100 % Cotten
10/26/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Oct. 26, 1999
by Stan Cotten
More 100% Cotten
As I sit down to write this, I?ve got a lump in my throat. About three hours ago I learned of the tragedy that cost the sports world one of its lions, golfer Payne Stewart. I still can?t believe that the same Stewart, who jumped with joy into the arms of his caddie after sinking a 15-foot par putt to win the U.S. Open on a soggy Sunday at Pinehurst this past June, is gone. I had other things to write about, but my heart won?t let me.
Like many of you, I?m crazy about golf. I play as often as I can. I pass the time on airplanes going to places like West Point and Tallahassee reading how to correct my slice and make more putts. My cable could stick on The Golf Channel, and I wouldn?t complain. And, even though I had never met him, I feel like I knew Payne Stewart.
He certainly stood out.
?Golf is an individual sport,? said Wake Forest golf coach Jerry Haas from the golf course late Monday. ?And Payne was not afraid of being an individual. He took some kidding wearing those knickers, but he was one tough player.?
More than one observer has said that when Jack Nicklaus was in his prime you could tell he had done something great, even if you were several holes away, just by the roar of the crowd. The same is being said of Tiger Woods. There was no mistaking who was coming down the fairway when it was Payne Stewart. The outfit was his trademark. Nobody else dared to be as different. Even fewer dare to be champions.
?He was a great competitor,? added Haas. ?Never was that more evident than at Pinehurst this year (U.S. Open) when he made that incredible par save on 16 and followed it up with the par putt on 18 to win the championship.?
?It?s a very sad day for golf.?
Indeed. Sadder, too, when one considers the strides Stewart had evidently made over the last couple of years to better fit in. He won the PGA Championship in 1989 and the first of his two U.S. Open crowns in 1991. He won three straight Skins Games from 1991-1993. With success and the knickers, Stewart was known for being a bit brash and cocky. He wasn?t exactly on everybody?s list of favorites.
?He had softened some over the last couple of years,? says Haas. ?He had become more of a family man. I?d say now that he?s considered well-liked on Tour.?
For me, it?s hard not to like Payne Stewart. You have to respect him for his game, eleven Tour wins and three major titles to his credit. But some of the things he said in the heat of battle at the U.S. Open endeared him to me.
Just moments after dropping the winning putt at Pinehurst, he took the face of his nearest competitor and playing partner for the day, Phil Mickelson, in his hands and said, ?You?re going to make a great father!?
I think it takes one to know one.
Mickelson and wife, Amy, were expecting a baby any day. Lefty?s vow to leave Pinehurst at any moment, even if he were in contention for his first major championship, was well-documented. Evidently, Stewart was moved by the devotion. It?s a devotion he had come to understand, maybe not as soon as Mickelson, but Payne had gotten there.
?I was able to do this this week for two reasons,? Stewart said after winning at Pinehurst. ?My faith and my family.?
In recent months Stewart had begun wearing a WWJD bracelet, which stands for What Would Jesus Do?
I think He?d be proud of Payne Stewart. I think He told Payne so today.
