Payne Stewart was a frequent contender through the 1980s and broke through in the majors at the 1989 PGA Championship, and he added two more top titles in the ’90s. Stewart outlasted Scott Simpson in an 18-hole playoff at the 1991 U.S. Open at Hazeltine, and he drained a 15-foot par to beat Phil Mickelson by a shot in the ’99 U.S. Open at Pinehurst, where Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh also were among final-round contenders.
An extremely popular player known for his knickers, Stewart died later in 1999 in an airplane crash. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2001.
In his honor, the Payne Stewart Award is presented annually by the PGA Tour to a professional golfer who best exemplifies Stewart’s steadfast values of character, charity and sportsmanship.
Stewart would have turned 67 on Jan. 30, 2024.
Here is a look at the golf life of Stewart, and the legacy he has left behind.