Major champ Beem among stars for Vietnam Masters

Laos News.Net
Tuesday 13th November, 2007 (IANS)

Major champion Rich Beem of the US has confirmed participation for the inaugural Hana Bank Vietnam Masters Nov 22-25.

Beem will be among three US PGA Tour stalwarts who will star at the event, the others being fellow American Tom Pernice Jr and South Korea's Charlie Wi.

Beem won the 2002 PGA Championship and will start as favourite at the $500,000 Asian Tour event, which will be played at the Hanoi Phoenix Golf Resort, according to a media release.

Beem, 37, has claimed three US PGA Tour titles while Pernice Jr has won twice. Wi, a seven-time winner on the Asian Tour, successfully retained his Tour card in America this season after a superb year that included three top-10s and four top-20s.

Beem's success in America has been well documented, especially after he quit the game briefly during the mid-1990s to become a mobile phone and car stereo salesman.

But after seeing his close friend J.P. Hayes win the 1998 Buick Classic, Beem rededicated himself to the game and found success in the following year at the Kemper Open.

Three years later, the bubbly American enjoyed his finest season when he won twice in a row, first winning The International and then holding off world number one Tiger Woods to lift the PGA Championship at Hazeltine in the year's fourth and final Major.

Beem's success then did not change his outlook in life as he kept his salesman ID in his wallet to remind him of the early hardship in his life. After his triumph in the PGA Championship, he visited his former employers and colleagues, and answered telephone enquiries at the stereo shop: 'Good morning, this is Rich Beem, how can I help you?'

Pernice, 48, shares a similarity with Beem in that he also won The International in 2001 as well as the 1999 Buick Open. This season, the experienced campaigner enjoyed two top-10s and three top-20s on the US PGA Tour.

Wi has been one of the most successful players on the Asian Tour, winning seven times, before finding his feet on the US PGA Tour. His last victory in Asia was at the Maybank Malaysian Open last year.

The Hanoi Phoenix Golf Resort is the biggest golfing facility in the Northern Province of Vietnam where its 27-hole course caters to the growing number of leisure golfers in Hanoi.

Hana Bank signed a three-year deal with the Asian Tour to stage the event that will be the third to last counting tournament towards the race for the prestigious UBS Order of Merit crown.

The Asian Tour will offer a record 28 tournaments with over $27 million in total prize money this season.

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