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FORD CHAMPIONSHIP AT DORAL

March 3, 2006

Rich Beem

DORAL, FLORIDA

JOE CHEMYCZ: We welcome Rich Beem with a 5 under par 67, 12 under par for the first 36 holes. Obviously a good start for you. Let's talk about your play for the first two days.

RICH BEEM: Yeah, I've done everything right it seems like the first couple of days, I made a lot of putts, I put myself in fairways which you need to do out here.

I'm not much of slasher out of the rough like some of the guys who can bomb it out here and can afford to miss fairways.

I came here on Monday night instead of Tuesday morning like I was supposed to originally because I felt like I needed a little practice after missing the cut last week. I felt like I was close to something good happening and to come out here and be 12 under par through two rounds, even I'm pretty shocked.

Q. (Inaudible).

RICH BEEM: You never want to finish with bogey on the last hole. I hit a decent shot and thought I was further into the green. I thought I was a little bit closer and looking at the putt it was straight downgrain, straight downhill. I really thought it was going to be a lot faster than it was and Heath Slocum said to me after the round, you know, "I had the same putt on Wednesday, I did the same thing and left it about six feet short." It's really, you think it's going to be a lot faster than it is and I just got fooled.

Q. The last couple of times you've had best chances to win, Disney and here; is that fair to say?

RICH BEEM: I lost in a playoff, too.

Q. The last two most recent times, this one and the last fall, have you suddenly figured out bermuda or what's the deal?

RICH BEEM: This bermuda is a lot different from when I first got on TOUR. We moved to Austin not too long ago and all they have is bermudagreens and you get used to putting on the bermuda greens, looking at the grain, things like that. It's fair to say that I enjoy putting more on bermuda greens than I did when I was a rookie. I putted well in Hawaii, or fairly well in Hawaii on bermudagreens. These greens are so perfect it's a joke.

Q. How conscious were you throughout the day of your proximity to the lead?

RICH BEEM: I knew that I was probably up there somewhere. I didn't know what the guys were doing. I knew Ryan Palmer was playing well and I didn't know how some of the other guys were doing. I felt like I was close to the lead for most of the day. You always want to have the lead. I do, anyways. I think it's a lot more fun having other people making up strokes than me making up strokes.

Q. You said you're one of those guys that likes it when par is a good score and you don't necessarily enjoy the birdie fest. How do you get your mind set for this thing where you know you've got to take it low?

RICH BEEM: Honestly yesterday when I came out here and saw how low the scores were, I parred the first six holes and thought I'd better make some birdies or I'm going to get past. All of a sudden I started getting on a roll and especially on these greens, once you get out there and get a little more comfortable the greens are so easy to read I think. Obviously, I'm really able to see the lines and I'm hitting a lot of good putts. Just giving myself a lot of opportunities, but, you know, I normally do like golf courses where 10, 12 under wins tournaments, because I think that, you know, making par, being rewarded with par should not be a bad thing; it's a good thing. Obviously the wind is not up and the greens are soft around here, the golf course with play pretty easy, as you can see.

Q. You talked about coming in early and working on your game, what part of your game has helped you most in your two rounds?

RICH BEEM: Honestly, all of it. My wedge play last week was horrible, which I turned it around quite well yesterday and hit a lot of really good 9 irons yesterday.

My putting, especially has been really good the last couple of weeks. I went back to a short putter, really heavy short putter and it's just helped smooth out my stroke and I'm really pleased with that.

The short putts I still haven't gotten the speed yet down on them but anything outside of five feet which is funny because my longer putts I feel better on than the short putts. But the putting is really kind of been the key for me the last couple of days. I think, also, being able to hit the scoring clubs in fairly close, that's also helped out.

Q. How much has the craziness of winning a major and everything that follows it subsided and is that a good or bad thing?

RICH BEEM: The good thing about it is they are never going to take away the title of major champion, so that's always good. A lot of it has subsided, but a lot of people remember that silly ass dance I did, some people really dig that. I think me personally, I probably created a lot of my own craziness, moving from El Paso to Austin and having a couple of kids, that kind of adds fuel to the fire a little bit.

You know, I've added a lot of it in my own world but as far as the fans' standpoint, people remember it but they are not overly anxious about it anymore.

Q. It's going to be a big atmosphere with Tiger at the top and you're right in the mix; having the experience of winning a major, will that help you?

RICH BEEM: It can never hurt, having that experience playing in front of lots of people and having the really big guys out there shooting at it. I don't know, I'm sure it's going to be a lot of fun, whoever I'm paired with, whether it's Tiger, Phil, I don't know.

But, you know, Roger Maltbie put it pretty well earlier in the week. He says, "If you've got to make a living off beating Tiger, you don't want to make a steady diet off of it." I think it will be fun playing with him tomorrow, just to watch and see where he hits it first of all. The guy is just an animal. He's fun to watch.

Q. When you did beat Tiger at the PGA, do you recall him being on your mind over those last nine holes?

RICH BEEM: Not even remotely. I said it back then, I was just trying to keep from throwing up basically. And that's a testament, you get into a situation where I was lucky to have won The INTERNATIONAL two weeks player to that, and so I knew I could handle the pressure coming down the stretch. You never know how it's going to be because it's a completely different atmosphere. Majors have always been a lot different.

You know, I really didn't think about anything he was doing. I saw the score board for the final time when I was on basically 13, the par 3. I saw that I had like a six stroke lead with five holes to go. I said, you know, I'm the only one that can screw this it up. He can birdie all the holes in, which he did (laughter). But I couldn't lose it if I stayed steady for last five holes, which I was fortunate enough to do.

I didn't look at the leaderboard basically until I was walking down the 18th fairway.

