Accepting his legacy

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – There are more than a few sets of eyes on Aaron Stewart as he lines up for a putt on the 18th hole at Lagoon Park Golf Course.

It isn’t because he’s one of the top young golfers in America. And as a redshirt freshman at Southern Methodist University, he doesn’t have the experience many of the other golfers competing in Saturday’s Collegiate Players Tour might possess.

But 50 feet away from the 18th hole, a print of Aaron’s father, Payne, hangs in a display case in the golf shop, a reminder nine years after his father’s death of the burden of being the son of one of the most recognizable and immensely popular players in professional golf history.

“There are always high expectations,” Stewart said. “It helps when you’re playing good, but when you’re playing bad, it’s hard.”

Aaron was just 10 years old when many of us lived through that unforgettable moment in sports history on Oct. 25, 1999. Payne Stewart, who had won the U.S. Open four months earlier, boarded a private jet in his hometown of Orlando, Fla., with the intention of flying to Dallas to meet with a developer about building a home golf course for his alma mater, SMU.

As the nation followed along on television in horror, Stewart, two pilots and three others blacked out as the plane traveled on autopilot across the country before running out of fuel and crashing into a South Dakota wheat field.

“It’s been hard, as anyone who’s grown up without a father would tell you,” said Aaron, now 19, “but I’m surrounded by good people all the time, and we have a lot of close family friends.”

What may be the cruelest twist of fate for Stewart is the burden of living up to his father’s legacy without the benefit of his father’s wisdom.

“When he was alive, I didn’t play golf,” Stewart said. “I’d go out to the course, but I wasn’t really serious about it. I played basketball, baseball and football. After (his father’s death), I started playing golf in about the seventh grade.”

While his father was alive, Aaron dreamed of playing football, where he excelled as a wide receiver. After Payne’s death, living in an upper-class golf community where Tiger Woods is a neighbor, it’s logical that the son of a golf legend might pick up a set of clubs as a way to honor his father’s legacy.

“A little bit, obviously,” he said, “but my friends just started playing and it was what we were doing.”

The hobby soon became his passion and it ultimately lead to a scholarship at SMU, where Payne Stewart had captured medalist honors as the Southwest Conference golfer of the year in 1979.

“I was either going to play for SMU or the University of Texas,” Stewart said. “I visited them both and I felt SMU was the right place for me. I think it’s a great alma mater. A lot of kids should go where their parents went. I’m happy to go there and get along well with the team and get along well with the coaches.”