When most people think of Payne Stewart, they remember the distinctive clothes, the major championship victories and the style that separated him from the pack.
And that’s who Payne Stewart was.
But it was only part of who he was.
When you’re at the Payne Stewart Golf Club, we hope you’ll enjoy the golf course, have some fun and come away with a better understanding of Payne Stewart.
In his golf and in his life, Payne Stewart lived by his own fundamentals – fun, family, faith and fortitude.
He was brash and colorful, but he was also sentimental and soft. He loved the feeling of chasing a major championship in the heat of a Sunday afternoon and he loved the days and nights with his family, when he could be a son, a father and a husband.
While you’re at the Payne Stewart Golf Club, look around at the moments and memories that help tell the story of his life. See the smiles and the hugs and know that’s what he would want you to take away from your day here.
Each of the 18 holes here is accompanied by a story from Payne’s career, small windows into the sweeping story of a big man. The stories are funny and enlightening. This is a place to celebrate the things that mattered to Payne Stewart – golf, good times and good friends.
We hope you enjoy your visit.
Hole Stories
Driving Range
A mist was falling Sunday afternoon as Payne Stewart prepared to play the final round of the 1999 U.S. Open at Pinehurst. Holding a one-stroke lead over Phil Mickelson entering the final 18 holes, Stewart warmed up wearing a rain jacket but couldn’t get comfortable.
Known for his fashion sense, Stewart opted for “function” instead on the gray afternoon, sending caddy Mike Hicks into the Pinehurst teaching center in search of scissors so he could cut the sleeves off his navy jacket.
Stewart cut the sleeves off himself – twice.
The first time, he didn’t cut them short enough so he trimmed them even shorter the second time, creating the model for future rain gear with sleeves that zip on and off.
The sleeves are framed and hang today in the Pinehurst teaching center.
The jacket stayed with Stewart becoming a part of history that afternoon.
“He was all about feel – and that jacket wasn’t coming off,” Hicks said.
Putting Clock
The Three C’s
Payne Stewart understood that one of the challenges of playing golf was how a player dealt with adversity. Sometimes, especially early in his career, Stewart didn’t deal with it as well as he did later in his life.
Dr. Dick Coop, Stewart’s sports psychology coach, taught Stewart to see adversity as opportunity. To help, Coop had Stewart mark three ‘Cs’ (representing the three unique “Challenges” that golfers might expect to encounter in a typical round) on his scorecard before each round.
“The idea is you have at least three big challenges every round,” Coop said. “You want to be prepared for them, check them off and understand other players are having them, too.“It’s probably a good idea for all of us to use every day on and off the golf course.”
On the 18th hole at the Olympic Club in the second round of the 1998 U.S. Open, Stewart – the tournament leader -- watched his 10-foot birdie putt roll to the edge of the hole then slowly roll 25 feet away from the cup.
It was as embarrassing as it was frustrating.
“You talk about Cs; that was a huge C. That was C squared,” Coop said.
But Stewart handled it beautifully, understanding it was part of the game he loved.
No. 1
Trevino’s Tease
When Payne Stewart walked to the first tee in the 1982 Georgia Pacific Atlanta Classic, playing partner Lee Trevino did a double-take.
Stewart, for the first time in PGA Tour competition, was wearing plus-fours – lavender – with a Tam O’Shanter hat and matching argyle knee socks.
Trevino, sensing an easy opening, cracked, “I thought you were going to a golf tournament, not a kindergarten fashion show.”
But Trevino, with a shrewd eye for marketing, realized almost immediately that Stewart was on to something.
“He was tall and had a good body and that garb looked good on him,” Trevino said. “They didn’t look good on me when I wore them once. I looked like a fireplug. But Payne could wear them and he made them look good. I don’t know if it took nerve to wear them or not but, understand, Payne was very much a traditionalist. He loved the game. He was a phenomenal guy.”
Payne Stewart always had his own style.
A portion of it came from his father, Bill, whose taste for bright clothes was passed down – like his love of golf – to his son.
