CLUB PRO’S BIG SHOT
Westchester’s Beach eyes career on Tour
TULSA, Okla. — Alex Beach is four days away from potentially changing his life.
The 32-year-old Beach, in his fourth year as an assistant pro at Westchester Country Club in Rye, is one of four club pros from the New York metropolitan area who are among the 20 in the PGA Championship field this week at Southern Hills.
Paul Dickinson from Atlantic in Bridgehampton, Dylan Newman from Brae Burn in Purchase and Casey Pyne from Stanwich in Greenwich, Conn., are the other three locals.
Unlike most of the 20 club pros, though, Beach not only has the aspiration to become a PGA Tour player, but also has the talent.
This is the fourth consecutive PGA Championship for which he has qualified and the fifth overall. He has yet to make a cut but believes this week might be the time to change that.
“Yeah, deep down, I would love to play [on the PGA Tour], and I think I’m good enough,’’ Beach told The Post. “When I get inside the ropes, that’s my boxing ring.
I love being in there, I love putting in the work, I love getting better, I love competing. I would still love to give it a go. But one step at a time.’’
The beauty of Beach’s story is the series of unconventional steps he has taken to get here. He’s from Minnesota, wasn’t considered a top junior player, never played college golf, went to University of Nebraska and never took a lesson. Once he got pretty good, he earned conditional status on the Korn Ferry Tour and never got a single start because COVID-19 cut short the seasons.
“Pretty much everything in my story works against like, ‘Oh, yeah, he should definitely be a really good professional golfer,’ which I love,’’ Beach said.
Beach, who came to the Metropolitan Area when he took a job at Ridgewood Country Club in New Jersey, credits an array of New York and New Jersey pros who’ve mentored him for him being in the position he’s in now. He will be grouped with two seasoned Tour players, Jhonattan Vegas and Bernd Wiesberger, for the first two rounds.
Among those Beach credited for helping him were former PGA Tour pro and one-time winner Jim McGovern, who’s now the pro at White Beeches in New Jersey, and Brian Gaffney, who played in five PGA Championships as a club pro and is the pro at Essex Fells in New Jersey.
“I owe a lot of people a lot of gratitude to help me get here,’’ he said. “The support from them means the world to be.’’
Both McGovern and Gaffney believe Beach is on the cusp of realizing his dream to play on the PGA Tour.
“He physically looks like a PGA Tour player, he hits it like a Tour player, I hope it’s just a matter of time before he truly becomes a Tour player,’’ Gaffney told The Post. “He has all the tools in his toolbox. He’s one of those few club professionals that truly can compete. He’s different from most club professionals. He’s on equal footing with them as far as distance and ability. It’s just now the experience that he needs to gain.
“He’s played in a few PGAs, and now he should be ready to make the cut and play on the weekend. For Alex, making the cut would be a validation that he belongs out there.’’
McGovern said Beach “has got every shot in the bag, every shot required’’ to compete with top players.
“It’s just that one break,’’ McGovern told The Post. “He’s right on the brink of it. He’s so close. He’s right on it. He’s right on the edge.’’
Can this week be a life changer for Beach?
“He’s got the talent to do it any week anywhere,’’ McGovern said. “He just needs that one little break and belief.’’
Beach believes the secret is feeling confident and comfortable.
“You’re dealing with so many different emotions — you’re playing with these guys that we see on TV, with the likes of Tiger [Woods] and Rory [McIlroy] and JT [Justin Thomas],’’ he said. “It’s really hard to feel like you belong out there. For me, it’s the confidence in knowing how to manage a week like this and having the confidence to know that what I do and what I did to get here is good enough to keep me here.’’