Background
Beem was born in Phoenix, Arizona, grew up in El Paso, Texas, and played college golf at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces.
Beem was born in Phoenix, Arizona, grew up in El Paso, Texas, and played college golf at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces.
In the fourth round, Beem fended off Tiger Woods, who birdied his last four holes but finished one shot behind Beem, who shot a final round 68 to Woods" 69.
Beem turned professional in 1994. His early career was broken up by a spell in Seattle selling car stereos and cell phones. His career took a further leap forward in 2002 with a victory at the The International in Castle Rock, Colorado.
He shot a par 72 in the first round, but followed that with a six-under 66 in the second round to pull into a five-way tie for first place.
In the third round, he again shot 72 and found himself alone in second place, three strokes behind leader Justin Leonard. This victory helped establish Beem in the top 20 of the Official World Golf Ranking.
The sequence was later made into a Nissan commercial. (video) Beem credited Peter Jacobsen for inspiring his reaction.
Jacobsen aced the same hole in 1994 and hopped into the nearby 300ZX convertible and pretended to drive lieutenant
Beem was sidelined in 2010 after undergoing back surgery to repair damage to his C6 and C7 vertebrae. While Beem was expected to only miss six weeks, rehabilitation issues caused the layoff to encompass the remainder of the 2010 season. Beem played the 2011 season on a medical exemption that required him to make $658,100 in 17 events.
He missed the his first six cuts of the 2011 season before making the cut at the Valero Texas Open.
He finished tied for 15th. Beem made just five cuts in 21 events.
As a result, he lost his tour card and played the remainder of the season out of the "past champions" category in 2012. He played on the European Tour in 2012, the last year of his ten-year exemption on that tour for winning the 2002 Professional Golf Association Championship.
In 2015, Beem joined Sky Sports as a television commentator and golf analyst.
He also planned to play at the Union Bank of Switzerland Hong Kong Open, but gave up his sponsor exemption to allow Ian Poulter to keep his European Tour card. Beem resides in Austin, Texas. Professional Golf Association Tour wins (3) Other wins (2) Wins (1) Results timeline DNP = Did not play CUT = missed the half-way cut "T" indicates a tie for a place World Development = Withdrew Green background for wins.
Yellow background for top-10 Summary Most consecutive cuts made – 2 (2002 Professional Golf Association – 2003 Masters) Longest streak of top-10s – 1.