But Payne was his own man.
He knew how to dance, wasn’t afraid to sing and definitely had a sense of fashion.
Stewart could disappear in a crowd when he wore khakis and took off the Tam O’Shanter that made him instantly recognizable on the golf course. But Stewart was never shy.
He didn’t just wear plus-fours. He wore them in pastel colors and with specially made shoes that featured gold toes. He wore them emblazoned with NFL team colors. He would occasionally wear a necktie and cardigan with his plus-fours and his outfits were always perfectly color coordinated. When Stewart stepped to the first tee, he was dressed to kill. Yet, Payne Stewart was as sociable, talkative and friendly as anyone.
No. 2
Chandelle
Payne Stewart liked to give his shots names and he called his high fade a “chandelle”, a term for a maneuver used by fighter pilots who would bank their planes to the right then drop them out of the sky. Legend has it that the chandelle was a term used by Sam Snead, who passed it down to nephew J.C. Snead, who eventually passed it on to Stewart.
Prior to the start of the 1999 season, Stewart went to Austin where he worked for three days with Coach Chuck Cook after some time apart from each other. Stewart didn’t like to hit the ball straight, preferring to move it one direction or the other and Cook had found that the majority of U.S. Open champions had played a fade during completion.
When Stewart arrived at Pinehurst for the 1999 U.S. Open, the ‘chandelle’ was one of his most reliable shots. The first two days of the Open, Stewart stood on the par-3 15th hole and heard his caddy, Mike Hicks ask, “Do you like the chandelle here?”
Two days in a row, Stewart floated high 4-iron shots in to set up birdies that helped him hold the lead after 36 holes.
No. 3
Payne’s Pit
One of the lasting images from Payne Stewart’s career came not after a win but after a devastating loss.
In 1985 when Stewart was just 28-years-old, he led the Byron Nelson Classic by two strokes playing the 72nd hole. It would have been the biggest victory of his still-young career.
But Stewart hit his tee shot into a fairway bunker and his approach to the par-4 into a greenside bunker. Facing a long bunker shot, Stewart skulled it over the green and made a double-bogey that forced him into a sudden-death playoff with Bob Eastwood.
Shaken by the 72nd hole disaster, Stewart lost the playoff to Eastwood and the image of Payne and Tracey Stewart walking across a field back toward the clubhouse spoke poignantly of the pain the game can inflict.
Five years later, Stewart walked away from the Byron Nelson Classic on Sunday evening holding his wife again – and the trophy.
No. 4
Albatross
The seventh hole at Spyglass Hill Golf Course on the Monterey Peninsula is a 527-yard, par-5 that bends gently from left to right and tempts players to hit heroic golf shots.
The danger comes from a pond that guards the green.
Playing in the 1991 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, Stewart made his only double-eagle on the seventh at Spyglass – and was nearly part of something more spectacular in the form of back-to-back scores of the elusive Albatross.
Stewart hit a pure 2-iron into the green and watched it disappear into the hole for a deuce.
Hal Sutton was playing in the group behind Stewart’s.
“We could hear the roar going on in front us and knew what had happened,” Sutton said.
Moments later, Sutton’s second shot on the same hole nearly went in for another albatross, finally stopping within three feet of the hole while the gallery’s roar reached an even greater crescendo.
In 2007, Sutton – a long-time friend of Stewart’s -- was presented with the Payne Stewart Award for his contributions to golf.
“It was such a nice honor, particularly having been so fond of Payne,” Sutton said. “I really wish we could have shared the experience of double Albatrosses that day!”
No. 5
The Road Hole
There may not be a more famous – or difficult -- hole in golf than the 455-yard, par-4 17th at the Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland. It’s not often that a golf hole can be described as truly unique but the Road Hole certainly fills that bill.
The Road Hole requires players to hit their tee shot over a large coal storage shed while skirting the edge of the Old Course Hotel. The approach demands a long shot that must avoid the infamous Road Hole bunker on the left of the green and the road and rocky wall that sits just off the right side of the green.
