Davis Love III says his main concern is for Payne Stewart's two children.

His father, a golf pro and respected teacher, died in a plane crash 11 years ago.

"Anybody who has lost a loved one in any type of accident knows a little bit how they are feeling," he said. "It is very, very difficult to understand all those emotions."

When he heard news of Stewart's death on Monday, Love returned home to Georgia to be with his family, explaining to his two young children that "we put a lot of faith in machines, and they break sometimes."

The last place he wanted to be was at Champions Golf Club. The last thing he wanted to do was to play golf, no matter now much money was at stake in the Tour Championship. The last people he wanted to see were reporters or well-wishers, which made him dread returning to the tour after his father died.

On Wednesday, Love came to a different conclusion.

"We're going to show our support out here better than we would all fractioned off at home," he said. "We can shed a lot of light on Payne Stewart by playing."

The Tour Championship will start a little early on Thursday. The 29 players in the field, PGA Tour officials and hundreds of fans will gather around the first tee at 7:45 a.m. for a memorial service for Stewart. Tom Lehman will offer a prayer. A lone bagpiper will walk down the fairway.

The first shot will be struck at 8:39 a.m.

Stewart will still be the focus from the first round through the trophy presentation.

"If we're not playing golf, I don't know how else we can honor him," PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said. "There's not much of a forum to remind people about Payne. This provides us a way to tell what he was all about."

The first day will feature 27 holes, followed by a day off to honor Stewart, whose memorial service will be at 11 a.m. in Orlando, Fla.

"I'm glad we're taking the day off so we can go to the services," said Hal Sutton, the defending champion. "He deserves his day."

Finchem said a collection of private planes will take whoever wants to go to the service Friday morning. A larger jet has been chartered for players at the Southern Farm Bureau Classic in Mississippi to go to the services.

He said Stewart's wife, Tracey, "was very pleased that we were creating a situation where the players had an opportunity to attend the service."

It was not clear whether all 29 players from the Tour Championship would attend. Love said he has had trouble going to such services ever since his father died, and would advise players not to go if they didn't feel comfortable.

He planned to leave Thursday night and spend time with Mark O'Meara in Orlando.

"It's good for us to hug the guys that want to be hugged and cry with the guys that want to cry," Love said. "Go ahead and get your grieving process started. I think that's the important thing."

Love played nine holes with three of his teammates from the Ryder Cup -- David Duval, Phil Mickelson and Justin Leonard. Ryder Cup captain Ben Crenshaw showed up Wednesday to spend time with some of his players.

Despite his two U.S. Opens or the PGA Championship, memories of Stewart usually start with his passion for the Ryder Cup. Love was paired with him in the first alternate-shot match on opening day, a halve against Padraig Harrington and Miguel Angel Jimenez.

"I was mystified why Ben Crenshaw would ever pair me with Payne Stewart," he said. "After four or five holes I said, `Now I know. You want to teach me a lesson on how to take my excitement and my passion and my nervousness and my desire to win, and put it into my game.'

"I thanked Payne twice that day for what he taught me during that match," Love said. "I said, `I'm sorry we didn't win, but it's going to help me in the future.' It did. It helped me on Sunday (a decisive victory over Jean Van de Velde). We all will remember the Ryder Cup for a lot of reasons, but now I think it will be even more special."

The Tour Championship, the final PGA Tour event of the year, has a $5 million purse with $900,000 going to the winner. Finchem said the $80,000 for last place would be given to Stewart's family.

Along with the first-tee service at Champions, a service is scheduled Thursday night after the first round of the PGA Tour event in Mississippi. In Europe, players in the Volvo Masters in Spain said they would observe a moment of silence on the 18th green after Friday's round.

There was some talk players in the Tour Championship would wear knickers, the clothing that made Stewart the most recognizable player in golf, during the final round on Sunday, although Finchem said that likely would not be feasible.

More important to him, and to Love, was long-range plans to commemorate Stewart. One possibility was the tour naming an award after him.

Love's thoughts primarily were with Stewart's two children, 13-year-old Chelsea and 10-year-old Aaron, and with the families of the other five victims in the crash. He remembers what it was like to lose a father in a plane crash.

"The biggest thing I'm going to watch out for over the next few years is how we can help those children remember their father," he said. "Hopefully, we can help Aaron and Chelsea understand that eventually the memories of their father will be fun.