Death
On October 25, 1999, a month after the American team rallied to win the 1999 Ryder Cup in Brookline, Massachusetts, and four months after his U.S. Open victory at Pinehurst No. 2, Stewart was killed in the depressurization of a Learjet flying from Orlando to Dallas, Texas for the year-ending tournament, The Tour Championship, held at Champions Golf Club in Houston that year. Traveling on a Monday morning, Stewart was planning to stop off in Dallas to discuss building a new home course for the SMU golf program. The last communication received from the pilots was at 9:27 AM EDT, and the plane made a right turn at 9:30 AM EDT that was probably the result of human input.
At 9:33 AM EDT, the pilots did not respond to a call to change radio frequencies, and there was no further contact from the plane. The plane, apparently still on autopilot and angled off-course, was observed by several U.S. Air Force (and Air National Guard) F-16 fighter aircraft as it continued its flight over the southern and midwestern United States. The military pilots observed frost or condensation on the windshield (consistent with loss of cabin pressure) which obscured the cockpit, and no motion was visible through the small patch of windshield that was clear.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators later concluded that the plane suffered a loss of cabin pressure and that all on board died of hypoxia. A delay of only a few seconds in donning oxygen masks, coupled with cognitive and motor skill impairment, could have been enough to result in the pilots' incapacitation. The NTSB report showed that the plane had several instances of maintenance work related to cabin pressure in the months leading up to the accident. The NTSB was unable to determine whether they stemmed from a common problem – replacements and repairs were documented, but not the pilot discrepancy reports that prompted them or the frequency of such reports. The report gently chides Sunjet Aviation for the possibility that this would have made the problem harder to identify, track, and resolve; as well as the fact that in at least one instance the plane was flown with an unauthorized maintenance deferral for cabin pressure problems.
According to a USAF timeline, a series of military planes provided an emergency escort to the stricken Lear, beginning with an F-16 from Eglin Air Force Base, about an hour and twenty minutes (9:33 EDT to 9:52 CDT – see NTSB report on the crash) after ground controllers lost contact. The plane continued flying until it ran out of fuel and crashed into a field near Mina, South Dakota, a town ten miles (16 km) west of Aberdeen, after an uncontrolled descent. The five other people aboard the plane included Stewart's agents Robert Fraley and Van Ardan, and pilots Michael Kling and Stephanie Bellegarrigue, along with Bruce Borland, a highly regarded golf course architect with the Jack Nicklaus design company.
At the time of his death, Stewart had won $12,673,193 in career earnings. He won over $2 million during the 1999 season, and finished seventh on the year's money list.
At that week's tournament, Tour Championship, Stewart's good friend Stuart Appleby organized a tribute to his friend. With Stewart's wife's permission, he wore one of Payne's own signature outfits for the final round of the tournament on Sunday, and most of the rest of the golfers in the field wore "short pants" that day as well.
One year after Stewart's death, his widow Tracey and their two children, as well as the family of Stewart's agent Robert Fraley who also died on that flight, brought a lawsuit seeking $200 million in damages against the Learjet's operator, SunJet Aviation, Inc., and owner JetShares One Inc., as well as a lawsuit against the aircraft manufacturer Learjet. However, in mid-2000 SunJet Aviation had filed for bankruptcy protection, in part due to an FBI investigation and raid which disrupted the company's ability to fly. Only two years later did the FBI admit that they had found no wrongdoing. The case against Learjet went forward in state court in Orlando, Florida. In June 2005, jurors found that the plane's manufacturer had no liability in the deaths of Stewart and Fraley due to negligence in the design or manufacture of the plane.
The segment of Interstate 44 passing through Springfield, Missouri was designated the "Payne Stewart Memorial Highway" in his memory. He also has a street in Fullerton, California named after him. There is also a "Payne Stewart Drive" in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada named after him, leading into Northview golf course designed by Arnold Palmer. Finally, Payne Stewart Drive in Jacksonville, Florida houses The First Tee along with a Job Corps Center.
The communities of Mina and Aberdeen created their own memorial. Jon Hoffman, owner of the property where the plane crashed, contacted Stewart's widow Tracey and several family members of other crash victims; all agreed that the memorial would be a rock pulled from the crash site, engraved with the victims' names and a Bible passage. Hoffman fenced in about an acre (4,000 m²) of the property surrounding the memorial.
In 2000, the PGA Tour established the Payne Stewart Award, given each year to a player who shows respect for the traditions of the game, commitment to uphold the game's heritage of charitable support and professional and meticulous presentation of himself and the sport through his dress and conduct.
In tribute to Stewart, as well as his southwestern Missouri roots, the Payne Stewart Golf Club was opened in Branson, Missouri in June 2009 with the approval of Stewart's widow, Tracey. Ground-breaking on the $31 million layout took place on July 24, 2006. The 7,319 yard 18-hole course was designed by Bobby Clampett and Chuck Smith. Each hole on the course is named for some aspect or notable moment in Stewart's life. For example, the fifth hole, named "Road Hole", recounts the incredible par Stewart made in the first round of the 1990 Open Championship at Old Course at St Andrews when he was forced to knock his third shot against the wall behind the green at the Old Course's treacherous 17th. His ball finished just on the back fringe from where he chipped in.
On the tenth anniversary of Stewart's death in 2009, Golf Channel presented a special program to remember the life of the late golfer. It included recorded interviews with family and friends and archived videos of his golf career.
Payne's son, Aaron, joined the Southern Methodist University golf team.
Read more about this topic: Payne Stewart
Famous quotes containing the word death:
““Promise me solemnly,” I said to her as she lay on what I believed to be her death bed, “if you find in the world beyond the grave that you can communicate with me—that there is some way in which you can make me aware of your continued existence—promise me solemnly that you will never, never avail yourself of it.” She recovered and never, never forgave me.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)
“There is a rhythm to the ending of a marriage just like the rhythm of a courtship—only backward. You try to start again but get into blaming over and over. Finally you are both worn out, exhausted, hopeless. Then lawyers are called in to pick clean the corpses. The death has occurred much earlier.”
—Erica Jong (b. 1942)