Leave it to Payne Stewart to put his own special spin on playing the Road Hole, which helped inspire the design here.
In the first round of the 1990 British Open, Stewart’s approach shot skittered long and to the right at the 17th, his ball eventually nuzzling close to the ancient wall.
With no room to take a backswing, Stewart pulled a sand wedge from his bag, turned his back toward the green and banged his third shot into the rocky structure. His ball ricocheted back to the edge of the 17th green and Stewart saved par when he chipped in from the fringe culminating a pair of shots that proved just how well Stewart could blend skill and imagination into his game.
No. 6
Zinger
Paul Azinger started the final round of the 1993 Memorial Tournament three strokes behind his friend, Payne Stewart, and was still one behind – and tied with Corey Pavin -- when they reached the par-4, 18th hole at Muirfield Village.
Stewart’s tee shot wound up in a divot in the fairway. He pulled his 7-iron approach into a front greenside bunker where it plugged in the sand. Azinger hit his approach in the back bunker – but he had an easier shot.
“I knew how hard Payne’s shot was ,” Azinger said. “I just wanted to get mine close. I thought Payne would make a bogey. I figured that if I could get up and down for par, I’d be in a playoff with Corey.”
The rest is history. Stewart made a double-bogey from the front bunker while Azinger holed his back bunker shot to win, raising his hands as he watched the ball rolling toward the hole and then hitting his knees when it fell in.
However, Payne Stewart got a last laugh on his friend after the round that day.
“He put bananas in my brand new pair of Zegna loafers,” Azinger said. “He peeled them and shoved big chunks in there. I left the tournament grounds that victory evening wearing only my socks!”
No. 7
Memory
Casual golf is one thing. Tournament golf is something else entirely.
While Payne Stewart could look as relaxed as anyone on the golf course – and he usually was – he still had to cope with the stress of playing difficult courses against the best players in the world.
He chewed gum. He talked. He interacted with the crowd.
But Stewart was always open to new ideas.
In the early 1980s, Payne Stewart had acupuncture needles implanted in his ear in an effort to help him deal with the stress of tournament golf. By rubbing a finger over the pinheads, the pain would remind him to focus.
As expected, Stewart was kidded constantly by his friends on tour, who weren’t quite sure what to make of his latest foray into the world of mystic medicine.
Stewart, a good sport, played along.
Asked by his tour colleagues what the needles did, Stewart would tell them, “One is for temperament, one is for concentration, one is for anxiety and I forget what the other is for. Memory, I think.”
No. 8
Chelsea’s Kiss
For several years, Payne Stewart and his family lived adjacent to the 12th tee at the Bay Hill Club in Orlando, Fla.
If people didn’t know that was where Stewart lived before the 1987 Hertz Bay Hill Classic, they knew it afterward.
His daughter, Chelsea, was only 16 months old when the tournament was played in what amounted to her back yard so it was not unusual for her to see her father on the course.
When he was home, Stewart would routinely stop by home after hitting his tee shot on the 12th hole. The kitchen and breakfast room of their house faced the lake bordering the 11th hole and if Chelsea wasn’t napping when her dad passed by, she liked to give him a kiss through the wrought-iron fence.
During the ’87 Hertz Bay Hill Classic, Stewart stuck to his familiar pattern, stopping to get a kiss from his daughter. The difference was that since Stewart was on his way to winning the tournament, cameras followed him and captured the sweet father-daughter smooches for the world to see.
“I held Chelsea up so she could stand on the stucco wall and she kissed Payne through the iron fence,” Tracey Stewart said. “And it obviously struck a chord with a large audience, as people mentioned the incident to me for many years.”
No. 9
Amen
The 13th hole at Augusta National is considered one of the world’s great golf holes, not just for its beauty but for the challenges and temptations that confront players of every level. It gives players the opportunity to be bold or be conservative while keeping an element of danger in play regardless of the approach.
