Richard Dunn
Andy Bean couldn't wait to turn 50 years old and play golf on the PGA
Champions Tour, but the tour made him wait an extra week. He'll make
his debut at the Toshiba Senior Classic this weekend at Newport Beach
Country Club.
Bean, who has been chomping at the bit to play, turned 50 on March
13, a Thursday. If he had turned 50 a day sooner, the tour said, he
would've been able to make his first Champions Tour appearance in
last week's SBC Classic at Valencia Country Club.
"I told them I wanted to [play]. I told them I wouldn't take any
money -- just let me play," Bean said Wednesday after his Toshiba
Senior Classic Pro-Am round, only his second time on the Newport
Beach golf course. He played a media pro-am round on Tuesday.
"I'm chomping at the bit any time I can't play. Just playing (this
weekend) is going to be fun. It will be serious, but fun.
"I'm the new guy on the block this week," he said. "I'm just
trying to fit in there and try to make some birdies for people to
watch, then everybody will be happy."
As the latest rookie on the Champions Tour, Bean will draw his
share of attention. But he's pretty big in golf, anyway, at 6-foot-4
and nearly 250 pounds, which officially qualifies him as big.
Bean's only other competitive appearance this year came at Doral
on the PGA Tour. He realizes the stakes on the Champions Tour are
high.
Bean, with a career victories exemption onto the Champions Tour,
has career earnings of $3,523,230. The average purse at a Champions
Tour event is a record $1.7 million in 2003. (The Toshiba is $1.55
million.)
Bean best's season was 1986, when he collected a total of $491,938
and won his third tournament at Doral. This year's winner of the Ford
Championship takes home $900,000 of the $5 million purse.
"In 1977, I came down [to Doral]," Bean said, "and the funny thing
is that when I won the golf tournament, I think I won $40,000. What
is that, about 20th place, 25th place now? I mean, my goodness,
coming in here, you are playing for $5 million."
In his heyday, Bean could not only blast the ball, he had a great
soft touch around the greens. He led the PGA Tour in birdies with 388
in 1980 and was consistently one of the top putters.
Add to his physical talent a burning competitive desire befitting
the big redhead. Gary Player told a story of first meeting Bean years
ago at a tournament in Houston. The former University of Florida
Gator towered over Player and said: "You aren't going to beat me, you
sawed-off little runt."
