KEMPER OPEN

May 29, 1999

Rich Beem

RICH BEEM: I can do that. Easy enough. Wow, pretty good round of golf today, I think. It was one of the tougher rounds that I have had in a long time and took a lot of guts for me to go out there and hang in there like I did and actually got it going there for a while. Kind of had some distractionss there in the backside, but I am real proud of the way I performed today and I am really looking forward to tomorrow. And knowing exactly what it feels like to stand on the first tee box, you know, with the lead or even tied for the lead, going into tomorrow. Even though it is different between Saturday and Sunday, at least I will have been there at least once in my life. I'm looking forward to tomorrow and it is going to be another fun day.

RICH BEEM: I mean, I just -- things that entered into my head a little bit. Kind of personal stuff more than anything else. There was a few people out there with some cell phones four, five different times; that got to be a little annoying. But just thoughts going through my head more than anything else as far as the distractions. But, you know, I got through them and like Steve said, "The heart of a champion is when you have those bad mistakes, you come back with birdie." You hang in there. That shows a lot. And I am really proud of the way I did it today.

RICH BEEM: A couple of them were Motorolas, for sure. (Laughter) A couple of them were Nokias, because you can tell because they have these different chimes that kind of play different tunes, whatnot. Motorolas just ring. What I can't figure out, people carry them around, I guarantee 80% of cell phones today have that vibrating mode, and just do that if you have to have the phone. Is it seriously that important on Memorial day Saturday? I don't think so. But neither here nor there. There were a bunch of phones on the golf course. I guess that is what I should expect with all those people on the golf course. Steve said there would be a lot of things happening like that, you know, carts, cameramen, a bunch of small things, distractions here and there. But the only person that got in the way of any bad shots today was myself. So....

RICH BEEM: I think that it did great things for my spirit. If nothing else, I have held or have the lead for the first three rounds of each day out here. It feels good to come in tomorrow still being one of the leaders. More than anything else, just kind of helps my morale. I mean, I am a lot more pleased with the way I hit it off the tee box and my second shot, to be honest with you. Because I had hit a couple of quick hooks on the two previous times I hit driver on 15 and 16. Then, you know, had a couple of solid iron shots on 17 and 18. So I am real pleased with the way I finished on 17, 18 and 16 as well. I mean, I made a good par on 16.

RICH BEEM: No. No. I am going to go out there with one scenario and that is winning. I have come this far, I have got nothing to lose. I have never been here in this position and only good things can happen by coming out and staying aggressive and playing the way that I have the last few days. I hate to beat a dead horse, but, Steve, my caddie, he has done a great job. We are going to carry this thing into tomorrow. And watch out, we are going to have some fun.

RICH BEEM: I first met Steve in Hawaii. I saw him at various tournaments that Jim was at, went to a hockey game in L.A. with him and then in New Orleans, I guess about three weeks ago he was caddying for a good friend of his and we happened to be paired in the same group. So after I got done playing, we kind of talked a little bit. I had missed the cut. I was pretty frustrated. He gave me his phone number, said if I have wanted to work, you know, maybe we can get together. Actually my caddie that I was supposed to have for the week, Billy Mayfair's caddie, Montana, he dropped out before the tournament started. Actually Steve contacted me.

RICH BEEM: Yes, Thursday. It just happened to be one of those, man-,-I-am-on-top-of-the-world-now, this type of thing. When he called up, I literally was jumping up-and-down. My girlfriend couldn't quite figure out why I was so excited. I said, man, I have got an awesome caddie next week.

RICH BEEM: Absolutely. His job is for as long as he wants to make it. I talked to him before the beginning of the week, before this good stuff started happening. I told him maybe this could work out great for both of us; maybe he can stay out here, not knowing that I was going to play this well, that he could stay out with me. And I told him I will try my hardest on each shot and if, you know, just by being out here somebody says, hey, I want to have Steve on my bag, then he is certainly free to go work for anybody else. But if he wouldn't mind working for me and kind of -- install some confidence and show me what good caddies do, you know, we will just work together for as long as it could last. I am hoping it is going to last for a long time now.

RICH BEEM: On 11, no, actually, you know, I hit great shots in there. And on 6, there was a huge spike mark right in front of my ball and I knew it was going to hit it. It just happened to kick it left. Go straight over or go left. It just happened to go the opposite way. No, I don't think missing any of those putts really was a distraction. I was hitting good shots and really good putts, it is just the first time today, they just didn't go in. First time all week. I was a little upset over the one on 14 that I missed because I had a great opportunity there and, you know, I just didn't get it on line. Straight putt, right down the hill. I just never got it on line.

RICH BEEM: Probably about three feet. I thought it was a little bit further standing over it. I don't know.

RICH BEEM: No, actually today was probably my worst day of ball-striking.

