, that is a big priority of mine. I apologize to Mr. Nicklaus. There is nothing more than I would love than to meet him and I hope that I get the opportunity to do so some time over the next two years. Unfortunately, I am not going to play in his tournament just because this laser surgery is important to me and I want to savor this for a few extra days. I don't want to have to go back and grind. I am done for the week.

RICH BEEM: Yeah, without him this week wouldn't have happened. I mean, he is an awesome caddie and I was telling my friend JP Hayes a couple of weeks ago, after New Orleans tournament, I asked JP what he thought about me trying to hire Steve as my caddie. He says Steve might cost you a little bit more. As far as I know, Jim Furyk probably base salary for the week, but he said if there is anyway to get him on your bag, there is really no exception for a great caddie. And I had heard that throughout the year a good friend of mine, Rich Mayer (phonetic) who caddies for Paul Stankowski, he proved that to me at practice round in Atlanta. Steve was absolutely a huge equation, huge part of me winning. My hats off to him and, you know, I can't say enough about the guy. He is awesome.

RICH BEEM: You know, not -- I don't have anything real deep, real emotional. Just that I got an X-Out for the next two years; that makes me really happy. My girlfriend, she is really happy to maybe travel with me a little bit more this year. I can fly her in now -- and by the way I am flying you both first class to San Diego. I am flying you first class back home. You are sitting right in front. I am flying first class for a while. I just -- just there is so many great things that are going to come out of this. I can't even describe to you, all the fringe benefits, but more than anything else, I am happy that I won this and not only for my father and my family, my friends, but for myself as well. This -- I can't tell you how awesome a feeling this is to prove not only to myself, but to gain the respect of my fellow touring pros, that means a lot.

RICH BEEM: Unfortunately I don't know exactly who has made this their first tournament win, but everybody who has won it prior; Greg Norman, Justin Leonard --, look at that, I am on top of the list. (laughter). Tom Byrum, everybody know Tom Byron? What college did he go to?

RICH BEEM: Where did I go to school? New Mexico State, go Aggies. Another quick tidbit before we go ahead - anybody know where Tommy Armour went to school.

RICH BEEM: Little Aggy Lobos shootout over there. Aggies got 'em again (laughter). No, it was great playing with him today. He is a class act. I will tell you what, he hits super. He was a pleasure to play with today. My hats off to him. He gave me a charge. He kept me honest. Freddie Couples, he is a pretty good player. Nice -- I am just happy to be a winner, man.

RICH BEEM: I can't quite comment exactly what he said to me but he said good job. You can't go verbatim, that is something not printable. He was smiling ear to ear. My sister Suzie and he were watching on the big screen TV to be honest. But this may not mean more to me than it does to him, but it means awfully close. I tell you I feel great making him proud. He has been a huge part of my life, part of my golf game, you know, we have had our ups-and-downs as a father and son. Nothing bad, just small here and there, but he has always tried to -- always been there for me. He is awesome. So is my mom. I want to call her right now - in a few minutes.

RICH BEEM: I hope it wasn't that long. If it was two feet, that is too far. You know, I didn't hit the chip shot exactly where I wanted to, as you may well imagine. I was trying to get it up past the hole a little bit. I was just super nervous on the chip and I had 20 feet there for my first putt and actually my hands weren't shaking that bad on the first one. I rolled the golf ball, rolled my putts in the last few holes starting with 15, even 14, even back up to 13, I had some lengthy putts. Rolled them up within - not gimme distances - but awfully close distance. I felt real fortunate to get it in within a foot and a half on 18 and just knock it in.

RICH BEEM: I'd rather not talk about that.

RICH BEEM: Even from this morning just knowing exactly what was going to go on out there today. I didn't know exactly what to expect, but I had a pretty good idea walking around this morning. My legs weren't quite underneath me. I tried to go workout and work on them a little bit. Maybe kind of get some strength to them. And, it worked for a while, but I felt it all day but especially probably heading to the backside walking down the hill on No. 9, I could really feel the strain going on my legs. Just really tired. And mentally I felt pretty good. My swing felt great, but I really had been concentrating on my legs. They were hurting. So I am sure my trainer, Bob, is going to get wind of this, work my legs twice as hard next time we go back home. But my body was really beaten up after a while.

RICH BEEM: That wasn't that bad. Actually better today than yesterday. My heart rate was a lot better than yesterday.

