Hall Of Famer – Payne Stewart

The swing alone and the style of the golfer Payne Stewart could have earned him a spot on the wall in the World Golf Hall of Fame. Never mind the 24 professional wins Stewart had managed in his career.

Starting in the Asian Tour and taking two number one places Payne had earned his way into the PGA Tour in 1982 and winning his first at the Quad Cities Open. Taking 11 events on the PGA Tour in 1989 his first PGA Championship win was at Kemper Lakes.

Payne would go on to win two more championships one in 1991 at the U.S. Open at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska Minnesota. The second U.S. Open was in 1999 at Pinehurst Resort #2 in North Carolina, defeating the soon to be Hall of Famer Phil Mickelson with a 15 foot putt on the final hole, beating Phil by one stroke.

Payne had also won the Byron Nelson Award in 1989 along with his first PGA Championship. Payne was ranked in the top 10 golfers in the world for almost 251 weeks from 1986-1993.

Stewart represented the United States in five Ryder Cups with such passion for the game and the pride of being on the American team he was quoted saying “On paper they should be caddying for us”. A bold statement for the times and I am sure in the minds of Americans everywhere it holds true today as it did then.

Payne even had his go at the Television industry playing himself on an episode of Home Improvement with Tim the Tool Man Taylor.

Sadly, in 1999 just four short months after Payne had won his third Championship and just one month after the victory at the Ryder cup Payne was in a deadly accident involving the aircraft pressure.

Stewart was on his way to yet another golfing event at the Year End Championship in Houston at the Champions Golf Club. The official cause was loss of cabin pressure killing all on board by hypoxia.

Perhaps it was a few years too late for Payne Stewart to be at his own induction ceremony at the World Golf Hall of Fame. In 2001, Stewart was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame and now his story is hanging among all the greats of the game of golf.

The style of Payne’s clothes the motion of his swing and his all round love for the game is missed, taking up the cause is his son Aaron Stewart, having some very big shoes to fill, good luck Aaron.