Beem wouldn't even consider waking his father, so after two hours they were finally able to talk an employee of the Turnberry Hotel into picking them up. Duplantis went along, but because of his condition they wouldn't release Beem in his custody. 'They said they knew we were drunk by our erratic walking pattern,' says Duplantis.īeem was taken to the police station and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. A couple of Ayr's finest had seen them leave the pub and had been lying in wait the whole time. Beem pulled out of the pub's parking lot, and the second he hit the surface street, 'there were blue lights everywhere,' says Duplantis. By now it was past 2am, and time to go home. 'I was really intoxicated, Rich was only regularly intoxicated,' says Duplantis, 'so he said he would drive.'īeem and Duplantis sat in their rental van for nearly an hour in an attempt to sober up.

'We only had a few,' Beem insists, 'but over there a few go a lot farther.' By the time they stumbled out into the night, both were blotto. That night Rich and Steve decided to head to a pub in town and tip a pint or two. 'I think pride is probably a good word to describe it.' 'It was neat I was able to make that happen,' says Rich. This was only Larry's second sojourn to the ancestral home of golf, and for both father and son it was a moving experience to stroll the linksland together. Duplantis, with three previous Open Championships under his belt, enthusiastically agreed to the deal.Īfter checking in at the hotel, Rich, Larry and Steve teed it up at the Ailsa - known as 'the Pebble Beach of Scotland' because, like Pebble, the first 10 holes hug the coast, making for spectacular shotmaking and sweeping vistas. Beem was petrified at the thought of having to drive on the wrong side of the road. Beem had offered to pay for the expensive rental van and all of the pricey fuel, as long as Duplantis did the driving. Beem was all for it.Īs with other weeks, caddies must pay their own way to the Open, but recognising the extra cost, it is common for a player to pick up some of his man's other expenses. Duplantis had convinced Beem to follow a favourite itinerary of his previous employee, Jim Furyk: make the short drive from the airport to the town of Ayr, recover from jetlag at the luxurious, full-service Turnberry Hotel, and get acclimatised to linksland golf on its renowned Ailsa course, host to three previous Open Championships.

Rich beem club pro guy