Chips May Be Down, but Beck Still Smiling

Chip Beck entered 32 tournaments this year and made the cut three times. But he’s happy.

Beck has not made the cut in 24 consecutive tournaments. But he’s happy.

Beck has made $10,653, his lowest total in 17 years. But he’s happy.

Does this guy need a net thrown over him or what? There’s a smile on Beck’s face, even though his golf game has been so rotten, his bag towel should be a handkerchief.

How could anyone feel so good while playing so badly? Actually, it’s simple, said Beck, who is playing with David Frost in the Franklin Templeton Shark Shootout at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks.

Mary Catherine Beck, age 7, made her figure skating debut in competition Friday back in Lake Forest, Ill., while her dad tried to figure out how to pull his golf game out of the deep freeze.

Karen Beck is supportive of her husband, as usual, and the five other Beck children are all in Dad’s corner. Of course, Dad’s happy about that too.

“I’ve had the best year of my life off the course and the worst year of my life on it,” Beck said. “I’ll take it that way every time.”

If nothing else, Beck is perpetually peppy, even when confronted with the kind of results that would drive a grown man to weep. It has been eight months since Beck made a cut. He hasn’t made a dime since he finished tied for 45th and made $4,655 at the Honda Classic on March 16.

Mechanically, his swing is in dire need of a tuneup. It’s enough to try a person’s patience, not to mention his disposition, but Beck has no problems putting a positive spin on his golf.

Peter Jacobsen isn’t surprised by Beck’s reaction.

“You can tell a lot about a guy, how he acts when he’s down,” Jacobsen said. “Chip is down, but he smiles . . . and he shows up every day. He’s the same person whether he’s shooting 62 or 82. There have been more 82s than 62s for Chip recently, but you watch how he handles it.”

Beck has won four tournaments and nearly $6 million in a professional career that began in 1978. He hasn’t won since 1992 in New Orleans, but he’s also the guy who shot a 59 in the third round of the Las Vegas Invitational in 1991.

Beck would settle for something within 10 shots of that these days. At 41, he’s convinced there are going to be more good days.

“The tough times have made me stronger,” he said. “At one point this year, I didn’t know if I had the ability to play any more. I got so disappointed that I really didn’t get my heart in it.

“If I didn’t have it in my heart, I would have retired. I feel if I can handle what I’ve handled, I can handle anything. I’ve got a lot of hope.”

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It’s nice to be running the show: Jacobsen, whose production company is putting on the Shark Shootout, teamed with John Cook to post a three-shot lead after Friday’s opening round.

Cook-Jacobsen’s 62 in the alternate-shot format leads John Daly-Fuzzy Zoeller, Brad Faxon-Lee Janzen and Mark Calcavecchia-Andrew Magee. The three teams all had 65.

Cook said there was a plan: “I put it close and Peter made the putt.”

Daly-Zoeller produced three eagles, including one on the 424-yard No. 9 when Zoeller holed out a wedge from 72 yards.

“It still shocks me when one of those goes in,” Zoeller said.

Beck-Frost shot a 71.