USGA To Honor Payne Stewart With Bobby Jones Award

I'm guessing Tom Meeks will not be introducing this one...considering the sportsmanship award winner infamously chewed out the former USGA head man.

For Immediate Release:

USGA TO HONOR PAYNE STEWART WITH 2014 BOB JONES AWARD

Presentation to Family Planned for 2014 U.S. Open Championship Week

Village of Pinehurst, N.C. (Feb. 7, 2014) – As the game's governing body committed to a longtime mission of preserving, promoting and celebrating the very best traditions and characteristics of the game, the United States Golf Association (USGA) today announced the late Payne Stewart as the recipient of the 2014 Bob Jones Award. Stewart will be honored during a public ceremony as part of the festivities surrounding the 2014 U.S. Open Championship.

Presented annually since 1955, the Bob Jones Award is the USGA’s highest honor. It recognizes an individual who demonstrates the spirit, personal character and respect for the game exhibited by Jones, winner of nine USGA championships. Previous recipients of the award include many of golf’s finest champions like Francis Ouimet (1955), Babe Didrikson Zaharias (1957), Patty Berg (1963), Arnold Palmer (1971), Jack Nicklaus (1975), Ben Hogan (1976), Nancy Lopez (1998), Annika Sorenstam (2012) and Davis Love III (2013), as well as others who have contributed to the fabric of the game in other ways, including Richard S. Tufts (1967), Joseph C. Dey Jr. (1977), Bing Crosby and Bob Hope (1978), P.J. Boatwright Jr. (1993) and President George H.W. Bush (2008).

Known for his passion for golf, sportsmanship and philanthropy, Stewart won 11 professional events, including three major championships, during an 18-year PGA Tour career that was cut short by a fatal airplane accident in 1999, four months after his second U.S. Open victory. Stewart’s wife, Tracey, and their children, Chelsea and Aaron, will be presented with the USGA’s Bob Jones Award at a public ceremony in the Village of Pinehurst during U.S. Open week on Tuesday, June 10, at 5 p.m. EDT.

“We are so pleased, and know that Payne would be extremely honored and humbled to be recognized with the prestigious Bob Jones Award,” said Tracey Stewart. “Payne loved the game of golf and sought to live out and promote the same principles of high character, sportsmanship and passion that Bob Jones embodied. We are grateful to the USGA for honoring Payne in such a wonderful manner.”

Stewart’s 18-foot par putt on the 72nd hole of the 1999 U.S. Open at Pinehurst provided one of the championship’s most dramatic finishes. The celebratory moment is memorialized with a bronze statue of Stewart near the 18th green of Pinehurst No. 2.

“Payne’s legacy continues to shine as an inspiration to players of all ages,” said Thomas J. O’Toole Jr., incoming USGA president. “His spirit and gracious attitude left an indelible mark on everyone who surrounded him. His presence can still be felt by players who were fortunate enough to play with him and by the junior golfers that his Payne Stewart Foundation continues to support.”

“Payne’s larger-than-life personality made him one of the most likable players by peers and fans alike,” said USGA Executive Director Mike Davis. “Payne’s strength of character showed through clearly in victory and defeat, which he personally experienced in the U.S. Open. It is only fitting that we will make the presentation of this award to a two-time champion at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst in June for players and fans to enjoy.”

“Payne was one of the most engaging and dynamic players that I had the fortune to play with,” said Peter Jacobsen, a USGA and PGA Tour champion and one of Stewart’s closest friends. “He was an intense competitor, but after the last putt dropped, he was warm and supportive, win or lose. That is the definition of sportsmanship and why I am glad to see the USGA honor Payne with the Bob Jones Award.”

Off the course, Stewart donated his time and financial assistance to charitable efforts that promoted the game and supported those in need. His legacy lives on in the Payne Stewart Foundation, formed by Payne and Tracey to teach their children about giving back to the community. The Payne Stewart Foundation supports charities that focus on children in need, as well as the development of the game of golf. Since 2007, the foundation has co-sponsored the American Junior Golf Association’s Payne Stewart Junior Championship.

“Payne Stewart personified the ideals of character, charity and sportsmanship, and is a worthy recipient of the USGA’s Bob Jones Award in the backyard of his greatest triumph,” said PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem. “Because of the virtues he extolled, the annual Payne Stewart Award was introduced by the PGA Tour in 2000 to pay tribute, carry on his spirit and serve as a reminder of just how special he was to us all. We are thrilled to see Payne receiving further recognition for his contributions, both on and off the golf course.”

