RTDNAC 2024- Sports Special- Payne Stewart: Engraved in History- Spectrum News 1 NC

this weekend the United States open is back at North Carolina's Pinehurst number two it's a total golf Mecca it's return coming 25 years after one of golf's most iconic moments Payne Stewart whose big personality was beloved by fans pain stuff bananas in his in his loafers completing a comeback story for the ages if I never played another tournament yes pay Stewart's had a great career but I don't think pain Stewart's career is over a story of Triumph ending in tragedy we appreciate the heartfelt love and kindness shown by our friends and loved ones in our loss of pain we know he is with the Lord and in that we take comfort Eng golf just as in life memories like these Mark the time the image is Iconic emotional Unforgettable legendary but at Pinehurst one image stands alone burned into the minds of Millions [Music] these are the steps that the players in the 124th United States open will climb to make their way to the first heat it's a little bit of a different setup than it was 25 years ago the first time that the United States open was played here at Pinehurst number two in 1999 Payne Stewart etched his name among the game's greats becoming a multiple winner of the national championship there were several players who had a front row seat to that historic day we caught up with some of them to take a trip down memory lane Champions Tour Pros Jeff mager it's funny looking at actual photos cuz no one has these anymore Tim Heron lot of black numbers lot and Billy Mayfair you know Phil was expecting Amanda he was going to walk off the golf he was going to walk off the golf course and uh one of the funniest things about that was that I had his cell phone number all finished in the top 10 of the 1999 US Open they thumb through photographs I had taken while covering that particular champion ship and the memories came flooding back off one I know I pulled it just a hair right down the first cut line I'm I'm I'm there just a little bit thinner little thinner belly yeah I recognize that guy this was the leaderboard on Sunday June 20th 1999 before the leaders teed off Payne Stewart held a One-Shot lead after 54 holes ahead of Phil Mickelson and Tim Heron and Tiger Woods were luring two back Stuart had already won the US Open once and after a near miss the previous year was hungry for his second open title at Pinehurst he had a lot of energy that's what he did he was kind of I wouldn't say hyper but I think he was and he was positive it was a different tour back then uh we were all out there we were friends and yeah we wanted to win and it was serious to play and all that but we still went to dinner with each other we we still played jokes on one another he would loved to play jokes on Curtis Strange and he was kind of the guy that was always you know he'd won a few tournaments but it was always kind of like getting the hard luck and not winning tournaments and but he always took it really well almost like you know it didn't really bother him that much that he you know that he could have won Stuart had worked on himself early in his career he was Brash at times an attitude that others might not have enjoyed but as he grew as a player and a person he evolved into one of the tour's most beloved figures golf isn't everything in in my life I mean I have a beautiful family I a wonderful wife and two lovely children and if I don't if I on the way home something would happen and I can't play golf again hey i' I've had a wonderful career he liked everybody just like Arie did and Arie didn't consider himself some hot shot celebrity Arie could walk into this Clubhouse and walk up to uh a guy's playing cards in the locker room and just say hey guys how you doing you know like he's known them for 20 years and of course they'd be like oh man that's Arnold Palmer but he he had this personality that you didn't after 2 or 3 minutes you didn't even think of him you just thought him as a great guy and pain was that way that near Miss in 1998 seemed to Spur steuart into Pinehurst the following year last year strengthened me for this year but I did not at one time on that Golf Course think about last year he was kind of having a little bit of a Resurgence you know it looked like everything was was great and he was like a shman but like when he was going to try to win a major try to win a golf tournament he was there he was he was the man it seemed like particularly that week he was a different type of pain very focused um you know kind of like you know I'm not going to joke around this week I'm going to go out there and play golf It's the final round of the 99th US Open a One-Shot lead on Piner number two in US Open conditions is anything but safe and as the leaders began that final day the different pain got the day going even before he reached the tea box I remember in the locker room before I even went to go practice and things like that uh pay Stewart was in there and I think he made the cut off uh rain suit so he was in there I go what are you doing goes I'm cutting the sleeves off so I can swing more free I'm like well I'm a little too cheap I better keep my sleeves on right Stewart Birdie the first bogie the second Birdie the third and then posted six straight pars for an outward nine-hole score of 34 a rocky start to his back nine had him one overp par going to the par 3 17th where he caught lightning in a bottle a birdie to get back to level bar that slim one shot lead still intact heading to the 72nd hole a wayward drive on 18 led to a safe second shot his third found the putting surface leaving him 15 ft away for Park missing the putt would mean an 18-hole playoff on Monday with Nicholson do it with one putt to win the US [Applause] Open tiger and I went and S the card and we went back out from the tunnel and kind of watched the pain Stewart F fist pump I just remember how loud it was and then when he came off the green I gave him a hug and hickie his his caddy was just going crazy and it was kind of fun to watch see how that just kind of all of a sudden uh a shock to them you know you work that hard and then you win and then you get inside and you realized I just won the US Open the Triumph complete Pinehurst had its first US Open Champion wearing his trademark plus fours and Tammy