Miscellaneous
Twenty years ago golfer Payne Stewart tragically died in a plane crash along with five others in what was supposed to be a routine flight from Orlando to Dallas. A captivated national television audience watched coverage for hours on CNN and the major networks as the anchors described a ghost plane flying on auto-pilot across the nation. Several hours later the plane crashed in South Dakota. In the Last Stand of Payne Stewart: The Year Golf Changed Forever, Kevin Robbins details the final fateful flight and reflects back on the last year of Stewart's life where the golfer finally found redemption and peace in his career and life. Robbins also writes how that year, 1999, turned out to be a last stand of sorts for golfers like Stewart, who were known for their feel and ability to work their way around 18 holes, as they were overtaken by the technological advances in equipment and those golfers who used it to overpower the course. SHOW NOTES 2:55 - On watching Payne Stewart's plane live on CNN in 1999 - It was so high flying at close to 50,000 feet. It was such a mystery. Nobody knew why the pilots weren't responding. Nobody knew why it was flying so high. No one knew why it was flying over Eastern Missouri instead of heading toward Dallas. 5:05 - On why it was secretive on who was on board - Air traffic controllers in Jacksonville who controlled that airspace over Orlando; they knew who was on board early but they didn't want his family and friends to learn through the news that Payne Stewart was on board. 6:31 - On the idea of writing the book - I'm just scrolling the Internet and somehow arrive at the full and final National Transportation Safety Board report on the incident that killed Payne and five others. It was like a 1,600-page document. As government reports are, it was incredibly rich in details and contained all angles. 8:14 - On the significant events of that year in golf - That was the year that Jean Vandevelde lost the British Open on the last hole at Carnoustie. That was the year that a young 23-year-old went toe to toe with Sergio Garcia in the PGA Championship. And then of course Payne had won the U.S. Open at Pinehurts. 9:30 - On the biographical nature of the book - In order to appreciate what Payne Stewart accomplished in 1999, both personally and professionally, you needed to know who he used to be and where he had come from and all that he had endured and all that people had endured of him. 11:45 - On Stewart growing up in Springfield, Missouri - Two of the first six winners of the Masters Tournament were from Springfield. 17:17 - On Stewart during his final round of his first major win - He was doing everything the wrong way that would be expected of a man about to become a major champion. 20:33 - On changing equipment and how it negatively affected his game for years - And so he switched clubs and balls at the same time and that's just a recipe for disaster and he entered this wilderness period of searching and frustrating and not winning and not even really contending anymore. Here's a guy who once graced the covers of magazines and newspapers and topped television broadcasts anytime he played and now he hasn't earned that anymore because he's not contending anymore so he just kind of vanishes for a long time. 23:00 - On how Stewart changed his life - He truly became a man of action later in life and that's what 1999 was all about. It wasn't about anymore what he was saying, it was what he was doing. 25:15 - On the slump he endured for years - Given his age at the time in his mid 30s, he's truly poised to peak and then the bottom falls out. He didn't just, like McIlroy, stop winning majors. He stopped winning. That had to be an enormous blow to his ego and to his humility. I think that was a tremendous influence on his reemergence in the 1998 at the US Open. 29:03 - On finding his way back to success - He put together a set of equipment that he would have played in 1989, not 1999. I think it freed him. It felt familiar, and good and true in his hands, these clubs. I think he felt like a brand new man and was ready to go in 1999. 32:23 - On coming up short at 1998 U.S. Open - He reported to the media center. I think the reporters were a little unsure about what they were going to get. Payne looked them in the eye and stood tall in his chair and said I didn't deserve to win today. I didn't play the kind of golf that should win a U.S. Open. I think that was a little bit shocking to the reporters who'd been around him for a long time because they were accustom to someone who would have reacted in a more undignified way. But he didn't. Not this Payne Stewart. Not this year. 39:00 - On 1991 U.S. Open preparation - They practiced these little recovery shots because Chuck knew Payne was going to miss some of the greens. Even though Payne was an excellent iron player. Everybody was going to miss greens that week at the U.S. Open. They took a yardage book and made copious notes in this yardage book about where to miss and where not to miss and they made a really solid plan that helped Payne to win that championship. 42:07 - On final round of 1991 U.S. Open - It was clear at this point that one of these two players would win. It would either be the 42-year-old Payne Stewart who had reemerged from the wilderness or it would be young, promising, long-hitting Phil Mickelson. 46:04- On maturing and winning the U.S. Open - What makes it more remarkable not so much he won a U.S. Open at the age of 42 but that he won it in a way that a younger Payne Stewart would have never considered. Because a younger Payne Stewart would say I've got this shot. I'll hit a 6-iron out of this rough and hit it up there and two-putt for par. He didn't do that. He took the wiser more mature choice and it turned to be the shot that won him the U.S. Open. 55:55 - On facing the equipment changes in 1999 - All of these threats were right in front of Payne Stewart and the other swingers who were in their 40s and they could do nothing about it. 1:01:50 - On Saturday night of 1999 Ryder Cup U.S. Team Meeting - The players were truly moved by that night. Six men who were in that room that night and they felt something. Maybe that carried over into the next day and they go out the next day and win. 1:05:14 - On Sunday Ryder Cup pairing with Colin Montgomerie - Colin Montgomerie was not a popular figure in the U.S. in 1999. He was a bit like a young Payne Stewart. A little bit provocative. He could be prickly, self-absorbed, he could blame external forces for his own failures. And all match long in those single matches he had endured these volleys of abuse from the well-lubricated fans of Boston.