PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – In recognition of his character, sportsmanship and commitment to charitable giving, Billy Andrade, who has enjoyed a 35-year career on the PGA TOUR and PGA TOUR Champions, has been named the 2022 recipient of the PGA TOUR’s Payne Stewart Award presented by Southern Company. Andrade will be honored on Tuesday, August 23, at the Payne Stewart Award Ceremony in conjunction with the TOUR Championship. The ceremony will be televised live on Golf Channel as part of a “Golf Central” special from 7-8 p.m. ET at the Southern Exchange in downtown Atlanta.
The Payne Stewart Award is presented annually by the PGA TOUR to a professional golfer who best exemplifies Stewart’s steadfast values of character, charity and sportsmanship. Stewart, an 11-time winner on the PGA TOUR and World Golf Hall of Fame member, died tragically 23 years ago during the week of the TOUR Championship in 1999. Southern Company, the “Official Energy Company of the PGA TOUR and PGA TOUR Champions,” was the TOUR Championship presenting sponsor the year of Stewart’s passing. A year later, the PGA TOUR created the Payne Stewart Award in his honor, and Southern Company has supported the annual presentation since its inception.
Previous recipients have all distinguished themselves through their respect for the game, the TOUR’s tradition of charity and their ability to make a positive impact in the lives of others.
“It’s very special. Payne was unbelievable to me and I got to know him very well. I’m speechless really, to think that now I’m part of this elite group of past recipients who have all done it the right way,” Andrade said. “It’s really nice to see that people have watched and seen that I can inspire others, and I can’t thank Southern Company, the TOUR and Jay Monahan enough to now call myself a Payne Stewart Award recipient.”
Andrade, 58, was born in Bristol, Rhode Island, but has called Atlanta home since 1988 when he first joined the PGA TOUR. As an Atlanta resident, Andrade developed an affinity for the history of East Lake Golf Club, which will soon add his name next to the other Payne Stewart Award recipients on a plaque located in the clubhouse’s Great Hall.