POTOMAC, Md. -- Think the majors are all glamour and glory? Not so, says 2002 PGA champion Rich Beem.
‘I don’t put my schedule around the majors,’ said Beem, who shot a 64 Thursday in the first round of the Booz Allen Classic. ‘Majors to me are just another tournament. Obviously, it’s got some significance to it, but it’s also -- I’ll be brutally honest: majors are somewhat of a pain.
‘They are so much harder to get around. The security is much tighter. They don’t really know you. Regular tour events, you walk in and walk out and the security guys have been there years and years and it’s pretty easy to do.’
Beem remembers his first victory at the Booz Allen five years ago just as fondly as he does his PGA victory.
‘Majors are a lot of fun -- don’t get me wrong,’ he said. ‘It’s just so much more difficult of a week. And this week is easy for me.’
NOT A RORY FINISH
Defending champion Rory Sabbatini felt his opening-round 67 should have been a 66.
Sabbatini, finishing at the par-3 ninth, said his 4-foot putt for birdie hit something on the green before lipping out. He angrily flipped his putter to his caddie and tossed the ball into the creek.
‘I got a rather shocking bounce in front of the hole,’ Sabbatini said. ‘That kind of left a sour taste in my mind. I hit a good putt. It just didn’t go in the hole.’
MORE WATER ADVENTURES
Sabbatini wasn’t the only golfer to voluntarily sacrifice his ball to the water gods.
Mark Brooks and Jonathan Kaye, playing in the same group, both landed in the pond with their tee shots at the par-3 17th. After taking drops and putting out -- Brooks with a bogey, Kaye with a double bogey -- each threw his ball back into the pond.
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