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| While several players wore knickers, Stuart Appleby actually wore Payne Stewart's clothes on Sunday. |
Appleby did it better than anyone.
From 30 yards away, it looked like Stewart on the driving range when Appleby stood over the ball. And as he walked down a row of autograph-seekers at the end of his round, from behind the similarities were downright spooky. Appleby wasn't the only one in knickers. Tom Lehman ordered the knee-length pants for everyone who felt comfortable wearing them. Justin Leonard needed a pin in the back to keep his on. Chris Perry's left pants leg came undone as he walked down the sixth fairway. Stewart was always the most recognizable player from two fairways away because of his clothes, and the Tour Championship looked like it had a bunch of Stewart lookalikes. "I was against it at the beginning," Davis Love III said. "I didn't think we should put pressure on guys to do something they didn't want to do. If half the guys did it and half the guys didn't, then they would feel bad. "But I told Tom Lehman when we got out there, 'This just feels right.' The fans are going to enjoy it. We will always remember this tournament. You can pick out this event on the highlights from now on." Phil Mickelson said the idea allowed players to have some fun in what has been an emotionally charged week. "Whenever I looked down and saw these socks, I thought of him," Mickelson said. "I thought a lot about him this week. We all have, and will continue to do so." For Appleby, picking out a color scheme was no small task. He was at the Stewart's house Thursday night with about two dozen other people when he stepped into the closet and saw enough outfits to clothe the whole field for the entire week. "There's only one thing I wore on my body today that was mine, and you're not looking at it," Appleby said. The only piece of Stewart's outfit that didn't quite fit was the tam o'shanter cap, which Appleby said was a little snug. "He's got less hair than me," he said. Like every other player in the Tour Championship, Appleby was glad to get the week behind them. Wearing the knickers only drove home what kind of a hole his death in a plane crash on Monday left on the PGA Tour. "I miss Payne Stewart being different," Appleby said. "I'm going to miss his passion for the game. From a personal side, his family will miss him greatly. They aren't going to make any more memories with him, but the memories he left are great. "This week was tough. It didn't feel like a prestigious week at all, and that's the way it should have been."