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This is Bailey's Daily Blog site to complain, compose, give utterance to, or just plain wax poetic. I am, if I may say, an adorable, sweet, TALENTED, 4 1/2 year old Beagle (that's 32 in people years who was rescued from Zell Miller's and Saxby Chambliss' South Georgia!). I love the Red Sox, my mom, gramdma's cooking, ice cream and playing in the dog park! I am learning how to email and blog with no opposable thumbs! IT'S BLOG-GONE FUN! WOOF!:)Tuesday, June 14, 2005
"Payne and Glory" - this Guy was the Heat!
Final Putt In 1999 Open Sealed Win, Stewart’s Legacy
By Dave Shedloski
The moment is itself a story, but the story is more than one moment. Six years ago at the 99th U.S. Open, Payne Stewart pierced the gauzy mist that hung over storied Pinehurst No. 2 with a lightning flash of brilliance that still resonates in the mind’s eye like a lingering sun spot. If we close our eyes we can still see it.
It’s the putt – character defining, career defining, history defining.
The classic pose that will never diminish: Payne Stewart’s animated fist pump after the critical putt went in.
"What I remember was him making that putt on the last hole. I think that stays in your mind forever," said Vijay Singh, the No. 1-ranked player in the world. "When you think of Pinehurst, it’s the U.S. Open, Payne Stewart making that last putt and hugging his caddie. I think that sticks in everyone's mind. When we go there I think what we'll remember the most is that one last hole."
Indeed. How can anyone forget it? With a gutsy 18-foot par-saving putt at the 72nd hole, Stewart held off Phil Mickelson by one stroke to win his second U.S. Open and ward off the demons that had been closing around him for the 12 previous months since he faltered at the ’98 Open at The Olympic Club in San Francisco. Stewart had led by four strokes entering the final round only to see Orlando neighbor and good friend Lee Janzen edge him by one.
So you can imagine the relief and the sheer ecstasy, both etched clearly on Stewart’s face, when his final putt, uphill, breaking left to right, cleanly dove into the hole. He leaned forward and punched the air, then shouted as he raised his arm triumphantly. His caddie, Mike Hicks, leaped in his arms. He then held Mickelson’s face in his hands, and reminded the disappointed competitor – on Father’s Day – that a consolation prize of more importance awaited him, that he was about to become a father. Mickelson’s wife, Amy, gave birth to the couple’s first child the very next day.
Stewart, who began the final round with a one stroke lead, closed with an even-par 70 on Pinehurst’s pernicious No. 2 course, and completed 72 holes with a 1-under 279 total, the only man to finish under par. Mickelson’s 280 was one ahead of Singh and Tiger Woods.
"From a selfish standpoint I’m glad Payne made that last putt at 18 so I can sleep better tonight," said Woods, whose bogey at 17 after a birdie at the arduous par-4 16th cost him dearly. "To lose the U.S. Open by one would be hard to swallow."
Stewart would know, having had that ignominious fate befall him at Olympic Club after having the Open title all but sealed. Stewart looked like he might have to take on more grief when he bogeyed holes 10 and 12 to hand Mickelson the advantage. The talented left-hander either held or shared the lead until the final hole. He bogeyed 16 while Stewart was making a 25-foot par-saving putt, and then after missing a 10-footer for birdie, Mickelson watched Stewart sink a 7-foot birdie putt at the par-3 17th to reclaim a one-stroke advantage.
Stewart, who led or shared the lead the last three rounds after his opening 68 trailed Mickelson, David Duval, Paul Goydos and Billy Mayfair by one, putted brilliantly in the final round, thanks to a tip from his wife, Tracey, who reminded him to keep his head still during the stroke. He hit only seven fairways the final day, but he covered those 18 holes in a mere 24 putts.
Of course, it was the last putt that mattered most.
After driving in the right rough, Stewart appeared certain to make bogey. He layed up short of the green then landed his 80-yard wedge shot 18 feet from the flag. Stewart told himself to trust the line and his stroke.
"Last year after the Open, my friends said, ‘Great try.’ I didn’t want to hear that (again) today. That motivated me," said Stewart. "I never gave up. I got the job done, and that means a lot to me."
Stewart’s performance on the 7,175-yard No. 2 Course was as much about perseverance as it was about par. After his 1991 Open win in a playoff over Scott Simpson at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn., he twice had finished second, including the ’98 gut-wrencher. At Pinehurst he was the only player to better par when the field averaged 75.54 strokes.
Stewart broke par twice in four days. The rest of the field combined did it just 27 times.
Stewart will be at Pinehurst next week for the 105th U.S. Open, but only in spirit and the form of a statue behind the 18th green. Four months after his momentous triumph he died along with five others in a Learjet crash. Stewart’s bronzed statue forever punches the air, just as he did that cool, cloudy June day in 1999.
