Clutch Putts Gives Stewart his second
Open Victory
June 20th, 1999 ~ Article by Associated Press
PINEHURST, N.C. -- Gracious in a devastating defeat
a year ago in the U.S. Open, Payne Stewart could not
contain the raw emotion that overwhelmed him Sunday
when his 15-foot par putt disappeared into the hole.
He thrust his fist in the air and screamed above
the cheering throng around the 18th green at Pinehurst
No. 2. He cried.
“All I wanted to do was give myself a chance,”
Stewart said, choking back tears. “I never gave up. I got
the job done.”
Motivated by past failures, haunted by bizarre
breaks that always seemed to go the other way, Stewart
became the first player in the 99-year history of the U.S.
Open to win on the 72nd hole with a substantial putt.
In a stunning conclusion to the most dramatic U.S.
Open of the decade, Stewart closed with an even-par 70
in a steady drizzle to defeat Phil Mickelson by one stroke.
“When I looked up, it was about 2 feet away from
the hole and breaking right into the center of the cup,”
he said. “I couldn’t believe my eyes. I couldn’t believe I
had accomplished my dream.”
Stewart, 42, was the only man standing below par
at the end of four perilous trips around Pinehurst No. 2.
He finished at 279.
Standing in the 16th fairway, Mickelson thought
the Open was his to lose.
He failed to get up-and-down from the rough on
No. 16, missing a 6-footer for his only bogey of the day
that dropped him into a tie with Stewart. Then, Stewart
hit a 6-iron to 4 feet on the 17th, and Mickelson changed
his thinking.
“As soon as Payne hit that ball on 17, that was the
first time I realized he could beat me,” Mickelson said. “I
realized that par might not be good enough.”
It almost was when Stewart’s drive caught a bad
lie in the rough on the closing hole. He had no shot at
the green from such a mangled lie and knew better than
to bring trouble into play by trying.
He laid up and hit a lob wedge into 15 feet, the
kind of distance that gave him what he wanted -- a
chance to win the Open.
“The putts that Payne made on 16 and 18 showed
what a great champion he is,” Mickelson said.