Payne Stewart liked to be aggressive when he played the final hole on Augusta National’s famous Amen Corner. He liked to turn his tee shot around the corner on the dogleg and try to reach the green in two if possible. In the second round of the 1991 Masters, Stewart’s gamble backfired when his 4-iron approach shot wound up in the tributary to Rae’s Creek, which guards the green. But Stewart caught a good break when his ball came to rest on a small sand bar inside the creek, allowing him to play his third shot from the hazard.
The hole was cut on the front right section of the green and Stewart played a nice blast shot to within 15 feet of the cup. When he rolled the putt in, Stewart had made a most unconventional birdie.
The (Halfway) House of Payne
Payne Stewart liked to have a good time. Perhaps more importantly, he liked for the people around him to have a good time.
Prior to the 1998 British Open, Stewart joined Tiger Woods, Mark O’Meara, Lee Janzen, David Duval, Stuart Appleby and others on a side trip to Ireland where they fished, played golf and relaxed.
In the evenings, Stewart would go to the High Bar at the Butler Arms Hotel in Waterville, Ireland and play music with the local band. Word spread that the famous golfer was there and, consequently, the crowds grew.
“He was playing the piano and singing and then he got behind the bar,” Mike Hicks, Stewart’s caddy, said. “I watched him for 15 or 20 minutes serving drinks, pouring beers. “He never charged anybody for anything.”
Later, Stewart reimbursed the pub owner for his own extravagance in making sure everyone in the place had a good time.
“We watched the sun come up that night,” Hicks said.
No. 10
The Call
Payne Stewart was never afraid to say what he was thinking, nor speaking with an air of confident authority.
When he reached the 10th tee at Kemper Lakes during the final round of the 1989 PGA Championship, still trailing leader Mike Reid, Stewart was thinking about winning his first major championship.
Former U.S. Open champion Jerry Pate was on the tee, doing television work for ABC Sports, when Stewart approached him.
“He came by with his swagger and winked at me,” Pate said. “He said, ‘I’m going to shoot 30 on the back nine and let’s see what happens.’ Sure enough, he went on and won it. It was pretty dramatic.”
Stewart shot a final-round 67 to beat Reid. “He was such a competitor,” Pate said. “He reminded me of myself early on. He would make one-line comments to needle you. If you made one to him, he’d fire one right back at you and smile. He wasn’t looking to outfox you, or to con you, or to be malicious. He just had a lot of fun and he had a big heart and a burning desire to win.”
No. 11
Captain Caddy
Payne played on five Ryder Cup teams. When the 1993 Ryder Cup matches went to The Belfry outside Birmingham, England, Payne Stewart and Raymond Floyd spent Saturday paired together; and they did the United States proud.
Stewart and Floyd were from different generations and had different styles but they worked together beautifully.
In the morning’s alternate-shot match, Stewart and Floyd posted a 3 and 2 win over Barry Lane and Peter Baker. After a quick bite of lunch, they went back out and won a grinding 2 and 1 best victory over Jose Maria Olazabal and Joakim Haeggman.
Floyd, who had been the 1989 Ryder Cup captain, didn’t play particularly well in the afternoon, but he was the perfect partner, always telling Stewart to “paint the picture” in his mind before every shot.
“Just paint the picture and go with it, it’s something I always said,” Floyd said. “Payne had a beautiful rhythm with his golf swing and he was a wonderful putter. As he got accustomed to winning, he became very good under pressure.”
No. 12
Draw Back
Payne Stewart had a natural gift for swinging a golf club. He had a graceful rhythm that made the difficult and precise art of hitting a golf ball look easy, producing a high, soft draw.
But, like every golfer, there were times when Stewart’s swing left him and he was forced to work to find what he had lost.
After playing several seasons with equipment that didn’t fit his swing, Stewart saw 1999 as an opportunity to get back to the swing that had made him so successful.
Stewart’s swing had become steep by the end of 1998 as he tried to ‘trap’ the ball on shots to compensate for distance he had lost due to his equipment.
In December, 1998, Stewart visited his swing coach, Chuck Cook, in Austin, TX. For the only time in their long relationship, Cook showed Stewart his swing on video.
