Philadelphia, PA (My Sportsbook) - We have an entire week of major championship golf ahead of us.

Storylines abound. Will Tiger get a major this year? Will one of these majors come out with the heart-warming story on top? Who makes the Presidents Cup teams?

By Sunday, or at the very latest Monday, these questions and more will be answered.

With a week at Hazeltine on the horizon it got me thinking about the last time the venue hosted the PGA. The year was 2002 and what specifically got my mind racing was winner Rich Beem.

His come-from-behind victory was the first instance, outside of Tiger, in which I could remember momentum being such a huge factor in a win. Beem won the International two weeks before the PGA in a wild finish. He and Steve Lowery were holing shots from fairways, there was a biblical rain storm. Just great stuff and Beem held up two weeks later.

While Beem's win was impressive (he handed Tiger his first runner-up in a major), you got the feeling this man wasn't going to be a frequent major champion.

This is in no way an indictment of Beem. He worked hard, had a huge August seven years ago and he's a major winner. Sergio Garcia would kill to be him at the moment.

But Beem hasn't threatened the top of a major leaderboard since. Not an unexpected turn of events. Sometimes, you get a major winner who catches lightning in a bottle. You only need four great days and sometimes you can get away with three.

Beem is not alone. Here are two other major winners in the last 30 years you knew may not be making a return trip to any of golf's biggest winner's circles:

PAUL LAWRIE, 1999 BRITISH OPEN CHAMPION

Everyone remembers the 1999 British Open. Jean van de Velde had the claret jug so tightly in his grip, the engraver started to etch the Frenchman's name on the trophy.

Then of course, he played the 72nd hole like a lobotomized duck and went to playoff. Your winner that year was Paul Lawrie, a solid veteran Scotsman, who fired a 67 in insanely brutal conditions.

He made that year's European Ryder Cup team and availed himself nicely. Lawrie finished sixth on the Order of Merit and away he went.

Did you think Lawrie was here to stay? His victory at the 1996 Catalan Open wasn't inspiring. Lawrie won in Qatar earlier in 1999, but no one expected an Open Championship.

Our suspicions were accurate. Lawrie won twice since that ridiculous Sunday at Carnoustie and hasn't gotten his hand raised since 2002. His best finish in a major before '99 was a tie for sixth in the 1993 British, and after was a joint 15th at the '03 Masters.

STEVE JONES, 1996 U.S. OPEN CHAMPION

Tom Lehman was the Buffalo Bills of golf. He played in the final pairing on Sunday four consecutive years at the U.S. Open. In the most difficult event in the world, Lehman was that good for four years.

Of course, he won the same number of those U.S. Opens as my grandmother, but he was there. It's a remarkable feat for Lehman, but it appeared his best chance might have been 1996.

At Oakland Hills, Lehman fired a mind-blowing 65 on Saturday and took a one- shot lead over Steve Jones, a four-time PGA Tour winner. Both battled nerves (Lehman and Jones are both devout Christians who shared a prayer before play), and both acquitted themselves admirably.

Jones posted a 69 on Sunday to trip Lehman by a stroke. U.S. Opens are funny beasts. Some guys like Lee Janzen, Payne Stewart, Andy North and Hale Irwin are built for the type of battle that a U.S. Open presents you.

Jones wasn't that type. His best finish in a major to that point was a tie for eighth at the 1990 U.S. Open, and he wasn't close to a star in the making.

To validate the point, Jones' best major finish since was a tie for 24th at the 2000 PGA Championship.

Now, Lehman won the British later that summer for his one and only major. That's a whole other column though.

Congratulations to all three of these players. You can't take a major away from them, but we all knew there was probably no chance we'd see them in the limelight again.

They aren't bad people. They aren't bad players. They are the lightning in the bottle major winners. Maybe we will have another Rich Beem this week.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

- I don't think we'll have another Rich Beem. I like, in this order, Tiger Woods, Camilo Villegas, Jim Furyk, Justin Leonard and Hunter Mahan.

- If I had to pick a Rich Beem, I'd take Charley Hoffman.

- This is the final week for Presidents Cup qualification. Captains Fred Couples and Greg Norman don't make their picks for weeks, so it'll be up to Justin Leonard and Jeev Milkha Singh to stay in the 10th spot in their respective teams.

- Pretty much nailed that Michelle Wie column. Ah, thank you very much.

- Non-golf thought - So I'm watching "Back to School" with Rodney Dangerfield. Remember the scene where he's having the party? Oingo Boingo was there. Sally Kellerman walks in and is mad at him because he's in the hot tub with girls. Know where she was? On a date with the British guy Phillip. Who's she to have a beef with Thornton when she's on date with another guy? Unacceptable. I may have a movie gripe every column now.