Rich Beem shared stories of his storied golf career with Iona Stephen at North Berwick Golf Club just a month ago.

That's when Stephen asked him about his 2002 PGA Championship win against Tiger Woods, one that turned Beem into a big name in golf.

“It’s flattering but it’s not like on the trophy it says me first and Tiger second. It’s just me. It's great obviously... I don't necessarily look at it that I beat Tiger. The only time I do say that is when somebody doesn't know golf...There’s 155 other guys that I beat as well. His was just the biggest name right behind me.”

The reference, of course, is to the 2002 PGA Championship, where Beem claimed his first and only major title. He closed the week at 10-under par, one shot clear of Woods at nine-under, surviving a late Sunday charge. Woods applied maximum pressure late, birdieing each of the final four holes.

In fact, as the crowd roared, Beem previously recalled trying not to pay attention to it. "I heard them but never really thought about them or wanted to react to them."

Watching it back, he even found himself thinking, “I know how this turns out, but I don’t know how I did it.”

But before winning, Rich Beem shared a different moment with Woods

Beem also shared a lighter moment from before the final round even began. Woods was playing in the group ahead, and as Beem walked past him near the practice area, he instinctively wished him well.

“I said, ‘Hey Tiger, good luck today,’ or ‘play well today.’ Who in their right mind tells Tiger good luck?” His caddie [Beem’s] was equally stunned. “He kind of goes, ‘What did you just say?’” Beem said, before deciding to move on and refocus.

More than 20 years later, Beem still describes the final 36 holes of his PGA Championship win as the most pressure he has ever felt, saying that by the time the last putt dropped, “physically and mentally, I was gone.”

Written by

Aditi Singh

Edited by

Siddharth Shirwadkar