25 YEARS after Payne Stewart’s untimely death, his legacy lives on in his wife, children, grandchildren, and the sport he loved.
While Payne Stewart’s wife, Tracey Ferguson, and children, Chelsea and Aaron, have largely remained out of the public eye, they’ve paid tribute to their late husband and father, respectively, on and off the golf course.
Who are Payne Stewart’s children, Aaron and Chelsea?
Payne Stewart and his wife, Tracey Ferguson, welcomed two children during their marriage.
They had a daughter, Chelsea, and a son, Aaron.
Chelsea was just 13 years old when Stewart passed away, while Aaron was only 10 years old.
Aaron followed in his father’s footsteps and played collegiate golf, serving as a team captain for Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.
After graduating with a degree in Sports Management and Applied Physiology, he started his golf career as a tournament coordinator for the Tavistock Cup.
In September 2019, he was promoted to his current role, the Vice President of Sports Marketing at Hilton Grand Vacations.
His duties require him to oversee all aspects of the LPGA Tour’s season-opening event, the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions.
Aaron is married to Naiara Stewart, and according to her Instagram, the duo have two children of their own, sons Banks and Lennox.
The family resides in Orlando, Florida, near Aaron’s mother, Tracey.
Aaron’s older sister, Chelsea, received a degree at Clemson University.
She married her longtime boyfriend, Patrick O’Brien, on October 10, 2015.
While Chelsea’s social media accounts are private, a tribute she penned to her father in 2019 reveals that she had a son named William Robert.
Her son was named after her late father – William Payne Stewart – and Payne Stewart’s agent, Robert Fraley.
No matter how much time passes, both of Stewart’s children, Chelsea and Aaron, pay tribute to their father and continue to honor his legacy.
“As much as we love and miss you, I’m so grateful for being your daughter,” Chelsea shared to The Players’ Tribune in 2019.
“Although I only had you for 13 years, I wouldn’t trade those years for anything.”
“You showed me more love than a lot of kids get their entire lives from their dad, and I feel incredibly blessed to have been given that amount of time,” she added.
On Father’s Day, June 16, 2024, Aaron reflected on what the holiday means to him, delivering a powerful message in a video posted on the US Open Golf’s X account.
He recalls how fans and followers likely remember Payne Stewart for his fun, flamboyant style on and off the golf course.
“For me, for my sister, for my mom, we remember him as a larger than life family man.
“There are certain people we all have in our lives that just make you feel better when you are around them and he was certainly one of those people.
“He could brighten up a room just by walking into it.”
“Father’s Day was hard for a long time, but now it has a different feel for me,” he added.
“As the father of two young boys at home, now I’m the one that’s getting celebrated.”
When asked if he could say one thing to his father, Aaron paused, before answering tearfully.
“We miss you, we’re proud of you, and we hope that we made you proud.”
What was Payne Stewart’s cause of death?
Payne Stewart won 11 PGA tour events – including three major championships– before his untimely death.
Stewart tragically passed away on October 25, 1999, over Mina, South Dakota.
He died in a plane crash along with five other individuals on board of a Learjet.
Stewart had been flying from his home in Orlando to Texas for The Tour Championship, a year-ending tournament held at the Champions Golf Club in Houston.
An investigation conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found that the aircraft had lost cabin pressure early in the flight.
All six individuals on board, including Stewart, were incapacitated by hypoxia, a lack of oxygen in the body and brain.
The Learjet continued flying on autopilot starting just west of Gainesville, Florida, before running out of fuel and eventually crashing on a field in South Dakota.
In addition to Stewart, the five other individuals on board included:
- Michael Kling and Stephanie Bellegarrigue, the jet’s co-pilots
- Robert Fraley, Stewart’s agent and a former Alabama football quarterback
- Van Ardan, president of the Leader Enterprises sports management agency
- Bruce Borland, a golf architect for the Jack Nicklaus golf course design company
Immediately following the crash, Stewart was memorialized at the Tour Championship before the first day of play with a lone bagpipe player playing at the course’s first hole.
After consulting with the family and friends of those on board, the owner of the crash site created a memorial around the site of the crash.
In 2001, Stewart was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame posthumously.
Who was Payne Stewart’s wife, Tracey?
Payne Stewart met his wife, Tracey Ferguson, while traveling and playing on the Asia Golf Circuit.
Tracey is notably the sister of Australian professional golfer, Mike Ferguson.
After meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the duo married just two years later in November 1982.
In a tragic turn of events, Stewart’s death came just a year after Tracey’s close friend, Renay Appleby, the wife of Australian touring pro Stuart Appleby, was killed in an accident in England.
“She was devastated because Renay and her were really close,” Australian golfer Robert Allenby told the Australian Associated Press, as reported by ESPN.
“Both being Australian, they got on really well. She found it so difficult to come to terms with that and now a year later her husband dies.”
Tracey herself felt out of place in a world she once called home – the prestigious PGA tour.
“It’s just very, very hard,” she said, in a 2005 interview with Golf Digest.
“It isn’t that people don’t make me feel welcome, they do. But I don’t feel like I belong out there anymore. I’m not one of them, not part of the tour.”
“People would never say it, but they have to be thinking, ‘Why is she here?'”
“On the morning of October 25, I was part of the tour. That afternoon, I wasn’t anymore,” she added, referencing the day of Stewart’s death.
“I still run into people all the time who want to share memories of Payne with me,” she said.
“I understand why they do it. In fact, in some cases I know they need to do it.”
“Everyone’s intentions are good. But that doesn’t make listening any easier,” she added.
After Stewart’s death, Tracey admits that she went from a golf wife, to a devoted mom.
“My life became my kids, 24/7,” she recalled.
“We had always spent time with them, both of us, but with Payne gone, I just felt the need to be with them all the time.”
“I know it made them happy, but to be honest, I think I needed it at least as much as they did.”
“I think Payne would be very proud of the way they’ve grown up and the people they’ve become,” she added.
In 2021, Tracey had all but moved on, and was finally willing to part ways with Stewart’s personal items and golf artifacts.
She was reportedly selling over 200 items from Stewart’s collection with the help of The Golf Auction.
“Over the years so many people have reached out to share how much Payne impacted their lives or the lives of their loved ones,” Tracey said in a statement, as reported by ABC.
“I am pleased to share these items as a reminder of how much Payne enjoyed golf, but even more, how much he enjoyed people.”
“I hope these will become treasured mementos that will inspire and encourage people in the same way Payne lived his life.”
Items included personal golf clubs, cufflinks, and shoes, along with players’ badges and commemorative plates and crystal glasses.