cap the once brat star on tour now embraced as a two-time winner of the United States open by the time he' won here I mean he was very popular and I think everyone was thrilled that um I know the people there in Pinehurst were thrilled that they had a champion to put out there that was paying Stewart now a two-time open Champion Stuart moved through the season but was struggling a bit with his game prior to the year- ending TOUR Championship we got paired together at the Walt Disney he didn't play very well and and after Friday's round he asked me to watch his putting stroke a little bit and he missed the cut and and we spent about 45 minutes on the green putting and and I just you I remember his eyes weren't quite right to me and we just kind of messed around and you did that in those days you know today it's so much different I mean everyone has their own instructors and gurus falling around out here but in those days we helped each other and and pay was confident enough in me and asked me that and I just told him a few things and we laughed about things and you know the last things we I said hey go win next week and I'll win next week and we'll see each other in Hawaii in January and that was that was the last last thing we said to each other you know the last things we I said hey go win next week and I'll win next week and we'll see each other in Hawaii in January and that was that was the last last thing we said to each other on October 25th 1999 the golf world was stunned with the news that steart along with five others were killed when their plane failed to pressurize properly the jet flew for nearly 4 hours unmanned and off course before running out of fuel and crashing in South Dakota everyone was just in that locker room for 6 hours just staring at the television you know is it can this really be happening or maybe it's not his plane and no one was really you know for certain and then towards the end of the afternoon it was like everyone just kind of there just no no words spoken all I could think about was obviously his wife and his family to to sit there and I knew they had a proam that day there at in Orlando there and a lot of the pros were there and they all got called off the course and uh it was a terrifying thing to watch in the year 2000 the PGA Tour established the pain stward award given annually to the player who shows respect for the traditions of the game Stewart's Legacy lives on through his children along with the lives that he touched along the way I learned a lot from him just kind of how to be more of a showman an Entertainer I wish today we had more players like that the thing about dreams is sometimes you get to live them out items from Stewart's 1999 Championship are now enshrined inside the USGA Golf House located right next to Pinehurst number two from his glove to his putter to that famously tailored rain shirt all of it donated by his family the still frames very vibrant much like the memories carried by his longtime caty Mike Hicks hickie is still on the bag a quarter of a century after that now famous leap into Pain's waiting arms what is that emotion like for for player and caddy well uh it was doubly special for me you know being a North Carolinian you know when in the US Open in your home state um and it being at Pinehurst you know the mecca of golf in the country in our country so uh just a you know incredible feeling and the fact that you know he he celebrated that night at my house uh because I was having I had a charity event that he played in on that Monday after and um so after we did me he did media and all that we got back to my house about 11:00 that night and um stayed up till about 4:00 A.M the victory of that 99th open is one a lot of folks say was one of the greatest tournaments ever I mean with the way that the field was was stacked everybody was bunched one under power one the title what's your biggest takeaway from the the whole week obviously the putt on the 72nd was huge but the whole week the fact that you know the the year before we had the lead all week yeah um at Olympic club and um and then lose you know in the last couple holes he proved to himself that he could still contend in a major you know he' been a l quite a while he played you know competitively at that level um you know in contingent in a major it been several years so you know it proved to himself that he could still do it and you know at age 42 and you've got you know Duvall number one in the world you know the tiger coming up and coming Phil VJ I mean they're all right there and here's this you know old guy and uh and he handled it You Could See Me Now [Music] what do you what do you miss the most about him you know I guess would be the fun that he had on the early round you know the practice rounds and whatnot I mean the practice rounds were never boring with him I mean you know I mean I could tell you some stories that just you'd go what uh that they it was always fun you know practice rounds are especially when you get doing it as long as I have you you dread Tuesdays because it's just a boring day but they was never boring with Payne Stewart you know back in those days you know the guys were gambling they were uh they were always you know needling each other that was the thing that Mayfair and magget both said is that he was a jokester oh yeah and his primary target was Curtis Strange you know they were born on the same day so I can tell you some stories about those why was he the target why was it two time Cur cuz cuz pay knew that he could get under Curtis's skin real easy and he did all the time you know I'm not sure Curtis liked pay too much to be honest with you I don't think it was pay that did this but ainger Paul asier won the PGA Championship he win the bunker shot well he beat us with the bunker shot at Memorial was okay yeah he he so he holds a bunker shot to win to be to beat us and um pain stuffed bananas in ainger shoes I thought it was the Bob I thought Bob TW was involved no no Bob TW beat Norman with a hole in a bunker shot but yeah no Zinger holds a 18th hole at Memorial at Jack tournament holds the bunker shot to beat us and uh and paint stuff bananas in his in his loafers oh he was a big jokester man big jokester many called the 199 99 US Open one of the best tournaments in history the pose struck