Estes

The reason he used his putter for the first shot of the Tour Championship was so people would never forget Payne Stewart.

"The first hole had so much emotion," Estes said. "I wanted people to truly know how much Payne meant to all of us."

Estes' eyes were swollen and red when he left the memorial service for Stewart about an hour before his tee time at Champions Golf Club. He had watched every minute of television possible on the plane crash that killed Stewart and five others on Monday.

And he watched every tribute to Stewart, all of them containing that 15-foot putt Stewart made on the 72nd hole of Pinehurt No. 2 to win the U.S. Open in June.

"The putt that I hit was somewhat symbolic of the putt that Payne made to win the U.S. Open," he said.

It went about the same distance, coming a few feet short of going into the rough. Still on the tee box, Estes hit his second shot with a 3-wood and would up with a double bogey on the 466-yard par-4.

Because of the 27-hole first round, players started on the 10th tee Thursday morning. Estes turned to his caddie and asked if he should do something special for Stewart.

"He didn't know what I was going to do," he said. "And I think when I reached for the putter, I kind of surprised him. But I don't think he minded too much because he was part of that, also. Payne treated the caddies the best."

Estes kept a sense of humor after playing 27 holes at even-par.

He used a tee, even with a putter, because "I was afraid I might hit it fat and I was kind of shaking."

And Estes noted that the ball stayed in the short cut of grass on the tee box.

"I haven't been driving it all that great the last few months, and I don't know ... if you leave it on the tee box if that is still considered fairway," he said. "I think it's the same cut. I need to check my stats to make sure they gave me a 'fairway hit' on that first one."

In retrospect, Estes says his tribute was fitting. He had become close to Stewart over the past seven months, and said Stewart was teaching him how to enjoy himself more on the golf courses.

What would Stewart have said about using a putter on the tee box?