"Payne would have loved that statue," says Peter Jacobsen, one of Stewart’s closest friends. "He would have sat in front of that statue with a pitcher of margaritas telling everybody who walked by, ‘That’s me.’ I could just see him doing that."
But everyone would already have known it was Payne Stewart. The moment is frozen in time, a story unto itself that will be retold for years to come.
Dave Shedloski is a free-lance writer whose work has appeared previously on www.usopen.com.
By Dave Shedloski
The moment is itself a story, but the story is more than one moment. Six years ago at the 99th U.S. Open, Payne Stewart pierced the gauzy mist that hung over storied Pinehurst No. 2 with a lightning flash of brilliance that still resonates in the mind’s eye like a lingering sun spot. If we close our eyes we can still see it.
It’s the putt – character defining, career defining, history defining.
The classic pose that will never diminish: Payne Stewart’s animated fist pump after the critical putt went in.
"What I remember was him making that putt on the last hole. I think that stays in your mind forever," said Vijay Singh, the No. 1-ranked player in the world. "When you think of Pinehurst, it’s the U.S. Open, Payne Stewart making that last putt and hugging his caddie. I think that sticks in everyone's mind. When we go there I think what we'll remember the most is that one last hole."
Indeed. How can anyone forget it? With a gutsy 18-foot par-saving putt at the 72nd hole, Stewart held off Phil Mickelson by one stroke to win his second U.S. Open and ward off the demons that had been closing around him for the 12 previous months since he faltered at the ’98 Open at The Olympic Club in San Francisco. Stewart had led by four strokes entering the final round only to see Orlando neighbor and good friend Lee Janzen edge him by one.
So you can imagine the relief and the sheer ecstasy, both etched clearly on Stewart’s face, when his final putt, uphill, breaking left to right, cleanly dove into the hole. He leaned forward and punched the air, then shouted as he raised his arm triumphantly. His caddie, Mike Hicks, leaped in his arms. He then held Mickelson’s face in his hands, and reminded the disappointed competitor – on Father’s Day – that a consolation prize of more importance awaited him, that he was about to become a father. Mickelson’s wife, Amy, gave birth to the couple’s first child the very next day.
Stewart, who began the final round with a one stroke lead, closed with an even-par 70 on Pinehurst’s pernicious No. 2 course, and completed 72 holes with a 1-under 279 total, the only man to finish under par. Mickelson’s 280 was one ahead of Singh and Tiger Woods.
"From a selfish standpoint I’m glad Payne made that last putt at 18 so I can sleep better tonight," said Woods, whose bogey at 17 after a birdie at the arduous par-4 16th cost him dearly. "To lose the U.S. Open by one would be hard to swallow."
Stewart would know, having had that ignominious fate befall him at Olympic Club after having the Open title all but sealed. Stewart looked like he might have to take on more grief when he bogeyed holes 10 and 12 to hand Mickelson the advantage. The talented left-hander either held or shared the lead until the final hole. He bogeyed 16 while Stewart was making a 25-foot par-saving putt, and then after missing a 10-footer for birdie, Mickelson watched Stewart sink a 7-foot birdie putt at the par-3 17th to reclaim a one-stroke advantage.
Stewart, who led or shared the lead the last three rounds after his opening 68 trailed Mickelson, David Duval, Paul Goydos and Billy Mayfair by one, putted brilliantly in the final round, thanks to a tip from his wife, Tracey, who reminded him to keep his head still during the stroke. He hit only seven fairways the final day, but he covered those 18 holes in a mere 24 putts.
Of course, it was the last putt that mattered most.
After driving in the right rough, Stewart appeared certain to make bogey. He layed up short of the green then landed his 80-yard wedge shot 18 feet from the flag. Stewart told himself to trust the line and his stroke.
"Last year after the Open, my friends said, ‘Great try.’ I didn’t want to hear that (again) today. That motivated me," said Stewart. "I never gave up. I got the job done, and that means a lot to me."
Stewart’s performance on the 7,175-yard No. 2 Course was as much about perseverance as it was about par. After his 1991 Open win in a playoff over Scott Simpson at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn., he twice had finished second, including the ’98 gut-wrencher. At Pinehurst he was the only player to better par when the field averaged 75.54 strokes.
Stewart broke par twice in four days. The rest of the field combined did it just 27 times.
Stewart will be at Pinehurst next week for the 105th U.S. Open, but only in spirit and the form of a statue behind the 18th green. Four months after his momentous triumph he died along with five others in a Learjet crash. Stewart’s bronzed statue forever punches the air, just as he did that cool, cloudy June day in 1999.
"Payne would have loved that statue," says Peter Jacobsen, one of Stewart’s closest friends. "He would have sat in front of that statue with a pitcher of margaritas telling everybody who walked by, ‘That’s me.’ I could just see him doing that."
But everyone would already have known it was Payne Stewart. The moment is frozen in time, a story unto itself that will be retold for years to come.
Dave Shedloski is a free-lance writer whose work has appeared previously on www.usopen.com.
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