by Stuart on the 18th green burned into the memories of golf fans who saw it happen and after his passing that moment recreated much like Stuart himself Larger than Life the bronze sculpture of Stewart's memorable fist pump brought to life by the hands of renowned artist zenos Fus well his his story and his journey was such a great one and I I love history and and biographies I've always enjoyed biographies of Great Men and um he was in a almost like a Greek tragedy sort of way at the peak of his form when uh like Icarus you know he he uh he fell but it was you know his accomplishments um I was just pleased to to have the opportunity to create a kind of visual biography of of what was in a way a fugitive moment I guess the the um the invitation when he won and to turn that into something time photos capture something people can't people run things together they don't Capture One Moment One Moment actually looks static so to not look static the way we put our images together I had to kind of pick a couple of moments around the time that he did that pose that looked pleasing and I wanted to create a kind of visual rhyme with his arms and his legs the way it had to be pleasing and graceful artists that I've spoken with they all want uh their their work to speak to people they wanted they wanted to touch them they wanted to move them as you were creating the pain statue how did you want that piece to speak to people well I wanted them and many people do get their photos taken with it I wanted it to to I wanted them to be able to do that and to have the the benefit of being close to Greatness like that and I wanted it to be something that a sculpture that was they weren't thinking of of metal and sculpture they were thinking of a human being is there is there one part of the of the of pay's statue that really jumps out at you and and makes you feel like you know this was this was kind of the essence of of who he is I know you gave him the calmer face as opposed to the excited face uh but is there one part I mean was it the the the plus4 pants the the cap I liked I think the pose for me trying to make it so that it it didn't look static as I said because I tried to pick over a couple moments and I and I tried to get a kind of what the ancient Greeks called ormos a kind of Rhythm or movement in between the arms and the legs so they had a kind of visual poetry going so that people might not know all of this in terms of cerebrally about history of sculpture but they'll sense it when they're around it there's a lot in the sculpture that um comes from again sculptures of other athletes that have seen all the way going back to the Ancients and and um and it's and and it goes in there and it's also not to put in every wrinkle or fold in the clothes it's like poetry it's you you leave some things out and you put some things in and you arrange it and and um like when I sculpted a life-size elephant I didn't put every wrinkle of the elephant into it see you have to pick and choose and that helps make a point for this year's US Open the steart sculpture has been relocated away from the 18th green to a more prominent location the main games of Pinter number two giving fans their chance to create a memory with the bronze Masterpiece PNE Stewart was born in Missouri attended Southern Methodist University in Texas and had a love affair with Pinehurst right out of college Stuart played a series of tournaments in the Sand Hills back in 1979 cutting his teeth on playing for pay Stuart bunked down at the Pine Crest Inn in that stretch built in 1913 and owned by Donald Ross himself until his death it was a place that was close to Stewart's heart he became friend with my brother-in-law Peter Barrett who he and my husband Bobby are the owners here and he never forgot the place he never he just really liked coming back and when you think about that relationship and and his love for the Pine Crest in how special is that for those that were here and remember pay 25 years later there not not very many of us left anymore but um he had made his Mark here in the late 70s and during the 80s and of course into the 90s and until he passed away but he um was very beloved my father-in-law who he and his wife bought this place in 1961 my father-in-law was crazy about him he left behind an indelible impression on the open but he also left his Mark specifically here basically that that signature in the men's room yes he we had um wallpapered over um several signatures on a painted wall and it had been wallpapered and he went up to the desk on the Sunday night before the open and asked the young girl that was working for a Sharpie he's at first he said who painted over my signature or or wallpapered over my signature and he took the Sharpie and he signed his name very large over the menro door walking out the door the lore was that he signed that after he won no he signed it the Sunday night before he won that yeah that is incorrect more yeah the story was that he signed it after he won the championship when and everything and so that signature was ahead of him that was the Sunday night before the open started on Thursday his championship in '99 here was obviously special and it was just 4 months later that we lost him correct in October of9 I can only imagine that left a very large hole in the hearts of a lot of people yes you're absolutely correct what was what was it like around here very sad very sad he he was and and not just for the Pine Crest me for the whole village anybody who had been a part of the open I'm sure felt it the thing that I heard the most was that and I've heard the most in leading up to this is that he was the perfect Champion for that 1999 US Open the debut at Piner the first ever here it was he was the right guy for the right moment and I think you're I think that's very accurate to me it it's almost like Pain's spirit is still a part of this of the Pine Crest in especially with the people who who knew him and and knew what he meant to this place and knew this place meant a lot to him yes Pinehurst is golf in the number two course one of the toughest tests of the game the creation of Donald Ross has crowned many a great champ through the years but one image stands above all others Payne Stewart's 1999 US Open Victory it was the moment engraved in history [Music]