RICH BEEM: Like I said, I am still enjoying the moment, still enjoying being out there and hitting the good shots and having opportunities. I mean, my goal at every tournament at every time I tee it up is to give myself as many opportunities as I possibly can. Some days everything will go in and some days they won't. Last two days a lot of putts have gone in. Today they just didn't happen to. I hit good putts. 13, I thought I had made it. Short putt on 12, 11, you know, but I made a good one on 10, as well. And you know, they are out there. I keep hitting good putts; they are going to go in again.

RICH BEEM: Yeah, when I am playing real well, I mean, I tend to make a lot of birdies when I play real well. Unfortunately, I have, you know -- the bogeys and double-bogeys I have made this week just tend to come from things that have happened to me this year. I don't usually make a lot of bogeys or double-bogeys when I am making as many birdies as I do. But I do tend to hit it all over the place every once in a while.

RICH BEEM: No. I am hoping that I won't be paying attention to Tommy's game tomorrow. I am just going to go out like I stated earlier in the week. I can't control what anybody else does. I can only control what I do myself. I am going to try to go out there, hit fairways and greens and make some putts. If Tommy chooses to lay up on the par 5s where he might have a chance to go for it to be conservative a little bit, that is his game. If I have got a marginal way of going for it, I might go for it. Not a whole lot to lose here. I am loving it.

RICH BEEM: Today I kind of surprised myself a little bit. Didn't get off to a very good start but calmed down shortly thereafter, played some good holes, but, you know, it feels a lot like it did at Q-School where I would go out and playing well and some good things were happening unfortunately got off to a bad start, but recovered nicely; that kind of set me in a good mindset. I am looking forward to tomorrow and I think tomorrow probably about the same kind of emotion-wise as far as final round at Q-School, you know, I don't really have a whole lot to lose so let's go out and play some golf; have some fun and hopefully good things will happen.

RICH BEEM: Yeah, there might be a little bit less to lose here than it was at Q-School, but we will see. Unfortunately I don't have -- I don't know what it is going to feel like tomorrow. I will let you know tomorrow night.

RICH BEEM: Before this week, I had a caddie a good friend of mine, Gus. I am not going to give you his last name because you probably -- I can't even spell it myself. He was a good friend of mine; caddied for me at Q-School; followed me up until Atlanta; then he is from New York; went back home found an assistant pro job. He quit. From there I have picked up different caddies each week. I kind of made my mind up to pick out a different caddie, but fortunately Steve called me up, and I talked to him and I just asked him on Tuesday, I said: Hey, listen, I want to have you on my bag as long as you can. Fortunately he decided he was going to stay.

RICH BEEM: Yeah. I look back on it now and, you know, one week you got somebody that does this for you, the following week another caddie may not talk as much or may not be as quiet as the last guy or may do more and for the first time all year I haven't carried a yardage book this week because I trust Steve so much. Other caddies -- not that I didn't trust them, I just I wasn't sure and I believe in Steve a lot. So I haven't carried a yardage book this week and it is one less distraction I have pacing something off I can go to my ball, sit and soak in the shot at hand instead of having to pace off something and do a lot of extra work. This is a lot less work, so it is a little bit easier on me.

RICH BEEM: We talk constantly, absolutely. We were -- just talked about keeping my head in the game, focusing in on the shot at hand, hitting the best tee shot of the day, solid iron shots, just, you know, knocking the putts, talked non-stop all day, that helps a lot, a lot more than people realize.

RICH BEEM: That is a shot that I have hit many times before this week. I just kind of came up out of it. I didn't feel real comfortable downwind, had 160 to the pin, 150 to the front. Steve said I shouldn't hit 9. I believe that I never got set in with the shot. If I could have one shot back today that would have been it because I know better than that.

RICH BEEM: 8-iron, just pushed it dead right in the drink.

RICH BEEM: No. I was thinking 9 and I knew it really wasn't 9, but I just -- because I knew I had to the back off the 8-iron a little bit and you know, going downwind I just didn't feel 100% comfortable. It was the right club; I just didn't hit it. Like I said, if I could have one shot back, I want that one.

RICH BEEM: No, like I said, I can't control what those guys do. If they want to go ahead and make runs and shoot 63, 64, 65, you know, so be it. I am going to go out and try and play my shots and hope for the best. Whatever happens, happens. I can't control, like I said, what they do. I am going to control my emotions, my golf swing and my game, and is that is what I am going to do.

RICH BEEM: Absolutely not.

RICH BEEM: No, not at all. In fact, just made -- it made me focus even more. I started off bad. Like I said, I was not comfortable. I was too anxious to get on the golf course, kind of running a little bit; that is what happens when I run, I start hitting quick hooks and start pulling them left. Making bad swings. I learned from that on No. 4, I just made up my mind, just relax, hit a good tee shot here. Hit a great one; hit even a better 6-iron with that pin up front and, you know, when I made the putt, I knew that it was -- I was going to be all right.

