Thomas Andrew Bean (born March 13, 1953) is an American

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

who played on the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

and the

Champions Tour PGA Tour Champions (formerly the Senior PGA Tour and the Champions Tour) is a men's professional senior golf tour, administered as a branch of the PGA Tour. History and format The Senior PGA Championship, founded in 1937, was for many year ...

. Bean has won numerous tournaments at both the amateur and professional level. Bean won 11 PGA Tour victories, including the 1986 Byron Nelson Golf Classic, and three wins on the Champions Tour, including a 9-stroke victory at the 2008 Charles Schwab Cup Championship.

Early years

Bean was born in

LaFayette, Georgia LaFayette ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Walker County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 6,888. It was founded as Chattooga. LaFayette is part of the Chattanooga, TN-GA Metropolitan Statistical A ...

in 1953, and raised in

Jekyll Island, Georgia Jekyll Island is located off the coast of the U.S. state of Georgia, in Glynn County. It is one of the Sea Islands and one of the Golden Isles of Georgia barrier islands. The island is owned by the State of Georgia and run by a self-sustaining, ...

, where his father was associated with a golf course. His family moved to

Lakeland, Florida Lakeland is the most populous city in Polk County, Florida, part of the Tampa Bay Area, located along Interstate 4 east of Tampa. According to the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau release, the city had a population of 112,641. Lakeland is a principal c ...

when he was 15, and his father bought a golf course there.

College career

He attended the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

in Gainesville, Florida, where he became a member of the

Sigma Alpha Epsilon Sigma Alpha Epsilon (), commonly known as SAE, is a North American Greek-letter social college Fraternities and sororities in North America, fraternity. It was founded at the University of Alabama on March 9, 1856. Of all existing national socia ...

Fraternity A fraternity (from Latin ''frater'': "brother"; whence, "brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club or fraternal order traditionally of men associated together for various religious or secular aims. Fraternity in ...

( Florida Upsilon Chapter) and played for coach

Buster Bishop Bernays Emery "Buster" Bishop (1920 – November 19, 2004) was an American college golf coach. Bishop was best known for leading the Florida Gators men's golf team of the University of Florida to National Collegiate Athletic Association ( ...

Florida Gators men's golf The Florida Gators men's golf team represents the University of Florida in the sport of golf. The Gators compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). They play their home ...

team from 1972 to 1975.. While he was a Florida student, he won four amateur tournaments. Bean and future fellow PGA Tour players Woody Blackburn, Phil Hancock and Gary Koch were members of the Gators' 1973 team that won the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

(SEC) and NCAA Championships. He was a first-team All-SEC selection in 1973 and 1975, and an All-American in 1973, 1974 and 1975. He graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor's degree in marketing in 1975, and was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 1978.

Professional career

Bean turned professional in 1975. He finished inside the top 35 on the money list from 1977 to 1986, a stretch that included 5 top-seven finishes on the list. His first PGA Tour victory was at the Doral-Eastern Open in 1977, and his last was at the Byron Nelson Golf Classic in 1986. In 1978 he won three times. Bean played on the United States

Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The Ryder Cup is named af ...

team in

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

and

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airpor ...

and spent several weeks ranked in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings in 1986 and 1987. Bean never won a major championship but he finished second three times. He had a solo second-place finish behind

Jack Nicklaus Jack William Nicklaus (born January 21, 1940), nicknamed The Golden Bear, is a retired American professional golfer and golf course designer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest golfers of all time. He won 117 professional tou ...

at the

1980 PGA Championship The 1980 PGA Championship was the 62nd PGA Championship, held August 7–10 at the East Course of Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York. Jack Nicklaus won his fifth PGA Championship, seven strokes ahead of runner-up Andy Bean. The victory t ...

. At the 1983 British Open, Bean and

Hale Irwin Hale S. Irwin (born June 3, 1945) is an American professional golfer. He was one of the world's leading golfers from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. He is one of the few players in history to win three U.S. Opens, becoming the oldest ever U.S. Op ...

finished tied for second, one stroke behind Tom Watson; and in the 1989 PGA Championship Bean, Mike Reid and Curtis Strange tied for second, one stroke behind

Payne Stewart William Payne Stewart (January 30, 1957 – October 25, 1999) was an American professional golfer who won eleven PGA Tour events, including three Men's major golf championships, major championships, the last of which came just a few months before ...

. After turning 50 years old in March 2003, Bean played on the

, where he won for the first time at the 2006

Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn The Greater Hickory Kia Classic at Rock Barn was a golf tournament on the Champions Tour. It was played annually in June in Conover, North Carolina at the Rock Barn Golf & Spa. The purse for the 2014 tournament was US$1,600,000, with $240,000 go ...

. In May 2008, he added a second Champions Tour title with a victory in the

Regions Charity Classic The Regions Charity Classic, formerly known as the Bruno's Memorial Classic, was an American golf tournament on the Champions Tour. It was originally held at Greystone Golf & Country Club and moved to Ross Bridge Golf Resort and Spa, one of ten cou ...

. He won the season ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship in 2008 at

Sonoma, California Sonoma is a city in Sonoma County, California, United States, located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Sonoma is one of the principal cities of California's Wine Country and the center of the Sonoma Valley AVA. Sonoma's ...

, winning by nine shots over Gene Jones with a tournament record 20 under par total. Bean was inducted into the Florida Sports Hall of Fame in 2000.

Personal

Bean lives in Lakeland, Florida, where he enjoys hunting and fishing. He and his wife Debbie have three grown daughters: Lauren, Lindsay, and Jordan.

Amateur wins

*1974 Eastern Amateur, Falstaff Amateur *1975 Dixie Amateur,

Western Amateur The Western Amateur is a leading annual golf tournament in the United States for male amateur golfers. It is organized by the Western Golf Association. The Western Amateur features an international field of top-ranked amateur golfers. It was first ...

Professional wins (18)

PGA Tour wins (11)

PGA Tour playoff record (3–3)

Japan Golf Tour wins (2)

Other wins (2)

Champions Tour wins (3)

Champions Tour playoff record (1–0)

Results in major championships

CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 11 (1983 U.S. Open – 1985 PGA) *Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (1980 Open Championship – 1980 PGA)

Results in The Players Championship

CUT = missed the halfway cut
WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bean, Andy American male golfers Florida Gators men's golfers PGA Tour golfers PGA Tour Champions golfers Ryder Cup competitors for the United States Golfers from Georgia (U.S. state) Golfers from Florida People from LaFayette, Georgia People from Glynn County, Georgia Sportspeople from Lakeland, Florida 1953 births Living people