Beem moves into major league with all-out attack style

New USPGA champion resists late charge by Woods to move up to fourth on US money list after starting year ranked 284 in world

Rich Beem, the surprise new USPGA champion, plays practice rounds with Fuzzy Zoeller and John Daly, which shows he is pretty loose. Sometimes, too loose. In Scotland for the Open at Carnoustie three years ago he was arrested for drunk driving and fined £500. "The worst thing was the embarrassment," Beem said. "It was a low time in my life. I'm still embarrassed about it but I did it and you have to deal with it and you have to move on."

On Sunday, Beem moved into a new league by winning the fourth major of the year and beating Tiger Woods in an enthralling finish in the process. Beem won by a single shot at Hazeltine National after taking the three putts he had in hand at the 18th hole. Woods made the result look close with birdies at the last four holes but his mistakes earlier on the back nine led to the Masters and US Open champion finishing second in a major for the first time.

Beem caught and passed the overnight leader, Justin Leonard, on the front nine and led by a stroke from Woods at the turn. Then he hit a five-wood from 271 yards to six feet to set up an eagle at the par-five 11th. Woods then did something he has not done before in a major. He took three putts at the 13th and also bogeyed the 14th.

Six behind with four to play, he finished brilliantly but Beem, who had threatened to throw up over the closing holes, held his game together superbly, birdieing the 13th and the 16th, where he holed from 30 feet.

"That was the putt that got me over the edge," he said. "I am elated beyond belief. I am flabbergasted I won. I didn't know if I could handle the pressure but I did. I was more concerned with what I was doing and my emotions than what Tiger was doing."

A few short weeks ago the game was dominated by one player who was aiming for a historic Grand Slam. Ernie Els said it needed something or someone to put a dent in Tiger's confidence. The weather did its best at the Open and Els took advantage. Here, while Woods played conservatively for 68 holes, Beem never stopped attacking.

"I was hitting my driver everywhere in practice with Fuzzy and John and when they asked why I said I'd had a great season and was just going to freewheel it," Beem said. "I guess I was freewheeling like John did at Crooked Stick [when Daly was a shock winner of the USPGA in 1991]."

Beem, at least, had two titles behind him, including one a fortnight earlier, but at the start of the year had been ranked 284th in the world. (Craig Perks won the Players Championship, the "fifth major" having started the year at 256th in the world.) Beem won $990,000 (£634,00) and is now fourth on the US money list after being 46th three weeks ago. Along with the all exemptions he will play in an exhibition Grand Slam event in Hawaii at the end of the season with Els and Woods. "Tiger is absolutely going to hammer me there," Beem said. This week he plays in the NEC World Invitational in Seattle, where six years ago he was working as a car stereo salesman. He still carries his company ID card. "I'll never throw it away. Don't ever forget where you've come from."

Four years ago he was still an assistant club professional in El Paso. His father, Larry, has been a club pro for over 25 years. The USPGA is still organised by America's club pros' association. "If I had really enjoyed being a club pro I wouldn't be here now," Beem said. "I loved being close to golf but there were some things I didn't like, like the long hours and the meagre pay. But it has been my dad's whole life and that makes this win more meaningful. Of all the things that come with it, having the trophy is the best."

It has been a bumpy ride, however, as Bud, Sweat and Tees, a book that charted his first year on Tour with the flamboyant caddie, Steve Duplantis, revealed. Alan Shipnuck's behind-the-scenes opus cast Beem as far from the diligent young professional of which the Americans so approve. Indeed, the misadventures of Beem and Duplantis in bars and places of a more seamier repute produced one of golf's more interesting reads; an instruction manual into how to have fun on the PGA Tour. But the fun could not last forever and after calling a halt to the party and splitting, amicably, with Duplantis, Beem got married last December. "Sara grounds me on days when I have to be grounded and let's me be a free spirit on the days that's OK," he said.

This new-found stability started to reflect on the course as well and Beem had played himself into a comfort zone that he was more than happy with before Hazeltine. "I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel," he said at the start of this year. "I'm not trying to be something I'm not. I'll be a grinder forever and a day."

Such stoicism proved invaluable to help Beem through the dramas of Sunday's thrilling stretch. Woods certainly believed Beem's inexperience helped. "Sometimes it can be a benefit to be a little naïve in a situation you have never been in before," the world No 1 said. "But Rich trusted and believed in himself and got the job done.

"I made some mistakes and I'll learn from that but I am proud of the way I played coming home. I could have bagged it coming in and made pars but that's not how I play."

Woods finished 24 under par for the four major championships, with only two other players being under par. They were Sergio Garcia, the only player to have top 10s in all four majors, and Padraig Harrington, who would have matched the Spaniard if he had finished one shot better.

Beem had something else on his mind. There are two weekly golf magazines in America and neither has featured Beem on the cover for his previous two wins. "Any chance of getting me on the cover this time?" he wondered.