Image of Open Celebration Burnished by Champion’s Passing

In the aftermath of Payne Stewart’s tragic death Monday on the wayward jet that crashed in South Dakota, one image of the competition on the PGA Tour has become even more indelible to golf fans everywhere:

Stewart, after sinking a slippery 15-foot putt to win the U.S. Open championship at Pinehurst, celebrated with an emotional fist-pump that knocked out the frustration of his missed opportunity the year before. It was an intense, heartfelt reaction that has become a defining moment of the PGA Tour in 1999, a symbol of a man’s triumph under pressure.

“I can’t describe it,” Stewart said of his one-stroke victory in a tournament that he had lost in 1998, failing to hold a four-shot lead on the final day. “Everything just bubbles inside you and all of a sudden, it’s over. You did it. I did it again.”

There were other images from the field of play that also stood out in 1999--from David Duval’s eye-popping final-round 59 in the California desert last January to Justin Leonard’s pandemonium-producing putt in the Ryder Cup last month in New England.

Among the other memorable moments: the further misadventures of Greg Norman at the Masters, the monumental meltdown of Jean Van de Velde in the British Open and the heart-pounding opening installment of perhaps the next great golf rivalry--Tiger Woods vs. Segio Garcia--in the PGA Championship.

A look back:

* Duval trailed 12 players as dawn broke on the last day of the Bob Hope Desert Classic, but by nightfall he had left them all in his wake and walked straight into golf lore with only the third 59 in PGA Tour history--and the first accomplished in the final round.

“It’s like pitching a perfect game,” said the usually taciturn Duval, who double-pumped his right fist the moment his six-foot eagle putt disappeared into the cup at No. 18 on the Palmer Course.

* Chipping in from 20 feet on the second extra hole to finally beat Andrew Magee, Jeff Maggert enjoyed a $1-million payday in March by winning the inaugural Andersen Consulting Match Play Championship at La Costa.

Magee couldn’t be too upset, though. He won $500,000.

* Though he briefly led in the final round, Norman fell short again in his quest to win the Masters, following up a spectacular eagle putt on the 13th hole with consecutive bogeys and finishing third as Jose Maria Olazabal of Spain won for the second time.

“This is not a heartbreak,” said the resilient Shark, who has finished among the top five eight times at Augusta National without winning. “Look at that leaderboard. There’s probably a lot of other guys here who can sit here and say they’re heartbroken. Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill on this one.”

* Paul Lawrie of Scotland overcame a 10-stroke deficit on the final day to win the British Open at Carnoustie, Scotland, in the biggest comeback ever in a major.

The 128th British Open, however, will be remembered more for the painful-to-watch collapse of Van de Velde, a Frenchman whose three-shot lead with one hole to play disintegrated with a triple-bogey seven, forcing a three-way playoff with Lawrie and Leonard.

“I can’t believe it,” a grateful Lawrie said of the gift-wrapped victory. “Incredible.”

* Woods, 23, and Garcia, 19, staged a head-to-head, stretch duel in the PGA Championship at Medinah, Ill., with Woods emerging with his second major championship after a one-shot victory over the Spaniard, who turned professional in the spring.

“You know, I’m a little unhappy I didn’t win,” said Garcia, who produced the tournament’s lasting moment on No. 16 when he closed his eyes and sliced a six-iron from a lie against a tree, then followed his shot by running up the fairway, leaping for a better view. “But inside of me, I feel like I won.”

Said the exhausted winner: “It was a tough day.”

* Touching off a celebration that seemed to rile an entire continent, the United States produced the greatest comeback in 62 years of Ryder Cup competition, defeating Europe, 14 1/2-13 1/2, at the Country Club in Brookline, Mass., by winning eight of 12 singles matches.

Leonard’s improbable 45-foot uphill putt on the 17th hole of his match against Olazabal proved to be the clinching half-point for the Americans, who ran out onto the green to mob Leonard.

“That kind of behavior is just not the one anybody expects,” said Olazabal, who could have halved the hole, and kept Europe alive--by making his own 30-foot putt. “It was an ugly picture to see.”

European commentators joined in the criticism, decrying the celebration as an orgy of jingoism and poor sportsmanship.

But Davis Love III wasn’t about to let the complaints spoil the improbable U.S. victory, its first in the Ryder Cup since 1993.

“We didn’t cry when we lost two in a row,” he said. “ . . . But they just got pounded . . . and they’re embarrassed by it.”