Beef lays off the beer to get career back on track

Where’s the Beef? As the golfer Andrew Johnston plummeted down the rankings last year, disappearing from view, amid too many party outings and a chronic inability to say no, it became a question both literal and figurative.

Matters came to a head in his final appearance last year, at the RSM Classic on the PGA Tour, where the man known universally as Beef not only missed the cut but finished an embarrassing DFL (the first and third words are dead and last respectively).

When he got home, he knew that changes had to be made. ‘It was just a crazy year where I got far too distracted,’ said the 28-year-old Londoner (right), with his usual candour.

‘It’s amazing while the year’s going on, you’re off doing things and burning the candle at both ends, and you don’t know it’s happened until the season ends. But when I sat down and reflected on it, I said to myself: “You know, it’s time to keep quiet, disciplined, and get your head down”.’

Of all the great stories that emerged in British golf over the last couple of years, none caught the popular imagination quite like Beef’s. When he won the 2016 spanish Open and told everyone: ‘I can’t wait to go home, get hammered with my mates, and see my mum,’ he became an internet sensation. A run at the Claret Jug at royal Troon later that year cemented his fame at home and brought him to a new audience in America.

And that is when the problems really began. ‘You know me, I’m a social person,’ he said. ‘I go out with friends, I get invited to something, I start drinking beers. If I’m honest, I’d say I had too many beers and it reflected on my golf. ‘I’m disappointed in myself, looking back, and I want to turn it around. I want to have a good season.’

Part of Beef’s problem stemmed from trying to play on both sides of the Atlantic, but, after losing his PGA Tour card, he is concentrating on europe for now, aware he needs to re-establish himself on his home circuit.

To that end, he has made a decent start, finishing tied ninth in Abu Dhabi, tied 45th in Dubai and tied 27th in Malaysia, and will be in Perth this week for the next pitstop, the handa World super 6.

As for the apres golf, he flashes that trademark smile. ‘There’s still going to be some beers, man, but this season there’s also going to be a lot more room service and Netflix,’ he said.