RICH BEEM: Got me going right away, oh, yeah. It felt great. I was just trying to get it close, just trying to get it somewhere around the hole. It wasn't a very easy putt. I didn't think. I knew that -- just tried to play kind of a general area, just try and get the right distance, gosh, low and behold it goes in. That got me off to a real good mindset. That was about 40-footer, 30, 35-footer. That just got me off to put a spring in my step just a little bit. Made the second hole tee shot a lot easier than it was the first day -- I am sorry, the third round. Just kind of carried a lot of momentum with that putt.

RICH BEEM: I knew from that moment on, when the one on 5 went in, you know, I knew that it was going to be a pretty good day. I wanted to make sure I had kept my mistakes to a minimum, which I did. I had two bogeys including the one on 18. I knew that things were kind of going my way and that putts were going to fall for me regardless. To be honest with you, I am really surprised I didn't make anymore birdies during the round. I didn't hit it that close except for like on 11. I thought that I had a real good opportunity there. But I thought I might make a few more putts after that and I didn't, but I made enough to begin with, and I just played solid from there.

RICH BEEM: I am usually -- when I am playing well, I usually make a lot of birdies, a lot of bogeys and a couple of pars in between. I don't discriminate against any number. I might make 6, 7, 8 sometimes it doesn't matter. But I will make a lot of birdies. That is why the roller coaster ride went on for the first few days. Today was a little different. I was a little more in check; had a lot of birdies at the outset, but, you know, even after you start off hot, you make a bunch of pars in a row -- it was good because I was still so far ahead that I had a lot of luxury of maybe making a mistake or two which I did, but, you know, on Sundays, coming out of the back 9, par is your friend. I think I have witnessed that on a lot of occasions, of watching guys win all the time on Tour, that making par is a pretty good score coming down the back stretch.

RICH BEEM: It did a little bit. I was still trying to make birdies, but I was also making sure that I gave myself the opportunity, positioning myself in a position to make birdie, but if I didn't, I'd still have a reasonable shot. I wasn't just trying to hit it on a green, I was trying to hit it on a green in a specific area so I would have an opportunity at least to make birdie. If not, I was going to roll it close. I was trying to keep it where I wasn't going to have to make 4, 5-footers coming down the stretch to save par.

RICH BEEM: Amy, how secure was my job at El Paso? My head pro, Cameron, he is a good player, great player. In fact, he was the Sun Country section Player-of-the-Year past three years, and unfortunately I had beaten him a few times and he was kind of getting tired of us, so I am not too sure how secure my job was. But no, it really wasn't -- it wasn't a factor. I just -- I was having such a great season and Steve Haskin, Rick Todd, Ryan Hieteller (phonetic), JP Hayes a lot of great players that play out of El Paso Country Club, a lot of really good players, and just playing with them, having some success, you know, I knew that I could it. Watching JP win last year probably pushed me over the edge. I probably said, you know, hey, listen, I have played with this guy every round that he comes back to El Paso Country Club. I can play with him, every once in a while, I can beat him, you know, if he can do it, I can do it. So I just went ahead and did it. My biggest fear, my biggest kind of momentum to make it out here on Tour was the fear of having to go play overseas. When I committed, I was fearful, because Amy and I were just starting to date at that time. I didn't want to go overseas and play and be away from her for 3, 4 months at a time, which I knew it would take that and so I just focused on what I had to do. Got through first stage, second stage, right in the middle and then finals. I just went out there and did it.

RICH BEEM: Magnolia Hi-Fi.

RICH BEEM: Thanks, David. Yeah, actually when David showed up yesterday, he brought all of his good luck and good vibes charms. And David and I worked at Magnolia Hi-Fi together both of us were miserable. We had a lot of fun. Our boss hated us. All the other employees kind of liked us to a point, but our bosses hated us. We had so much fun. It was a joke. I mean, I remember one time David got a paycheck, he owed the company money --

DAVID: Thanks, Rich.

RICH BEEM: But, no, he carried a bunch of stuff. My Cubbies cap. He is wearing that, my lucky Cubbies cap and my lucky blue shirt that he stole from me last year. I will continue to carry the Magnolia Hi-Fi card forever now.

RICH BEEM: To be honest with you, now I hope this opens up some more doors. What I'd like to do, you know, if there is any way that I would qualify for the British, I'd obviously go over there. Like I said, my father used to be a head golf professional in Berlin, Germany, if there is ever a tournament in Berlin, I'd love to go. And then I want to go to Australia. I think I can afford to do that now. Go to Australia in November, and that is -- I think that is going to be my overseas experiences for the year. So, yeah, I'd like to go to Berlin, Germany and play over there and play in Australia for a few months. For a month at least.