Perry named Payne Stewart Award winner

• By Randall Mell
• Sep 22, 2009 10:33 PM ET

Kenny Perry was announced Tuesday as the 10^th anniversary winner of the Payne Stewart Award.

Stewart died in a plane crash the week of the Tour Championship in 1999.

The award is presented to a player “sharing Stewart’s respect for the traditions of the game, his commitment to uphold the game’s heritage of charitable support and his professional and meticulous presentation of himself and the sport through his dress and conduct.”  Perry was presented the honor at the Tour Championship and will be honored in a private reception there. 

Perry, 49, a 14-time PGA Tour winner with five PGA Tour titles over the past 16 months, two this season, was recognized for his charitable efforts and his contributions to public golf. Perry, of Franklin, Ky., donates 5 percent of his winnings to a scholarship fund at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tenn., for students from Simpson County, where his home is based. Perry won the 2002 Charles Bartlett Award from the Golf Writers Association of America for unselfish contributions to the betterment of society. In 1995, he bought 142 acres of land in his community, borrowed more than $2.5 million and built Country Creek Golf Course, an affordable public facility designed for mid- to high-handicappers.

Perry is the 12^th recipient of the Payne Stewart Award, which comes with a $300,000 annual grant presented by Southern Company. The grant supports several initiatives with $100,000 going to The Stewart Family Foundation, the primary charity of Payne and his wife, Tracey; $100,000 in Stewart’s honor to The First Tee of the Ozarks in Missouri at Kids Across America, affiliated with Kanakuk Kamps; and $100,000 to the award winner’s designated recipient. Perry named the Potter Children’s Home in Bowling Green, Ky.