Rich Beem enjoying attention as Major winner

Twelve months ago Rich Beem was a journeyman U.S. professional known chiefly for a book which chronicled his unfashionably easy-going attitude to golf and his liking for a beer or two after a round.

The best-selling "Bud, Sweat and Tees" seemed to sum up his approach to a sport he quit briefly eight years ago to pursue a career selling mobile phones.

In short, he was marked down by many as more at home in the bar than in a gym or among the young guns pounding balls on the driving range for hours on end.

But that all changed last August when he upset the formbook and pundits alike to stave off a charge from Tiger Woods and win the U.S. PGA Championship.

Golf's fourth major is not the most prestigious in the game but it still catapulted Beem from a three-figure ranking on the U.S. Tour to a place among the sport's elite.

Beem, 32, was still basking in the after-glow of that achievement 11 months ago when he began his preparation for the British Open at Sandwich which begins on Thursday.

"To win any major is just an unbelievable feeling, you feel so euphoric it's hard to describe," he told a news conference on Monday.

Beem, who had been ranked 109th the year before, won at Hazeltine in style with an eagle at the 13th and a birdie at the 16th to hold off Woods who was chasing his third major of the year.

As one observer put it, a nobody from Texas looked Tiger in the eye -- and Tiger blinked first.

"Tiger's a great player, awesome, as he's proved time and time again, but we in the locker room know he can't win everything," said Beem.

"I was by far the unlikeliest one to hold him off but it showed it can be done. It gave people the encouragement to think 'well, if this guy can do it, holy cow, maybe I can'.

"In some ways then I guess I inspired some guys a little bit -- hell, I surprised myself quite a bit too."

Beem is certainly not discounting Woods biting back with victory at Royal St George's despite relatively disappointing finishes in the U.S. Masters and U.S. Open this year.

"I'm sure sometime soon he's going to come along and pump (beat) us but in the meantime we'll try to give him hell."

Beem is confident of his own chances, though. He has prepared his links game at St Andrews before travelling south to England where the conditions and baking weather suit him perfectly.

"It's just like El Paso where I'm from," he said. "Hot and blowy. I like that.

"The beer's not bad here too. It's a little warm and a little thick but once you've had the first one it goes down just fine."

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