PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida – In recognition of his character, sportsmanship and commitment to charitable giving, six-time PGA TOUR winner and former NBC Sports golf commentator Gary Koch has been named the 2023 recipient of the PGA TOUR’s Payne Stewart Award presented by Southern Company. Koch will be honored on Tuesday, Aug. 22, 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.
“Gary Koch is the epitome of what it means to be a Payne Stewart Award recipient,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan. “For someone who spent more than three decades telling the PGA TOUR’s story to the masses, at the heart of his character is the desire to usher the game forward through his charitable work.
“That’s what would make Payne smile: A passion and love for sharing the game with the world while looking after the next generation.”
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 24 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.
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