ATLANTA, GA, (August 9, 2016) – Just days after shooting 58 to break the record for the lowest single-round score in PGA TOUR history, the PGA TOUR and Southern Company announced Jim Furyk – 17-time PGA TOUR winner and 2010 FedExCup champion – as the recipient of the 2016 Payne Stewart Award. Furyk will be honored on Tuesday, September 20, at the Payne Stewart Award Ceremony in conjunction with the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola in Atlanta.
The Payne Stewart Award is presented annually to a professional golfer who best exemplifies Stewart’s steadfast values of character, charity and sportsmanship. Stewart, an 11-time winner on the PGA TOUR and World Golf Hall of Fame member, died tragically the week of the TOUR Championship in 1999. Southern Company, the “Official Energy Company of the PGA TOUR and PGA TOUR Champions,” was the TOUR Championship sponsor the year of Stewart’s passing. A year later, the PGA TOUR created the Payne Stewart Award in his honor, and Southern Company has supported the annual presentation since its inception.
The past winners have all distinguished themselves through their respect for the game, the TOUR’s tradition of charity and their ability to make a positive impact in the lives of others.
Furyk was chosen for the honor by a selection committee comprised mainly of past Payne Stewart Award winners and heads of leading golf organizations. Ballots were returned in May and the announcement was scheduled for August 9, coincidentally, just two days after Furyk’s historic feat at the Travelers Championship.
“I am incredibly honored to receive the Payne Stewart Award,” said Furyk. “I was fortunate enough to know Payne as a colleague and friend, and I always admired the character and spirit he brought to the game of golf. The Payne Stewart Award is an important part of the TOUR’s efforts to honor Payne’s legacy. Knowing my name will be forever linked to him through this honor is extremely humbling, and I am very grateful.”
Among the highlights of Furyk’s impressive career – in addition to his 58, not to mention the 59 he shot at the 2013 BMW Championship – is his 2003 U.S. Open triumph at Olympia Fields. He has also been a consistent competitor in annual team matches, representing the United States on nine consecutive Ryder Cup teams and seven Presidents Cup teams. But Furyk is also respected for how he handles himself outside the ropes. In 2015, Furyk received the ASAP Sports/Jim Murray Award from the Golf Writers Association of America, which honors a player who is cooperative and accommodating to the media.
“Jim Furyk is a true gentleman, a player respected by everyone who has had the pleasure of interacting with him, from fans and sponsors to the media and his peers on the PGA TOUR,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem. “While his performance on the golf course is accomplished and well documented – most recently with his incredible round at the Travelers Championship – it’s the way he conducts himself outside the ropes that makes him more than worthy of this recognition. Jim, along with his wife Tabitha, has exhibited a true commitment to helping others in the community through his Foundation, and that same compassionate spirit has made him an accessible role model to upcoming TOUR players for many years. On behalf of the PGA TOUR, it’s my pleasure to congratulate Jim on this highest of honors.”
“Jim Furyk has been an elite PGA TOUR competitor for two decades,” said Southern Company Chairman, President and CEO Thomas A. Fanning. “But his achievements on the course pale in comparison to the indelible mark he has made on the lives of countless children and families in need. Jim’s commitment to helping those less fortunate is a true testament to Payne Stewart’s legacy of serving others.”