“Tiger Woods brought everybody in there” - 2002 PGA Championship winner Rich Beem says Scottie Scheffler’s form can’t be compared to ‘peak Tiger’
Former PGA Championship winner Rich Beem recently said that despite the incredible run, Scottie Scheffler has yet to instill the same kind of fear among competitors as Tiger Woods did at his peak. He added that Scheffler still doesn't have the amount of fan backing that Woods enjoyed throughout his career.
Beem is known for his historic upset over Tiger Woods at the 2002 PGA Championship when he beat the then No. 1 golfer by one stroke. Notably, Woods had already won eight Majors by then, and this was his first-ever runner-up finish.
Recently, Beem was present on the Golf Subpar podcast, where he said he didn't think Scottie Scheffler had the same kind of fear among his competitors as Tiger Woods used to have at his peak. He said that with Woods, one had to compete against the 50–60,000 fans who would follow him everywhere. He added:
"When Tiger walks off of the green they all walk with him and funny enough we saw that last week of Rory as well I the last two days you could see as soon as he got done hauling out everybody bailed. I mean it was evident on the back nine clearly on Sunday but even on Saturday I'm going this is interesting."
"But Tiger brought everybody in there, and I think that as good as Scottie is, he hasn't kind of warmed or endeared himself to the fans because that's not an accurate statement. But he hasn't given him that excitement that Tiger always do with the fist pumps and raises in the roof and things like that."
Rich Beem added that Scottie, in comparison, was just calmer and simply demoralized the opponents who were not at the same level as him. He cited the example of Tiger Woods' playoff win against Bob May in the epic PGA Championship encounter in 2000.
"When Tiger made that putt to go into the playoff everybody lost their minds," he added. "And I think if Scottie makes that putt he might fist pump it but that's about it he just doesn't have the dynamic. He's got the game but he doesn't have the dynamic aspect of it right now."
However, the 53-year-old golfer felt that if Scheffler continued playing well, he would find a different identity for himself.
What's next for Rich Beem?
Rich Beem will next compete at the Senior PGA Championship, which is scheduled to take place from May 23 to 26 at Harbor Shores Golf Club in Benton Harbor, Michigan. This will be his third appearance at the event and his first in two years. Besides, he has yet to win on the Senior PGA Tour.
Last week, Rich Beem participated at the PGA Championship but missed the cut for the 15th time in 22 appearances. His only top-ten finish came in 2002 when he also went on to win the Wanamaker Cup. Interestingly, this is the only top-10 finish he has made in his 41 appearances at the Majors.