'Beef,' 8 years after Open fame, finding his game
From event in California, fan-favorite Andrew Johnston reflects on "when it changed"
Andrew Johnston remembers the roars like yesterday.
Eight years ago at Royal Troon, the journeyman with a keen wit and growing resume endeared himself to Scottish fans with an improbable eighth-place finish at The Open.
“You want to pick me up?” Johnston joked, in his thick English accent through hearty chuckles, to a reporter who asked about his weight during a media session that week.
Despite the attention, the Englishman wasn’t ready for the ovation he received from fans on the first tee Saturday afternoon, when he stood six shots off The Open lead.
“I walked out and was like, ‘Um, oh my God!’ ” Johnston, now 35, recalls discovering his folk-hero status at Troon — or, as he describes the moment, “When it changed.”
Halfway across the globe, while preparing for an opposite-field event in Northern California just days before Troon hosts its first Open since Beef’s breakout, the 35-year-old with mental and physical scars seems to be at peace.
He is now married with a young daughter. Johnston has stopped drinking to cope with bad days. He and wife Jodie have matching tattoos of a peanut (Andrew’s is inside his left arm), an inside joke to a night of laughter during one of their first dates in 2018.
Hours after the best in the world tee off Thursday in Scotland, playing for the Claret Jug, Johnston will compete against rookies seeking their own breakthroughs, veterans looking to improve their status, and fellow journeymen hoping to repeat past glory.
“Deep down, I wish I was going back to Troon,” Johnston admits at Old Greenwood golf course in Truckee, California, home of this week’s Barracuda Championship.
Johnston doesn’t watch much video from the 2016 Open, what he calls “the best week of my golfing career.” When the world learned about “Beef,” the nickname Johnston earned as a teenager for his big “beef head” and accompanying afro; and found out that a working-class kid from London, whose father drove a bus and mother served school lunches, could compete against the best players in the world.
Johnston recently stumbled on an Instagram reel from that week. It showed his entrance under the first-tee grandstands to chants of “Beef! Beef! Beef!”
“That was an amazing experience,” he says. “I’m still pretty speechless. Everywhere I’ve gone since, all over the world — America, all throughout Europe, Australia, South Africa — the fans and crowds have been amazing.”
After turning professional in 2009, Johnston spent eight years bouncing between low-level tours before winning his first European Tour event, the Spanish Open, in April of 2016. That summer, he made his first cut at a major championship in the U.S. Open, where he tied for 54th. After back-to-back 69s at Royal Troon, Johnston became the talk of The Open — along with a duel that Henrik Stenson won over Phil Mickelson.
Johnston slapped hands with fans as he walked the fairways. A smile pierced through his bushy beard after a Saturday chip-in. He talked of the pizza he ate after one round.
“It wasn’t like a 20-inch, ‘Win a T-shirt if you finish it’ type of thing,” he laughed.
After breaking into the top-100 players in the world, Johnston earned his PGA Tour card. He made eight of 13 cuts in 2017, but had only one top-25 finish. He fell well outside of the top 100, lost his PGA Tour card and returned to the European Tour.
Johnston has admitted to bouts with depression and nights of drinking after bad rounds. Thumb surgeries sidelined him for most of 2022 and 2023. He has written a book, “Golf Is Hard,” and started a podcast, “Beef’s Golf Club.” In late 2023, he fell to 1,932rd in the world. A few weeks later, Johnston withdrew from a tournament in South Africa with back pain. Instead of returning to London for Christmas, he remained in South Africa — with Jodie and their daughter — to get treatment.
A few months after the back injury, Johnston played with childhood friend Jess McAvoy at North Middlesex, their home course in London. McAvoy had caddied for Johnston early in his career, before the breakout at Royal Troon, and remembers the sound the ball made off Johnston’s club being different than other golfers, even back then. He wasn’t surprised when “Beef” became a household name.
Johnston convinced McAvoy to leave his job and caddie once again.
Johnston returned to the European Tour in June, with McAvoy on the bag, and missed his first two cuts. His play improved over the next two events, placing in the top 40 to jump nearly 800 spots in the world rankings, to 1,245, before heading to America for two tournaments co-sanctioned by the European Tour and PGA Tour.
It’s not Royal Troon, but Johnston loves California.
In 2021, the family vacationed in Carmel, and had “a wicked time,” Johnston recalls. They spent an extra few days in Truckee after Johnston missed the cut in Kentucky last week. On Tuesday, the family and McAvoy went for a swim in Lake Tahoe.
“I love to travel and see new places,” said Johnston, who laments the “berserk” prices of airplane tickets since the pandemic. “We’re flying coach all the way this year.”
As for his goals on the course, Johnston just wants to “stay fit.”
“I’ve always believed that technique and skill doesn't leave you,” he said. “I've played some really good golf. We’re finding it. It just takes time. I got to be patient, gotta keep building, keep working at it, keep doing it. Then we'll see where we get to.”
And if another journeyman happens to make a splash this week at Royal Troon, as Johnston did eight years ago, Johnston hopes they can keep fame in perspective.
“Just don’t put pressure on yourself,” Johnston said. “Just keep doing what you’re doing. It’s great having a crowd cheer, people loving you, but you’ve got to stay chilled. Because you’re doing good things to get in these tournaments.”
As Johnston sits in the shade before his Wednesday pro-am round, which has been delayed by about 20 minutes, his three amateur partners rush to shake his hand.
“Is it OK if I call you ‘Beef?’ ” one asks.
Beef gives one of his infectious chuckles.
“I’d be offended if you didn’t.”