Golf World Reacts To Loss

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

October 25, 1999 / 7:29 PM EDT / CBS

A blue ribbon marked the empty parking spot Payne Stewart was supposed to fill this week as one of the honored guests of the Tour Championship.

Stewart was killed along with five others when their Learjet flew uncontrolled for hours Monday before crashing in South Dakota. He was among the sport's top 30 money winners and qualified for the $5 million tournament at Champions Golf Club.

Fans and colleagues were stunned and the PGA Tour canceled Tuesday's pro-am that was part of the Tour Championship

PGA golfer Phil Mickelson told CBS This Morning that, moments after winning the U.S. Open, Stewart congratulated him on becoming a father.

"To think of someone other than himself shows what type of individual he was," Mickelson said. "He was the type of individual I felt very comfortable around."

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After sinking a putt at the 1999 Ryder Cup in Brookline, Mass.

Mickelson said Stewart chose not to represent any company this year; instead, he used the equipment that best suited his game.

"He would do whatever it took to play well and money was not an object," Mickelson said. "At the height of his life, not just his career Â— to have this happen is very difficult to accept."

"I think of Payne Stewart, and there's a guy that's going to be like Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, a guy you want around all those years," golfer Duffy Waldorf said. "He's such a big part of the game."

Waldorf and fellow pro Jeff Maggert said Stewart was well-liked by the players and a gallery favorite.

"Playing on the tour for nine years and being able to share a passion with someone, to play on the Ryder Cup team with him, it's just amazing that in a fraction of the time your world and your life and a lot of things can change," Maggert said.

Flags flew at half staff at the golf course after it was confirmed Stewart was aboard the wayward jet and died in a nose-first crash. The mood was thoroughly somber as golfers practiced in the sunshine.

"I was looking forward to seeing him play. He is a very colorful pro," said Vance Riley, 68, a golf fan and residenof the neighborhood adjacent to the course.

Jackie Burke, 1956 Masters champion and co-founder of Champions, had trouble digesting the news of Stewart's death.

"I can't believe anything like this could happen a private aircraft going down like that," Burke said. "But, I mean, missing him is just unbelievable."