Rich Beem didn't just win the US PGA, the 12th champion of the last 15 to claim his first major in this event, he beat Tiger Woods and he gave hope to every journeyman professional with hunger in his heart, writes Philip Reid at Hazeltine

For someone who used to be a mobile phone salesman, and who couldn't make it as a club professional, the American, who celebrates his 32nd birthday on Saturday, completed an almost fairytale transformation.

In claiming his third career title, and coming two weeks after his win in the International Open, Beem, who finished with a 68 for 10-under-par 278, a shot ahead of Woods, underwent a remarkable metamorphosis, from a player who didn't feel he belonged in majors into a major champion. "The way Rich played the last two rounds, nobody was going to beat him," said Justin Leonard, who had held a three-shot lead going into Sunday's final round.

Beem was, nevertheless, an unlikely winner. The son of Larry Beem, a teaching professional, Beem followed his father into club golf but quit after a year and went to Seattle and sold mobile phones for a living, before returning to a golf club job as assistant to Cameron Doan at El Paso Country Club. It was Doan who gave him a choice. "Rich," he said, "you have two choices: you either quit (being a club professional) and play golf for a living, or you just quit because you're not a very good teaching pro."

Beem decided to leave the club job and went out as a tournament player, and won his US Tour card in 1999. As a rookie, he won the Kemper Open and got a two-year exemption on tour.

On Sunday night, after his win, Beem reflected on the path he had taken. "If I really like being a teaching professional, I would not be here. I didn't enjoy the long hours, the meagre pay. But it kept me close to golf, and I liked that."

His history in majors, however, was not an inspiring one. His previous top finish in a major had been tied-70th in the 1999 US PGA while he missed the cut in the 1999 British Open and the 2001 US Open. His experience at Carnoustie was not a happy one. He had what he termed "a little altercation" in Scotland, where he was fined about $600 for driving over the alcohol limit.

"That was a pretty low point in my life and I'm still very embarrassed by it. But I did it, and I have moved on."

Beem, in fact, was the subject of a book, Bud, Sweat and Tees: A Walk on The Wild Side, in 1999, a look at a rookie's life on the US Tour, and Beem was depicted as a party man who consumed too much alcohol.

"That was who I was at the time, but I'm a different person now. I have a much more stable life off the golf course," he said, crediting his wife, whom he married last December, as a stabilising influence.

Certainly, he held his game together coming down the homeward stretch on Sunday and the shot that made all the difference was his 263-yards approach to the 11th, where he hit a five/seven-wood composite club to six feet and holed the eagle putt.

Woods was walking to the 13th green, where he had hit his tee-shot in to 12 feet, at the time he heard the roar, and looked at the leaderboard for confirmation of Beem's eagle. Woods proceeded to three-putt, and bogeyed the next, before a run of four consecutive birdies from the 15th left him just a shot adrift of Beem.

"Rich just went out there and played great," remarked Woods. "He shot four-under, and that's awfully impressive. To go out there and shoot a round like that when he absolutely has to do it. Sometimes it might be a benefit to be a little naïve in a situation because you've never been there before in a major championship."

Indeed, Beem's win had similarities with that of John Daly who won his breakthrough major in the 1991 US PGA. "I remember watching John win and it was just spectacular, a no-holds-barred attitude when he just attacked everything. I guess I kind of had a similar thought this week."

Ranked 284th in the world rankings at the end of 2001, Beem's transformation into a world-class player seems complete, but he still carries an identity card from the shop in Seattle where he sold mobile phones. "I'll keep it there. You don't ever want to forget where you came from. I'm going to keep the card forever as a reminder it could always be worse."