‘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.”
ALSO: 6 shocking PGA Championship winners that no one saw coming
ALSO: Remembering Scottie Scheffler’s arrest and golf’s wildest morning at the PGA Championship
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.
