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Ben Crenshaw wins Payne
Stewart award
Ben Crenshaw was awarded the Payne Stewart Award, started last year to recognize
players who best represent professionalism, charity and the traditions of the
game.
The award was created two years ago, after Stewart perished in a private plane
that flew uncontrolled across the country and crashed in South Dakota. He was
on his way to Dallas, and then to the Tour Championship at Champions Golf Club.
Jack Nicklaus, Byron Nelson and Arnold Palmer won the inaugural award last
year.
``The things that make him live on are the right things in golf,'' Crenshaw
said. ``Any association that I have had with Payne Stewart's name makes me very,
very happy. I can assure you, he will always be with us in word, mind and spirit.''
Crenshaw won 19 times on the PGA Tour, including two Masters. He also was captain
of the U.S. Ryder Cup team that staged the greatest comeback in the history of
the matches two years ago at The Country Club.
``Ben Crenshaw has always exemplified the qualities that embody the Payne Stewart
Award -- conduct, presentation, sportsmanship and integrity,'' PGA Tour commissioner
Tim Finchem said. ``Ben holds a reverence for the game.''
Stewart was on the '99 Ryder Cup team, and Crenshaw recalled how Stewart insisted
on having a pingpong table in the team room for competition and to blow off steam,
and how he asked to blare Bruce Springsteen's ``Born in the USA'' every day when
he awoke.
``Every morning, we had to clean out our ears,'' Crenshaw said. ``But we got
to be with him on the finest occasion.''
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