“He didn’t like what he saw,” Cook said.
Stewart had lost the little ‘loop’ in his swing and Cook worked to restore it – and Stewart’s soft draw.
They worked intently on recapturing what had been lost. During a practice session one day, Cook (who was looking only at the swing through impact with the ball) enthusiastically proclaimed , “Perfect!” when he saw what he’d been looking for.
“Yes, it was”, Stewart agreed, having just watched that practice shot drop into the hole . By February, 1999, Stewart’s old swing had returned (i.e., he had his draw back) and he had a victory at Pebble Beach to prove it.
No. 13
Trick Play
Golf wasn’t Payne Stewart’s only sport. He was the quarterback on his high school football team – Greenwood Laboratory School on the campus of Missouri State University (in that day known as SW Missouri State) in Springfield, MO.
And with a hint of the personality he ultimately brought to his professional golfing career, Stewart had a way of making things memorable.
Facing undefeated arch rival Jasper in Stewart’s senior season, Coach Paul Mullins knew his team needed something. So he installed a trick play that required Stewart to set it in motion.
After intentionally running the kickoff out of bounds to get the ball spotted on the right hash mark, the team huddled near midfield away from where the ball was spotted. Stewart wandered over by himself and yelled, “Hey guys, the ball’s over here!” drawing most of the defenders toward him.
Stewart quickly picked up the ball and tossed a lateral to a running back near midfield, who ran it more than 80 yards for a touchdown and Greenwood Laboratory School tied unbeaten Jasper.
“Payne was a natural athlete,” Mullins said. “He could do it all. He was a tough kid, but very likeable.”
No. 14
Big Heart
In 1994, Payne Stewart learned he had an unusually large heart.
While undergoing a routine physical examination prior to the 1994 Los Angeles Open, doctors discovered what is called a bundle-branch block in his heart, which meant his heart didn’t squeeze blood normally and had a weaker than normal beat.
The condition created an enlarged heart and doctors prescribed medication to help keep the condition under control.
Stewart, who was told he would eventually require a pacemaker, wasn’t bothered by the condition and, in fact, often bragged about having a “big heart”.
When Tracey Stewart delivered Payne in their rental car to the front door of the clubhouse at Pinehurst Resort on Sunday prior to the final round of the 1999 U.S. Open, she told her husband to trust himself and “believe in your heart that you can do it.”
Looking at his wife, Stewart replied, “I’ve got a big heart, love.”
And then he went out and proved it.
No. 15
Easy Eight
Golf has a way of humbling even the best players.
Payne Stewart was no exception.
Playing in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am one year at Spyglass Hill Golf Course, Stewart hooked his tee shot into trouble on the par-4, fourth hole, which is known more for its spectacular natural beauty than for its difficulty.
It’s a hole that plays down a hill with a sweeping view of the Pacific Ocean serving as its backdrop.
Stewart couldn’t enjoy the view, however. He hit his tee shot into a patch of ice plant, a thick, stubby bit of ground cover that’s native to the northern California coast and a nightmare for golfers.
It took Stewart four swipes to get his golf ball out of the unforgiving ice plant and, when he walked off the fourth green that day, Stewart had made a quadruple-bogey eight.
“He took it like a man,” caddy Mike Hicks said.
It was another reminder that what looks easy in golf isn’t always so easy.
No. 16
Lights Out
Payne Stewart had a knack for doing something spectacular on the 16th hole in major championships.
He made an 85-foot, par putt on the 16th hole at Hazeltine in Saturday’s 3rd round of the 1991 U.S. Open with Scott Simpson. In the playoff on Monday, he made a birdie at that same 16th hole that pushed him toward his first Open title.
In the 1999 U.S. Open at Pinehurst, the championship twisted in Stewart’s direction when he made a 30-foot, one-putt for par on the 16th on Sunday. It was the first of three straight one-putts Stewart had to close out his dramatic one-stroke victory over Phil Mickelson.
“You can’t read the putt he made,” Stewart’s caddy, Mike Hicks, said. “It rolled into a little depression and then up the other side. It was an unmakeable putt, but he made it. I just think God knew He was going to take him.”
