Those who knew him talked about the man and the putt he sank on the final hole. “I did it, lovey,” he whispered to his wife. A few months later, he died in a plane crash.
The 2024 U.S. Open, which begins on Thursday at the Pinehurst Resort & Country Club’s Course No. 2 in Pinehurst, N.C., will be hard pressed to match the excitement that took place on the same course, and in the same tournament, a quarter century ago.
At the 1999 Open, Payne Stewart, 42, knocked in a 15-foot putt for par on the 72nd hole to outduel Phil Mickelson by a stroke. Stewart, known for his flashy wardrobe — he wore knickers — atoned for the four-shot lead he had squandered on the final day of the Open a year before at the Olympic Club in San Francisco.
The victory in Pinehurst was Stewart’s third major title; he had captured the P.G.A. Championship in 1989 and the U.S. Open in 1991.
In October 1999, heading to the season-ending tournament in Texas, Stewart died in a plane crash that also killed five others.
His widow, Tracey Stewart; his caddie, Mike Hicks; Peter Jacobsen, a friend and former tour pro; and the NBC analyst Gary Koch reflected recently on Stewart and his triumph in 1999.
Their comments have been edited and condensed.
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Source: Golf - nytimes.com