As the winner of the 1989 PGA Championship and the 1991 and 1999 U.S. Open championships, Stewart is one of only eight players who have won at least two U.S. Opens and a PGA Championship. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2001.

Video: Highlights From The Golf Industry Show

We hit the floor at the Golf Industry Show in Orlando.

Morning Drive showed the highlights of our floor ambush.

Kneejerk Reaction: Trump Doral Blue Monster

A few quick thoughts on my trip around the revamped Trump Doral, which was a combination of site inspection and insights from Gil Hanse, who, with Jim Wagner, remodeled the resort’s Blue Monster course. I will be discussing the course on a special four-hour Morning Drive Thursday that will be covering the media day for the course’s re-opening.

View from 11th tee feels like a hole at Seminole (Click to enlarge)A longer, hopefully more eloquent review is to come in Golf World, but for now…

—More sophisticated. The course has gone up a multiple notches not only in the strategy department, but in the overall grandeur of the property. By no means was it ever going to be Pebble Beach east, but the combination of tree removal, re-grading fairways, raising greens and refining some of the less exciting holes has given the property a grander feeling reminiscent of William Flynn’s Indian Creek (not coincidentally, Doral architect Dick Wilson was a protege of Flynn). It looks and feels like an older classic, with refined features and presentation.

—More routing points better connected. The previous version of the course felt like 18 holes plopped on a flat piece of Miami, but with the moving of a few greens many of the disconnecting points are gone. The finishing holes appear to have a really nice flow, sadly interrupted with some overly aggressive corporate tenting, but most improved of all is the move of the 9th green closer to the 18th. This should create a more dynamic energy around the clubhouse come tournament time.

11th tee view has touches of Seminole (click to enlarge)—The first hole is vastly improved. Now a super risk-reward par-5 with water at the green, this should be the second hole of a sudden death playoff (after replaying 18, of course).

—The range is way better. The downside, however, was an overly aggressive planting of palms along the 10th hole. The straight line and braces holding up the palms give the impression of a row of cell-tower trees. Hopefully undergrowth will soften the look over time.

—The finish could become the best on the PGA Tour. The three hole finale at TPC Sawgrass will always be tough to beat, but Doral’s 18th is better. Furthermore, the new short par-3 15th features a green with multiple hole locations that could produce some hole-in-ones, but the peninsula green will also see plenty of water balls. The 16th, which became drivable when all the guys started eating Chipotle instead of Five Guys, remains drivable if the tees are up and when they are not, is a far more beautiful, interesting drive and pitch with a raised fairway that will no longer be the mudball parking lot that the old hole presented. And amidst all of this water, Hanse and Wagner retained the old 17th hole’s huge green but with better bunkering and a superb mix of shot shapes required to make birdie.

—The greens are perfect, the fairways will need a few more 80 degree days to allow the superintendent to take them to a lower cut. The approaches are noticeably top-dressed and firming up, which will be critical for a few new run-up options to front hole locations on what before was strictly an aerial golf course.

Overall, the most stunning thing about Trump Doral? No gold crests! The Donald took the Sheikdom accoutrements down many notches, which only adds to the sophisticated and revitalized Blue Monster.

The Ghost Of Clifford Roberts Surfaces In Scottsdale!

You may remember the "resignation opportunity" letter offered to Scottsdale National members by owner Bob Parsons. The GoDaddy.com founder had changed the name from Golf Club of Scottsdale and had dreams of building his own Augusta in Scottsdale. The results of the opportunity and revamped club appears to be borrowing liberally from the Clifford Roberts model for Augusta National, and that's not all bad! In fact, some of this is almost too good to be true.

To protect the innocent, this latest Parsons email to the members who survived the resignation opportunity has been copied and pasted from the original, emailed, stomped on, tilted and emailed again. But the ideas are undeniably those of Parsons who, if nothing else, will be considered reasonable for having backed off some of his original member demands (mandatory spending, big limits) and maybe even going full circle, turning into kind of a Santa Claus to those remaining members.

Here is the original letter.

And the latest correspondence, post-resignations and channeling his inner-Clifford:

No Bill Murray At Pebble Beach, Bring On The Suits!

Josh Sens explains why Bill Murray will not be making his usual mockery (with a few funny moments) this year at Pebble Beach. He's got a movie to plug.

Before you get too excited, Doug Ferguson reminds us how much this event means to the G4 set and the Cialis-replacing boost they get from making the cut.

And as much as Murray's antics may pain you, just brace yourself for more than you ever wanted to see of the PNC chairman!