The next morning – after a long and boisterous celebration – Stewart kept his commitment to play a charity skins game with Fred Couples, Paul Azinger and Hal Sutton at Quarry Hills Country Club in Graham, NC, the home course of caddy “Hicksey”.
Feeling the effects of the previous evening, Stewart kept his eyes closed while putting on the first three holes. And he made all three, totaling 20 feet, culminating an impressive string of six one-putts, going back to the previous day at Pinehurst.
After missing with his eyes closed on the fourth hole at Quarry Hills, Stewart recognized the end of the streak and went back to putting with his eyes open.
No. 17
Avis: Second to None
Payne Stewart won 11 PGA Tour events in his career but he also finished second 25 times, as well as two runner-up finishes in the British Open.
When the 1987 Hertz Bay Hill Classic rolled around, it had been four years since Stewart had won and his habit of finishing second had become an issue to some people.“They were calling him Avis,” Dr. Dick Coop, Stewart’s sports psychology coach, said, referencing the car rental agency that bragged in its ironic advertising campaign at that time about being second- ranked in its business and as a result, trying harder.
From the start, however, the Bay Hill tournament belonged to Stewart in 1987. David Frost tried to beat him, shooting 10-under par on the weekend, but Stewart persevered.
On the Monday morning after Stewart’s victory in the city where he lived, the Orlando Sentinel newspaper ran a headline that said, ‘Avis Wins Hertz.’
“He would get so tight on Sundays,” Coop said. “I asked him how much focus he had on his opening tee shot on Thursdays. He said not much.”
I said, “If your tee shot goes into the woods on Thursday does it not count? Stewart started expanding the importance of each day. Sunday was no less important but, proportionately, it was no more important.”
No. 18
Fatherhood
In the moment Payne Stewart stood over the 15-foot putt on the 18th green at Pinehurst No. 2 with the 1999 U.S. Open at stake, the only sound to be heard was of a distant bird in the trees.
Then, as flashbulbs lit up the gray sky and cheers erupted like thunder, Stewart saw his ball tumble into the hole and he was the Open champion again. In that famous and memorable moment captured by photographers and beamed worldwide, Stewart punched his fist to the sky and kicked up a foot behind him, allowing the raw joy to run over him like rain.
He caught his caddy, Mike Hicks, in a great bear hug and shouted, "You beauty, you beauty!" in his ear.
Then in the midst of that marvelous personal moment, Stewart focused on Phil Mickelson, whose own U.S. Open dream had just been pierced by one of the most memorable strokes in the tournament's long history.
Stewart walked over and took Mickelson's disappointed face into a vice grip with both hands. Knowing Mickelson and his wife, Amy, were awaiting the arrival of their first child at any moment, Stewart found just the right words, "You're going to love being a father" Stewart told Mickelson through the noise of the moment.
The photo, which hangs in the Pinehurst Resort clubhouse not far from where it happened, captured the exchange which reached beyond golf.
A few years later, recalling Stewart's words, Mickelson said, "That was pretty cool."
Just like Payne Stewart himself, yes it was.
That’s Good. The Sportsman.
Playing in his fifth, and what would be his final Ryder Cup Matches in 1999, the essence of Payne Stewart the sportsman shone through during the singles matches on Sunday. It would be the last time the USA team would win the internationally coveted cup until the underdog victory in 2008.
The Americans had started the day two points behind the Europeans and Stewart had drawn Colin Montgomerie as his opponent. It turned into a remarkable day for the Americans, framed by Justin Leonard’s spectacular putt in his match against Jose Maria Olazabal, the stroke that came to symbolize the Americans’ comeback win.
The celebration was well under way by the time Stewart and Montgomerie – the last two players on the course – arrived at the 18th green with their match all square. Stewart had taken it upon himself to have a few unruly fans escorted off the course earlier in their round when he heard them taunting Montgomerie.
