After the third round of the 2002 PGA Championship, Rich Beem argued that players like him - a former cell phone and car stereo salesman whose career was marked more by struggles than success - weren?t supposed to win major championships.
"To win a major, you have to have something special,'' he said at the time. "And I don't know if I have it.''
Less than 24 hours later, he answered his question with a resounding "yes."
In a most unlikely finish at Hazeltine National Golf Club, the laconic Texan backed into the lead on No. 8 when then-leader Justin Leonard double-bogeyed the hole. But Beem played with the poise of a proven veteran the rest of the way to hold off a hard-charging Tiger Woods and claim his first major championship.
Beem led by one shot as he made the turn, and seized control when he hit a 3-wood to within six feet on the 597-yard par-5 11th hole and converted the eagle. Woods, playing just ahead of Beem, soon three-putted the 13th hole for bogey, then bogeyed the 14th hole as well, and suddenly Beem?s shocking lead seemed insurmountable.
But counting Woods out is never wise, and he immediately proved he was far from done. He rebounded from those two bogeys by birdieing each of his final four holes to close out a 5-under 67, which tied the best score of the final day.
Each successive birdie brought an ever-louder cheer from the gathered throng, and ratcheted up the pressure on the unproven Beem. But instead of succumbing as so many other players have over the years, Beem stayed cool, aggressive and error-free, and he all but sealed the title with a birdie on the 16th hole that stamped his signature on the season?s final major.
On the same hole where Payne Stewart clinched the 1991 U.S. Open, Beem rocketed a do-or-die approach shot just over a marsh on the corner of Lake Hazeltine. His shot barely stayed dry, and he ran in the resulting 35-footer for birdie that gave him more than enough breathing room. After a harmless three-putt bogey on the final hole, Beem finished at 10-under 278, one better than Woods.
"As I said all week, I had no expectations,'' Beem said. "I really enjoyed this golf course. I thought I could get around it. But I never expected this.''
