‘Dandy’ Payne Stewart picked the pocket of ‘Gentle’ Mike Reid and broke his heart at Kemper Lakes in 1989.
This was the summary of Marino Parascenzo, written in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, describing the final round of the PGA Championship over a quarter of a century ago.
On a humid August Sunday, Stewart began the last 18 holes six shots behind Reid in Long Grove, Illinois, after completing their third rounds on the same day as a consequence of bad weather.
The odds of victory were still on the long side by the 10th hole when the deficit hadn’t slimmed. But Stewart, dressed in his signature knickers and tam o’ shanter cap, was feeling brave.
“We were six behind and Jerry Pate who was the walking announcer for ABC Sports in those days, he came up on the 10th tee,” Mike Hicks, Stewart’s caddie, recalls. “Payne and Jerry were decent friends, and Payne looked at him and said, ‘I’m going to shoot 30 this side and win the tournament’.
“Pate just kind of looked at him.”
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Payne Stewart: 1989 PGA Championship victory came after Mike Reid blunders
And so, the charge began. With crisp irons and a red-hot putter, birdies on 11, 15, and 16, and a chip-in birdie on 14, increased hope of a maiden major triumph.
Stewart rolled in another birdie on 18 to finish with a 31 on the back nine, good for a final-round 67. His four-day total of 276 at 12-under placed him in the thick of contention. But Reid was still in control and, standing on the 16th tee, he’d only made four bogeys all week.
“Posting that score ahead of Mike Reid really put the pressure on him, and he didn’t handle it,” Hicks said.
Indeed, Reid faltered under the weight of the moment like at the Masters in the same year. His ball got wet on 15 at Augusta National when he led, and the same happened again here.
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A gutsy bogey was the result of a water ball with his tee shot, but 17 was where the flood toppled the barrier. An innocuous approach to this par-3 green trickled into the thick collar of rough, inches from the putting surface. No alarms were tripped – yet.
Reid floated a chip to about 15 feet for par and finished the hole three putts later. Like a blur, Reid was in the 18th fairway needing a birdie to force a playoff. He had led after 18, 36, 54 and 70 holes.
A determined approach to seven feet meant the PGA came down to the last shot.
When Reid’s final putt missed its mark, a putt he later admitted he ‘hurried’, Stewart’s improbable comeback was complete. The Wanamaker Trophy was his, marking his first major victory and his place in history.
For Hicks, the win was as much about Stewart’s grit as it was about the unpredictability of the day itself. “We backed into that tournament, but Payne still had to shoot 31 to post the score,” he said. “Granted, if Mike Reid hadn’t hit the ball in the water a couple of times coming in, he would’ve won the tournament – but that’s golf. You’ve got to play 72 holes.”
Having only been on the Stewart’s bag for a couple of years, Hicks savoured a taste of what was to come.
“To tell someone you’re going to shoot 30 and then shoot 31 – that’s pretty good.”
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