With his opponent facing a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th green that wouldn’t change the outcome of the team competition, Stewart – who declined to put on a U.S. victory cap while playing his match - conceded Montgomerie’s putt, giving his opponent a 1-up victory.
“In the midst of all that excitement and to his own personal detriment, he was the perfect sportsman and gentleman and just could not do anything that would be seen as disrespectful of his opponent” Tom Lehman, the U.S. Ryder Cup captain said.
19th Hole
The Many Faces of Payne Stewart
As familiar as Payne Stewart was to the world when he was on the golf course in his plus-fours and cap, he could be virtually invisible when he changed into more traditional clothing.
Stories abound of Stewart showing up in various places, wearing jeans or shorts, and going about his business undisturbed because golf fans, who had been watching him earlier in the day, didn’t recognize him away from the course and out of “uniform”.
Perhaps the greatest example came in 1992, when Stewart and Coach Chuck Cook were in the lounge at the Lodge at Pebble Beach following a media day event for the upcoming U.S. Open.
Stewart was approached by a man, who didn’t believe his friends telling him that it was, in fact, the reigning U.S. Open champion sitting at the bar. The skeptic was apparently quite persistent in his disbelief. “If I go get the U.S. Open trophy, bring it back and sit it right here on this bar, will you keep filling it up with whatever I want to drink?” Stewart asked the man.
Sure, the doubter said, “Bring it on!” One can only imagine that this guy expected the ‘imposter’ to leave the bar and never return. Imagine his surprise when, moments later, Stewart returned with the trophy and ordered a bottle of Cristal champagne to fill it. Can you imagine how sweet that tasted, poured from the U.S. Open trophy? Apparently they all shared the champagne and characteristically, Payne Stewart later picked up the tab.
Behind Your Back
During the 1994 PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, OK, Payne Stewart was paired with Scott Hoch, who was having his difficulties.
Stewart watched as Hoch tried unsuccessfully to extricate his ball from a greenside bunker on the par-4, ninth hole. When his first attempt failed to get out of the bunker, Hoch began flailing his arms and cursing under his breath.
Stewart and his caddy, Mike Hicks, were standing below the bunker and behind Hoch and couldn’t help but be amused by their playing partner’s antics. As Hoch fussed about in the bunker, Stewart began mimicking his every move and the gallery began laughing at the show.
It took a moment for Hoch to realize what was happening until he saw his friend standing nearby, shrugging his shoulders with a sly grin on his face. That’s when Hoch knew he’d been had and Stewart had turned a potentially embarrassing situation into a light-hearted moment for Hoch.
Finding the Wrong Spot
Payne Stewart didn’t like the idea of sand-filled divots, and for good reason.
It became a part of the professional game while Stewart was on tour for maintenance crews to fill divot holes with a sand mixture between rounds, theoretically making the fairway more playable.
Stewart, however, preferred for divots to be left unattended if the actual piece of turf torn from the ground wasn’t replaced. More than once, Stewart let the powers that be know his position, arguing that such lies should be played as ground under repair because of the work that had been done on the divots.
According to PSGC Design Consultant, Bobby Clampett, hitting out of a sand filled divot is one of the hardest shots in golf – even more difficult than hitting from a fairway bunker. “Lies will vary so much that even in the best of circumstances it is difficult, if not impossible, to make predictable contact with the ball,” Clampett explains. “The lie of the ball sits low on the ground, often below the surrounding turf, meaning that impact will occur below the sweet spot on the club. The green side edge of the divot can also be a compounding factor in achieving solid club/ball contact. Hitting even an adequate shot out of a sand-filled divot requires absolute precision. Any variation off a perfect swing can lead to disastrous results. Finding a lie in a sand filled divot, or any divot for that matter, is truly one of the most unfair elements of the game of golf.”
In the final round of the 1998 U.S. Open at the Olympic Club, Stewart had a one-shot lead over Lee Janzen when his tee shot on the par-4, 12th settled into a sand-filled divot. Uncertain of the proper play, Stewart and caddy Mike Hicks discussed the approach shot and settled on a 9-iron that wound up in a greenside bunker, leading to a bogey.
