Beaming Beem banishes Carnoustie demons

YOU might have thought that the last place Rich Beem would want to be is Carnoustie.

After all, it was here a few days prior to the 1999 Open Championship that he was convicted of drunken driving, fined £450 (€658) and suspended for eighteen months.

He then went on to shoot 81 and 80 to quickly bow out of the tournament.

Things looked up for this extrovert character when he beat Tiger Woods in a thrilling finish to the 2002 US PGA Championship at Hazeltine but just as quickly, the graph went in the other direction until he is now a lowly 320th in the world rankings. On his most recent visit to Scotland, Beem broke his putter in half on the way to another missed cut in the Open, this time at St Andrews.

His labours completed, Beem made his way to the Old Castle Tavern in the city’s South Street and presented the bottom portion to the owner who proudly hung it over the cash register where it still remains!

Undaunted, Beem continued to express his love for links golf and he claims that is why he is here this week. He proved it was no idle boast by shooting a five under par 67 in the first round of the Dunhill Links Championship at Carnoustie yesterday and he now shares the first day lead with Italy’s Alessandro Tadini and the in form David Howell of England.

As for the horrors of 1999, he insisted: “I knew that the course wasn’t going to play like that all the time and when you get it in conditions like today, then you just say ‘whoa’. It might be set up a little bit shorter and easier but if the wind blows, it is just brutal. Today, we got out there and kind of beat the wind and it was a lot of fun. It was the perfect day to get Carnoustie out of the way. They were saying this was going to be the most benign of the four days.”

Beem shot six birdies and one bogey at the 245 yards, par three 16th. His co leader, David Howell, remains the man they all have to beat for he can do little or nothing wrong these days. As he himself described this latest promising situation: “I am confident and I am playing nicely and I have learned over the last couple of years that if I play nicely, I generally contend and that’s comforting.”

The 52-year-old Sam Torrance shot a best of the day 68 at St Andrews and was understandably elated with that as he came off his victory on the European Seniors Tour at the weekend: “It’s just down to hard work and swinging well. It is still possible to grow as a golfer even as a senior.”