Bean and future fellow PGA Tour players Woody Blackburn, Phil Hancock, and Gary Koch were members of the Gators' 1973 team that won the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and NCAA Championships.

His first PGA Tour victory was at the Doral-Eastern Open in 1977, and his last was at the Byron Nelson Golf Classic in 1986.

[8] After turning 50 in March, 2003, Bean played on the Champions Tour, where he won for the first time at the 2006 Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn.

He won the season ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship in 2008 at Sonoma, California, winning by nine shots over Gene Jones with a tournament record 20-under-par total.

Bean died from complications of double lung transplant surgery in Lakeland on October 14, 2023.