There is a ghost at Pinehurst No. 2 today.

Through the mist of the early-morning Carolina haze, there is a face in the clouds. He will follow closely as some of the greatest names in golf battle for the coveted U.S. Open trophy on one of the toughest golf courses in the world. Heck, John Daly walked off the par-4, 485-yard eighth hole green in disgust in 1999 after making a frustrating 11, and vowed never to return to the U.S. Open. He has returned of course.

But one key golfer from that weekend in 1999 will not return this season. He has not returned to any U.S. Open since, in fact, and was the first golfer since Ben Hogan in 1949 not to defend his U.S. Open title in the year following his win.

“He” is Payne Stewart. Without question, armchair golfers across the globe will watch this weekend, and at least once remember the putt Stewart drained on the 18th hole on Sunday, June 20, 1999. It was Father’s Day, and Stewart had been locked in a battle all day with Phil Mickelson for the top spot.

In typical Donald Ross fashion, the greens at Pinehurst No. 2 are inverted bowls, or domes, much like those at Poland Spring Country Club right here in our back yard, (another Donald Ross course). That dome-like structure is what caused Daly so much trouble, but the ability to read such greens is what helped Stewart achieve immortality. It was his second win in a U.S. Open, and it would be his last.

Later that year, on his way to inspect a golf course in Dallas, and ultimately play in the season-ending Tour Championship, the plane in which he rode mysteriously lost cabin pressure. Everyone on board, including the gallant golfer known as much for his skill as for his colorful wardrobe, perished. The plane ultimately ran out of fuel and fell from the sky into a South Dakota field.

The loss was particularly poignant for Mickelson, the hard-luck loser (until last year’s Masters, of course) in several major tournaments, including the last U.S. Open at Pinehurst. After hugging his caddie, Stewart ran over to his fellow competitor and lightly grabbed him on the cheeks with both hands.

“Good luck with the baby,” Stewart told Mickelson, “There’s nothing like being a father.”

Mickelson’s daughter Amanda was born the next day.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Mickelson reminisced fondly about that moment.

“Here he just won the greatest championship of the game, and he’s thinking about Amy and myself,” Mickelson said. “He’s very prophetic, too. Being a father is the most fulfilling thing that I’ve ever experienced in life.”

Never mind that Stewart had just finished one of the most exciting U.S. Open’s in recent memory (he, Mickelson, Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh finished within three strokes of each other), but his first thoughts after sinking one of the toughest putts of his life were of his competitor and the joys of fatherhood.

That is something special.

In an interview with Golf Digest magazine, Tracey Stewart, Payne’s widow, said she still thinks of him, and that season, every day.

“…I still feel as if it happened last week, even though I know it’s been much longer than that,” Tracey told the magazine. “I try not to be sad when I think about him. And there are so many wonderful memories. But when I think back to where Payne was in his life when he died, how happy he was with his family, with his golf, with himself, it makes me so sad.”

Through the Carolina haze, Stewart’s trademark colorful knickers and Kangol hat are sure to shine through, if not in the sky, then certainly on the faces of those friends he left behind.

Justin Pelletier is a staff writer. He can be reached at [email protected]