Ian Poulter will be Eligible for the 2016 Ryder Cup Thanks to American Rich Beem

Ian Poulter’s dreams of making the 2016 European Ryder Cup team are still alive thanks to…an American. Poulter dropped out of the top 50 in the World Golf Rankings, which took away his exemption into the second of the European Tour’s playoff events, the WGC-HSBC Champions in two weeks. In steps Rich Beem, who gave up his sponsor’s exemption into the Hong Kong Open, the final regular season event on the European Tour, allowing Poulter to gain an entry.

"Via ESPN: “I’m not looking to gain anything from this,” Beem told The Associated Press. “I looked at it in the simplest terms. There’s a guy who loses his tour membership if I don’t step away. Is it anymore awkward because it’s Ian Poulter? I don’t know and I don’t care. It was the right thing to do.” “At the end of the day, I was their obvious choice,” Beem said. “I wasn’t going to say ‘no’ and be a jerk. It was a situation where the right thing needed to happen. And this was the right thing.” “I want to play in the worst way,” Beem said. “But there were no other options, and I’m not going to keep a guy from losing all his status and not be eligible for the Ryder Cup. So I stepped aside. I didn’t think twice about it or ask for huge demands.”"

If Poulter had missed the event, he would been one start shy of 13 starts required by the European Tour to maintain membership, which is required to be a part of the European Ryder Cup team.

Poulter has a 12-4-2 Ryder Cup record and was a huge part of two of the past three European wins.

"“I kind of jokingly thought, ‘Maybe I should call Capt. [Davis Love III] to see what I should do,” Beem said. “He’s totally wrecked us with his putting.”"

So, next year at Hazeltine, when the guy below shows up and starts driving American’s crazy, blame Rich Beem.