He also made his mark in golf: 20 years ago this monmth, the Michigan marketing executive with a 7 handicap launched a guerrilla assault on the U.S. Open at Oakland Hills, playing a practice round with Fred Couples, Jay Haas and Curtis Strange.

Scouting the course early in the week, Breman was introduced to Couples, then an up-and-coming pro. "I had a great chuckle with him," Couple says. "He said, 'Obviously, I can't tee off with you, but I'll find you out there.'"

A friend of Bremen's--an Oakland Hills member--smuggled his clubs and caddie into the club. Bremen, wearing a disguise and claiming to be a qualifier named Mark Diamond, went in search of Couples, who was playing a practice round with Haas.

"He comes out of the shrubs on the second hole and hits this tee shot that buzzes the spectators," Couples remembers. "He had this big wig on and a visor and looked a little out of place, but we didn't care. He just did his deal and had a great time. It didn't take long for people to scream out, 'Who is that guy?' I mean the cat was out of the bag after a couple holes, but we didn't get in trouble and no one came out to get him."

At the 10th, Strange and Bob Eastwood joined the group. "We played as a fivesome. That's when I got a little nervous," Bremen says "All they said was, 'We don't mind you playing as long as you keep the ball in play." Bremen claims he held his own and shot a 77.

If Bremen handled himself like an old pro, it was because the stunt at Oakland Hills was actually his third Open appearance. In 1979 at Inverness in Ohio he snuck in and played a practice round with Wayne Levi and Jerry Pate. "They were nothing until I played with them," he says, forgetting that Pate had won the Open in 1976. He returned for an encore in 1980 at Baltrusrol, where he played so poorly in a practice round that a spectator asked the USGA's P.J. Boatwright how such a lousy golfer had made it through qualifying. "He got lucky for two days," said a clearly unamused Boatwright.

Bremen claims he is retired from the gatecrashing game--"You've heard of the Taser gun? You've heard of 9/11? They don't ask questions anymore"--but won't rule out a final bow at a future U.S. Senior Open. "Could there be an opportunity when I'm 60? Yeah," he says. (That will be on June 30, 2007). Bremen says that all of his stunts he is proudest of his golf antics. "I was out there for the longest time," he says proudly, "and I was never caught."