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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Monday, June 21, 1999
Sabres still irked by Stars' Cup-clincher
By TIM DAHLBERG
AP Sports Writer
PINEHURST, N.C. — Payne Stewart's personal moment of redemption came
in a light rain on the final domed green at Pinehurst No. 2. With it, came
a moment that will become U.S. Open lore.
In one magical stroke of his putter, Stewart managed both to erase his
failures of a year ago and do something no one had ever done in 98 previous
Opens — win the championship with a long putt on the 72nd hole.
A day that began with tears for his late father on Father's Day ended
with tears of joy as Stewart celebrated a second Open title he thought
might never come.
"I got the job done, and that means a lot to me," Stewart said. "I had
to prove something to myself. I had to get into position and I had to deal
with it."
Any lingering disappointment from his loss in the final round last year
at the Olympic Club was washed away as Stewart's 15-foot par putt went
up the hill, broke slightly to the right, and dropped squarely in the center
of the hole.
Phil Mickelson could only watch with a bemused look on his face as Stewart
gleefully punched his fist into the air and picked up his caddie in a bear
hug.
Moments later, the tears came, as the realization he had won a second
Open at the age of 42 overwhelmed him.
"I will enjoy this one more," said Stewart, who won in 1991. "I won't
try and change Payne Stewart this time. I don't have to prove anything
to anybody anymore."
One of the most nerve-wracking of Opens ended up being perhaps its most
dramatic. It had Stewart seeking redemption from an Open collapse and Mickelson
playing his finest major while carrying a beeper on Father's Day in case
his wife went into labor.
It had Tiger Woods making a charge with birdies on 14 and 16 before
faltering from a greenside bunker on 17, and it had Vijay Singh hanging
in patiently just in case something happened.
Most of all, it had Stewart making the putt that will define his career
after making a career's worth of putts.
"Everything just bubbles inside of you," Stewart said, trying to describe
his emotions as he lined up the putt. "And then all of a sudden it's in,
and you did it."
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.
Copyright 1999 by Pecos Enterprise
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