How did Payne Stewart die? Remembering the fatal Virginia ‘ghost plane' crash

Payne Stewart died in a tragic plane crash in 1999. On October 25, 1999, a Learjet 35A plane lost cabin pressure and flew aimlessly when the renowned PGA Tour player died in a South Dakota pasture.

He was travelling in a private plane while flying home from Orlando to Texas for the Tour Championship along with the crew members. For some reason, the plane flew to Virginia, where it crashed in a rural area.

The jet took off from Orlando Airport at 9:19 am and within a short period of time had climbed to an altitude of 39,000 feet before losing contact with the air and failing to reestablish itself. The plane crashed on Jon Hoffman's farm in South Darokta nearly four hours after takeoff.

Recalling the accident, Hoffman said (via Bunkered.com):

"One of my neighbours came racing over to where we were to let me know that a plane had crashed on my land. I jumped in his truck and went to get my brother. He and I then drove down to the site and, by the time we got there, the gravel road closest to the field was a huge line of looky-loos.

"The police were blocking people off and diverting traffic away. I told them it was my farm and, after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing, they let me in. As we got closer, we could see little bitty fires on the ground and metal chunks lying everywhere. It looked like the plane had fractured like an ice cube.

“It wasn’t long before we found out that Mr. Stewart had been on-board. It was hard to wrap your head around. It still is. A couple months earlier, I’d been at my father’s bedside in the hospital as he fought cancer and, together, we’d watched Mr. Stewart win the US Open at Pinehurst. Now he was gone, and on my property. None of it made any sense", he added.

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Who is Payne Stewart?

Stewart was born on January 30, 1957, in Springfield, Missouri. He attended Greenworld Laboratory School and played collegiate golf at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. During his time in college, he was a member of a Phil Gemma Delta before graduating in 1979.

Payne Stewart tried to earn the PGA Tour card in his graduation year but failed at the Qualifying school. He then joined the Asia Golf Circuit and played for a few years. He finally earned his Tour card in 1982 and won the first Tour title at the Quad Cities Open.

His second PGA Tour victory came in 1983 when he won the Walt Disney World Classic and then won the Bryson Nelson Golf Classic in 1985 after beating Bob Eastwood in a playoff.

Payne Stewart had four runner-up finishes on the PGA Tour in 1986 and then clinched the trophy of the Hertz Bay Hills Classic in Orlando in 1987.

Having turned professional in 1979, Payne won 24 events in his career including 11 on the PGA Tour. He won four European Tour events and one on the Japan Golf Tour. He had reached number three in the World Officials Golf Rankings and competed in all four Majors.

Stewart won the first Major in 1989 at the PGA Championship and then went on to win the US Open in 1991 and 1999.

Stewart became a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2001 and was a recipient of the Bryson Nelson Award in 1989 and the Bob Jones Award in 2014.