In what is becoming among the most esteemed awards presented by the PGA Tour, the Payne Stewart Award will be given to two-time Masters champion Bernhard Langer at the Tour Championship this year.
The award is given annually to a player who best exemplifies the character, charity and sportsmanship of Stewart, the three-time major champion who died in a plane crash on the Monday of the 1999 Tour Championship.
Stewart Cink won the award last year.
The ceremony is Sept. 18 in Atlanta and televised live on Golf Channel.
“We all are so proud of Payne Stewart and the husband and father he was, the player he was and the character he had,” Langer said. “I was very close with Payne for a number of years. Toward the end of his career, he became a believer in Jesus Christ and a Christian, and that was very touching to me because the same thing happened to me a few years earlier, so we had even more in common at that point. To now be receiving the Payne Stewart Award, I feel extremely honored.”
The German turned pro in 1972 when he was 15 and joined the European Tour four years later. He won the Masters in 1985 and 1993, played in the Ryder Cup 10 times and was the winning captain in 2004. On the PGA Tour Champions, he has 37 victories, including a record 10 majors.
“Bernhard Langer epitomizes the ideals around which the Payne Stewart Award is built,” PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said. “Fueled by his strong faith and steadfast humility, Bernhard has become one of the great ambassadors for this game and continues to set an admirable example every time he tees it up.”