Q. Your kids are getting to be the age where they are a constant source of amusement. Are they aware of what you do for a living yet and provide running commentary when you get home?

RICH BEEM: Not yet. Michael is 2 1/2, and he says, "Bye Bye daddy, you going to play golf? Okay, bye bye." Obviously kids at that age don't have a sense of time so they don't really know. He knows that I was on TV yesterday. But not quite yet. He's still trying not to poop his drawers.

Q. How much of that, trying to balance the whole family thing, has impacted your golf?

RICH BEEM: That's quite a bit I think. I think the two areas between moving and having the kids has really been kind of a it's tough when you're away from home without them because you want to see them as much as possible, at least I do anyways. But when I'm on the road and as soon as you get done playing golf, you want to go and be with them and something suffers and mostly it's golf. When I'm at home, I don't really pick up a golf club. I took a couple of weeks off this year and I didn't touch a golf club, really. I had no desire to. I just wanted to hang out with the kids because I knew I wasn't going to see them for a couple of weeks. You don't want to miss a whole lot of time with them, at least I don't, anyways. The golf game does suffer. When they get to the age where they are more interactive, my wife keeps them busy doing other things, so I do have time to go practice and play if I choose to do so. I just haven't chosen to do so. I enjoy hanging out with them and spending some time with them. It's getting to the point where, you know, I miss playing well, as well. So it's nice to get out there and practice and play, and play well for a change. So this is to me the first two days have been really a lot of fun, the most fun I've had on the golf course in a long time.

Q. What Maltbie said was "I'd be frightened if I were trying to make a living..." Can you speak about the specter of Tiger on top of the leaderboard now and how it's maybe changed?

RICH BEEM: Well, you always expect him up there. You see his name and you expect him up there. I mean, the guy is a phenomenal talent, swing changes, everything that he does with the golf club and golf ball are pretty amazing.

So, you know, you just kind of hope you catch him on an off week somewhere, or able to catch him in a match play event where you might have that one opportunity if you're better than him that one day. But, you know, you're not going to beat him I was thinking about it today a little bit. He's more like a heavyweight fighter. You know you might get a few good licks in there, but you know at the end of the day, he's just going to beat your ass. Just trying to stand up as best you can. (Laughter).

Q. Land a few shots.

RICH BEEM: Yeah, land a few cheap shots.

Q. When is the last time you putted with a shorter putter and what was the line in the sand that got you back into it?

RICH BEEM: I putted with a short putter, I was putting with it for up until the British Open last year. I putted cross handed for a long time. You know, I was just putting so bad with anything I used and I couldn't figure out why. So I was actually in L.A. and I had a short putter with me for some odd reason, and I was actually in my hotel room and there's carpet with lines. So I put down the putter and I was looking down, I set down the short putter and I looked down like where I thought I was trying to hit it and it was so far left. I'm like, holy cow, is that bad. I literally sat there for about ten minutes that afternoon and just looked down the line, looked down the line.

That's the one thing that's helped quite a bit is getting my alignment a lot better with my putting. It's made a huge difference. My speed is really good. I'm not really focusing on the hole, unless it's a straight putt; I'm actually focusing on my line. I just got really hosed up there for the longest time. Finally things are starting to make sense and click again. So it's actually fun to get up there and feel like I've got the opportunity to make a putt instead of just hoping to 2 putt.

Q. Having been through the hype with winning the PGA and doing the commercials and everything like that, do you want to get back to playing golf to be able to enjoy the whole life of the Tour, or do you want to get back to playing golf just for playing golf's sake? Do you get caught up in the whole excitement of the Tour when you're younger?

RICH BEEM: You know, I play golf because I'm a lot like you guys, I love golf. I love everything about it. I love getting out there in the mornings when there's no wind out there and you're just kind of all by yourself. I love getting out there when it's blowing 50 like at the British Open and you know that you have no chance of breaking par. Just let's go see how well I can play. Obviously I like to play it well but if I don't play it well, it beats you up for a couple of hours, and damn it, I'm going to figure it out and go do it again tomorrow.

I don't play it to be honest with you, I play it to make money. If I don't finish first, I want to finish second and if I don't finish second, I want to finish third and so on and so forth. You know, I realize that I'm not I'm a good player but I'm not talented enough like Tiger, Retief, Phil, those guys to feel like I can win week in and week out. I think that, like I said earlier, I can take my cheap shots when I can get them and hopefully it will work out.

I enjoy being out there. I love the competition of it. I love playing golf competitively, but I'll tell you, you know, one day I'm going to walk away and I promise you I will not miss it, not even remotely. I'll still play golf, but playing competitively, you guys can have fun chasing it around for me. Call you up every once in awhile, "Hey, how is it going?"

Q. When you have the "major champion" next to your name, do you find yourself trying to live up to a new standard? Is that a difficult deal?

RICH BEEM: I did for a while. I think that for a year after, probably the two years afterwards, I did, I think really put some pressure on myself to play well to win again, whether or not it was a major or not. I really put a lot of pressure on myself. And it just didn't work. It wasn't who I am. I mean, I'm a guy who came out of the pro shop. Never played competitively, really, until I got out here. I played some tournaments here and there but I never did anything full time. I never played it for more than three months in a row before I had to go find another job.

It's kind of hard to lose sight of that sometimes, because all of a sudden people put you on this pedestal that you never thought you could ever be on. It was really strange for a while, and then all of a sudden when things weren't going well, then all of a sudden you start downward spiraling a little bit. You know, your confidence takes a beating and it's tough.

Like I said, the kids, my family, really kind of puts things in perspective. When I come home, my little boy doesn't care whether I shot 72 or 92. He just is happy to see daddy and that's the coolest I think.

JOE CHEMYCZ: Rich, thank you.

End of FastScripts.

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