To make matters worse, Stewart received a slow-play warning from USGA officials. He bogeyed the 13th and wound up losing the Open by a stroke to Janzen.
One year later at Pinehurst, Stewart found himself in sand-filled divots four times – three times on the difficult par-4, fifth hole. He made par from the divots every time during the tournament – and won the Open by a stroke.
Lost Ball on a Tough Day
It had already been a challenging day when Payne Stewart reached the par-3, second hole at Poppy Hills Golf Club in the 1995 AT&T National Pro-Am. Stewart and his partner, Jim Morris, hadn’t played particularly well on their first nine holes – and making the turn didn’t help.
Stewart hit his 7-iron tee shot into a greenside bunker, then skulled his second shot over the green. A female spectator, no doubt anxious to claim a souvenir from the handsome and otherwise unavailable Stewart, picked up the ball and ran away with it. Stewart, fuming, chased her to no avail and was consequently hit with a two-stroke penalty for a lost ball.
He dropped another ball in the bunker – naturally, it plugged in the sand – gouged it out and eventually made a quadruple-bogey seven that caused Stewart to, shall we say, make some adjustments to his sand wedge against a tree. “Let’s just say he gave the club a little different perspective than it previously had. He opened the face a good bit on it,” Morris said.
On the ride home from the course that evening, Morris and Stewart wound up laughing loudly about what happened at the second hole. A conversation about things that mattered – friends, family and healthy – softened the sting.
“He put it right behind him,” Morris said. “Payne was one of those guys who could laugh at himself and laugh at others. That’s a great asset for getting rid of any tension you might have.”
Focus
Payne Stewart was so inquisitive about the world around him! Okay, he suffered from attention deficit disorder (ADD) and that malady made it difficult for him to maintain his focus on the golf course. He was, however, at his most focused in the biggest events, particularly the U.S. Open which demands the full attention of players. “My big goal with Payne was to try to teach him some structure without taking away his naturalness,” said Dr. Dick Coop, Stewart’s sports psychology coach. “That was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do, but probably the most fun. It was like chipping away at a statue. You keep knocking off the edges. To his credit, he worked at it.”
Stewart even tried acupuncture in hopes it would sharpen his focus.
Ultimately, Coop helped Stewart develop a routine that worked.
In a practice round the Sunday before the 1999 U.S. Open at Pinehurst began, Stewart’s caddy, Mike Hicks, pointed out to Coop that Stewart had quit using an intermediate target to line up his shots.
After Stewart hit his tee shot on the short third hole on Monday, Coop said, “Did you pick out an intermediate spot there?”
Stewart, knowing he’d been busted, said, “You don’t miss a thing, do you?”
He went back to his routine immediately and six days later won the U.S. Open.
Lucky
Perhaps it’s the nature of golfers to focus on the bad breaks they get during their round, but golf is a game of good breaks, too.
Though Payne Stewart had his battles with sand-filled divots in his career, fate also shone on him many times.
In 1999, four months before he would win the U.S. Open, Stewart held the 54-hole lead at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Heavy rains moved in and wiped out the final round, giving Stewart a weather-shortened victory.
In the 1998 U.S. Open at the Olympic Club, locked in a battle he would eventually lose to Lee Janzen, Stewart pull-hooked his tee shot on the par-4, fourth hole. Staring at potential calamity, Stewart saw his golf ball ricochet off a tree and wind up in the middle of the fairway to set up a routine par.
Janzen was a familiar foil in Stewart’s career. In both Opens that Janzen won (1993 and 1998) he caught fortunate breaks at Stewart’s expense. Janzen got away with hitting an improbable shot through a tree at Baltusrol in ’93 ultimately beating Stewart by two strokes. Then, facing a likely lost ball in the final round at Olympic in 1998, wind blew Janzen’s errant ball out of its lodging place in a spruce tree just in the nick of time to beat the lost ball time limitation, saving him at least two strokes in what would be his one-stroke victory over Stewart. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good!
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