Tuesday, June 13
By Bob Harig
Special to ESPN Golf Online
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- One of the enduring memories of the 1999 U.S. Open is Payne Stewart holing the winning 15-foot par putt on the final green, punching his fist through the air, then catching the caddie who jumped into his arms with joy.
|  | | Payne Stewart won his third major with Mike Hicks on the bag at Pinehurst. |
As satisfying as winning a second U.S. Open was to Stewart, Mike Hicks also took great pleasure in the win.
Although he didn't hit a single shot, Hicks was there for every one of Stewart's 279 strokes, just as he had been the previous year when Stewart blew a four-shot final-round lead to Lee Janzen, and just as he had been in 1991, when Stewart captured his first Open title in a playoff over Scott Simpson.
For 12 years, Hicks caddied for Stewart, although their relationship went far beyond a working one. They were friends whose families socialized together and who had come to respect one another a great deal.
Four months later, Hicks was preparing for another tournament with Stewart, checking yardages at the Champions Club in Houston, where the Tour Championship was about to take place in a few days.
While walking the course, Hicks received a call on his cell phone. His wife, Meg, said he should get to a television. There he watched with horror and disbelief as the news of Stewart's private plane flying out of control was reported. Hicks tried Stewart's cell phone over and over. He kept hoping to hear Stewart on the other end, telling him it was all a joke.
Of course, it was not.
Stewart and five others died Oct. 25, 1999, when the leased plane in which they were flying apparently lost cabin pressure and later crashed in a remote part of South Dakota.
Hicks has been mourning ever since -- and bracing for this week. The U.S. Open has returned to Pebble Beach, one of Stewart's favorite courses, and he won't be here to defend his title.
"It's been tough to deal with for me and for everyone," Hicks said. "I'm trying to prepare myself for the week, but I'm not sure what it is going to entail. Obviously the memories of Payne are going to be vivid. He is going to be the focus. You'll see him a lot.
"It'll be tough. I've been thinking about him a lot lately -- not that I haven't thought about him every day since he died -- but you see his face popping up more and more now. I've got a feeling it's not going to be easy."
Stewart has been on the minds of fans and players at nearly every PGA Tour stop this year, but the tributes will take on even more meaning this week as the U.S. Open celebrates its 100th championship.
The United States Golf Association plans to honor Stewart in several ways. On Tuesday night, there will be a dinner for past champions and their spouses. Tracey Stewart is expected to attend.
An early-morning service in remembrance of Stewart will take place Wednesday morning.
More than 25,000 commemorative plaid ribbons will be sold for a minimum $1 donation, with the money going to charity. The ribbons will be available at "Payne's Place," a concession area just outside the main entrance.
Hicks, 38, was there with Stewart for all three of his major championships, along with several other victories. He also has caddied for the likes of Greg Norman, Tom Kite, Curtis Strange and Lanny Wadkins.
But he counts last year's win at Pinehurst as the highlight of his nearly 20 years as a caddie. Stewart, who posted his sixth top-10 in the U.S. Open, was the only player in the field to break par for the tournament, and he holed a 15-footer on the last hole -- the longest putt to win an Open on the final hole in tournament history.
"He could get himself to a level of focus that he couldn't do in a regular PGA Tour event," Hicks said. "For whatever reason, I think it was because he was such a patriotic guy. He was red, white and blue all the way. It was a very important tournament for him to win. And he got himself to that level that week.
"He had a game plan, a way to play the U.S. Open. Most guys who play well at the Open stay away from the big number. Payne would take his medicine. He didn't try to hit a career shot. You don't want to compound your troubles by hitting it in the rough twice and he was good about that.
"The two Opens he won, he didn't make any doubles. You've got to stay away from the double bogeys. That was his game plan. That's the way he played this tournament."
Ironically, it was a poor tournament the week previous to the Open that Hicks believes helped Stewart, who missed the cut in Memphis.
"He kind of got on me when we got to Pinehurst, because I really didn't say much to him the last nine holes at Memphis," Hicks said. "We were both thinking about Pinehurst. But it was a blessing.
"If we had made the cut, we'd have been there until Monday and played only two practice rounds. But I walked the course (Pinehurst) on Saturday and we played Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. He took Wednesday off. You have to be mentally rested. You can't burn yourself out before the tournament because it's going to take its toll on you. If you run yourself into the ground, it's going to really hurt on the weekend. It was all part of the plan."
After Stewart's death, Hicks considered giving up his job.
"But what else am I doing to do at this stage of my life?" he said. "Twelve years is a long time with a guy, and I didn't know if I wanted to go through the process of getting to know another player."
But Hicks hooked up with Bob Estes, who honored Stewart at last year's Tour Championship by hitting his opening drive with a putter -- covering the same distance of Stewart's winning Open putt.
Hicks will caddie for Estes at this week's Open.
"The healing process takes a long time," Hicks said. "Especially with the success (Stewart) had, most places you go there are memories. It's going to take a long time to get over it, and I don't know that I'll ever get over it."
Scheduling snafu
The LPGA fights for attention in the golf world, but is often its own worst enemy. No matter who is at fault, this is a bad week to stage the biggest money event of the season outside of the U.S. Women's Open.
But that is the case. The LPGA Tour plays the Evian Masters -- in France. With most of the golf world focused on the U.S. Open, it will be difficult for the LPGA to get any notice, despite the fact that the LPGA will have a strong field playing for a big payday. The purse is $1.8 million.
If that's not enough, a major championship is next week at the LPGA Championship in Wilmington, Del. So players will be faced with difficult travel to get to one of the most important tournaments of the year.
A one-time occurrence would be understandable, but the LPGA has similar woes throughout its schedule. The Nabisco Championship, the first major, is played opposite the men's Players Championship at the same time the NCAA basketball tournament is going on. And next month, the U.S. Women's Open is the same week as the British Open.
Bob Harig, who covers golf for the St. Petersburg Times, writes a column every Tuesday for ESPN Golf Online. |  |
