The Week May 25-31

The First Blush of Success

A year ago Rich Beem and Kelli Kuehne were Texas toast, each more lone than star. Beem was working in an El Paso pro shop. Kuehne, from Dallas, seemed done at 21, crushed by unreasonable expectations. Seeing them sweat their first wins was like watching a nervous teenager fumbling for a first kiss. They were awkward, but you could tell it was a moment they'd never forget. Beem and Kuehne are toast all right, the toast of their respective tours.

LPGA

Corning Classic winner Kuehne, who beat Rosie Jones by a stroke, has only one other top 10 finish in 34 starts as a pro....

Jones has won four (two at Corning, two at Rochester) of her nine titles in New York....

Hall of Famers Amy Alcott, Pat Bradley, JoAnne Carner and Patty Sheehan missed this week's U.S. Open. Bradley withdrew and Sheehan took time off, while neither Alcott nor Carner attempted to qualify.

PGA

Beem's biggest first-place check before earning $450,000 at the Kemper Open was the $5,000 he collected as the winner of the '98 Conrad Hilton Open in Socorro, N.Mex....

Beem is this year's third first-time winner....

Heading into next week's FedEx St. Jude Classic at the TPC at South-wind, defending champ Nick Price leads all players with five victories and more than $2.9 million in earnings on TPC courses....