I have 2 for now. The first is my Payne Stewart shadowbox full of memorabilia of him. Signed ticket, pair of signed knickers, some pictures, and at the bottom the golf ball he personally handed me after he finished one of his practice rounds at the '91 open here at Hazeltine. It was pretty amazing for a 7 year old to have him just walk to me after he putted out on 18, smile at me, and put the ball right into my hands. I met him years later at the Dayton's Challenge up here and he was a class act. Even though I was an annoying kid asking for an autograph at an after event party, and he was mid-conversation he put his arm around my shoulder while he politely finished his conversation with the guys he was talking to then turned his attention towards me and signed an autograph with a smile and yucked it up with me and my old man for 15 minutes.
The 2nd one is also from the '91 U.S. Open. At one of the practice rounds my old man and I headed over to the putting green and there Fred Couples was practicing. My dad said "Hey Freddy, how about a picture with the little one here when you finish?" Fred didn't even pick his head up he just said "You got it." He putted around for another 15 or so minutes then came over and lifted up the rope so I could go under. He took a few pictures, shook my old man's hand and went about his day.
Flash forward a year later we were fortunate enough to be able to go the '92 Open at Pebble Beach. We brought the picture that Freddy had taken with me along to try and get it signed. We followed him for nearly his entire practice round and he wasn't signing autographs the whole round, he was there to golf. Finally getting towards the end of the round I was getting a little worried he wasn't going to sign it. Then we caught him walking up the fairway with really no one else around. His caddie says "Get over there and sign that kid's picture" He casually walks over to the ropes and once he sees the picture he smiles and signs it. At this point people noticed he was by the ropes and they run over to try and get an autograph but he just signed my picture and went back to his round. I was pretty damn giddy after that.
Sorry I know this was long winded, but these are awesome memories that will stick with me forever.