RICH BEEM: 6-iron to about 25 feet on No. 4. Hit it kind of front right pin was front left and made a curler; snuck it in the left edge, just kind of got me going a little bit again. Then on the next hole the tee box was way up 301 to the front edge, Steve asked if I had any problem hitting driver even though I hit off the first two holes. I said if you think driver is it, I promise you, I will put it in play. I stuck it right down in the middle about 30 yards short of green chipped up to about ten feet. And thankfully I saw Bradley's, he hit it just outside of me. His dove a lot more than I initially thought. I kind of went to school off of him, and knocked it right in the middle. Then on 6 I hit a perfect drive, just smoked it. Then I had 205 to the pin, and just another green light special, hit a 5-iron to about five feet, six feet and boy, I was I wanted to make that eagle pretty bad just didn't hit very good putt like you said caught a spike mark, but --

RICH BEEM: 10, I didn't really know if the pin was all the way back left. I figured it might be. I kind of put it on the right side of the fairway which is the play anyway on that hole. Just had a great look at the pin, twelve feet; just had a great roll on it. Right in the hole there. Then I don't think I made another one until 18. 18, just -- I focused in on trying to hit the best drive of the day. Hit a really good one; 8-iron from about 160, just kind of put it back in my stance a little bit; took dead aim at it and was fortunate enough it came up pretty close. Like I said, I was going to will that putt in. Had to go in.

RICH BEEM: Five, six feet. Pretty close. So.....

RICH BEEM: Yes.

RICH BEEM: He showed up. He called me last night. Actually he called me on Thursday when I talked to him. He said if you remember on top of the leaderboard on Friday I am flying out. So I held him to it. I said you are coming out last night. So he got on a plane at one o'clock in the morning from Seattle and got in here about 10:45 in the morning and we had some lunch and talked and just had a great time. He is my best friend. He is awesome.

RICH BEEM: Not a very good one (laughs).

RICH BEEM: Working at the same store I was in Seattle. We were training together and let me tell you a little story about him, if you don't mind. He is an amazing individual. When going through, I guess what do you call -- the training for the company, we were working for, first day orientation, we had 40 people in the company come up and to get to know everybody we had to tell two truths and a lie. A bunch of people kind of made up some dumb stuff. It came to me and I said, well, my two truths and a lie are you had to -- people had to guess which one it was. I said that I lived overseas for seven years. I said I play golf professionally, or I have played golf professionally, and I have a 6-year-old son named Jacob or something. Everybody in the room said, you can't play golf because one guy said he could break par, oh, he can't play golf. So that kind of got everybody' s attention. His two truths and lie were that he had ridden a motor cycle 180 miles an hour. By the age of 16 he had been through 47 out of 48 continental U.S. by the age of 16 and he had two daughters. I mean, I didn't have any clue what -- so he didn't have two daughters. He has been -- he is 35 years old, 36 years old, recovered alcoholic for 21 years and drug addict for 21 years; by the age of 16 he was -- he had been through 47, 48 continental U.S. states besides Pennsylvania, and he lives life everyday like there is no tomorrow and he is -- I love him. He is the neatest guy I have ever met, neatest personality, neat person and he gives me strength and support and he is the greatest. I am so glad he is here.

RICH BEEM: We couldn't decide whether 5-, or 6-iron. (laughs). I said 6. He said "Five." We hit 5.

RICH BEEM: Yeah, he said 205; 230 to the pin you still got plenty of room past the green and rather be long than short and so I just said you are right, went with the 5 because I thought the wind was helping more right before I hit it kind of shifted a little bit which was absolutely perfect because it made that 5-iron, you know, exactly the perfect club.

RICH BEEM: Four days.

RICH BEEM: Actually we have spent so much time here maybe tonight I don't know if I can get out of here at a decent time, I hope to maybe go see -- go sight-seeing a little bit; go to a different restaurant than the one I have been to the last three previous nights.

RICH BEEM: Buggerboo (Phonetic) Creek, right up the road. Exit 6, Exit 8, Shady Grove, right behind the Red Lobster and the bowling alley. Yeah, I hope that we can go into town and show her the sites. I am sure David has been here, like I said, he has been everywhere, so maybe go back down to the memorials and maybe just go do a little sight-seeing and kind of enjoying it.

RICH BEEM: I am trying to keep that out of my mind. Obviously it is my dream, but I just want to go out and play the best golf that I possibly can tomorrow and hopefully keep my composure as best I can, and just make myself proud on the golf course. No matter what happens, just go out and play the best golf I can. If it works out and I am able to sit in here tomorrow tonight with the big old crystal trophy here, whatever they give you, even better. But right now I am just going to go out and just going to do the same things I have done the last few days or last three days and hopefully have fewer mistakes.