The day Payne Stewart shot a record 62 at Westmoreland Country Club — and how it was nearly broken

When someone approaches Barry Snyder to ask about the grandest round of golf in the 120-year history of Westmoreland Country Club, he likes to have a little fun with his answer.

After all, Snyder, formerly of Squirrel Hill, was among the foursome at the Penn Township course that day about 40 years ago (no one is sure of the exact date) when Payne Stewart, his roommate at SMU, set the course record with a round of 62.

“What’s funny to me is several people have called me about the course record,” Snyder said from his home in Jacksonville, Fla. “And I told someone, ‘This was one of Payne’s greatest accomplishments, setting the course record at Westmoreland.’

“The guy said, ‘Was it? Was it, really?’

“I (said) no.”

With a hearty laugh, Snyder put special emphasis on the word “NO.”

Yes, it was a great round of golf, but Stewart went on to win 11 PGA Tour events, including three majors: the 1989 PGA at Kemper Lakes in Long Grove, Ill., and two U.S. Opens in 1991 and 1999 at Hazeltine in Chaska, Minn., and Pinehurst (N.C.) No. 2. He won $11.7 million during his career, The Washington Post reported.

Four months after the 1999 victory at Pinehurst — where he won in dramatic fashion by sinking a 15-foot putt on No. 18 to defeat Phil Mickelson by one stroke — Stewart died in a private plane crash in South Dakota. He was 42.

“I miss him every day,” Snyder said. “He’s my son’s godfather. He was the best. He was a people person. He was my best friend.”

On that day 40 years ago, it was merely a friendly game, Snyder said.

“He would always come in as my guest to the Westmoreland Invitational,” said Snyder, a longtime club member. “He would always stay at our house. Payne probably played at Westmoreland 15, maybe 20 times. He was out there a lot.

“We would play for fun. It was not like he was grinding.”

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Stewart also struck up a friendship with former Westmoreland Country Club pro Jim Ferree, who used to help him with his swing.

Snyder said he doesn’t remember details of that day 40-some years ago, other than, “He had an amazing round.” Scorecards were long ago discarded.

Snyder, Stewart and some SMU classmates played golf together in the years after college and often were joined by Snyder’s father-in-law, Charles L. “Corky” Cost, a nine-time Pitt letterwinner in football, basketball and baseball. Pitt’s baseball field is named in honor of Cost, who died last year.

In addition to Westmoreland Country Club, they regularly played as a fivesome at the Family House Invitational at several area venues, including Oakmont, St. Clair, Field Club, Laurel Valley and Nemacolin.

“He would always come in for the Family House,” Snyder said of Stewart.

“We would be betting against each other,” Snyder said. He noted that neither golfer dominated the other and over time, they ended up taking each other’s money equally.

“It was very non-serious. We’d be razzing each other, giving each other hard times. It was not like we were grinding on the golf course. We did it to have fun, even in the Family House. It was a great cause.”

Westmoreland Country Club pro Zachary Turek, who has spoken with Snyder, said Stewart’s record is, indeed, authentic. He said there have been minor changes to the par-71 course in the past four decades. Some trees were removed, bunkers tweaked and a pond at No. 1 was moved closer to the green.

“No drastic changes,” he said. “No re-contouring.”

Turek said there are plans to display a sign or plaque to commemorate the record.

The record has withstood the passage of time, but Sam Brourman, a WCC member, came within two strokes of breaking it last year.

Brourman, now 32, shot a 63 — with an incredible 8-under-par 27 on the back 9 — on Aug. 9, 2023. He didn’t know he was close to the record until the end of the round.

Brourman, who lives in Shadyside, immediately started doing his “due diligence” when he returned to the clubhouse.

“I wanted to see if I had at least tied the record or broken the record,” he said.

Nine months later, he replays the round in his head a few times, but then reality hits him.

“It’s hard to say (you’re disappointed) when you have such a special round like that,” he said. “Looking back on it, I really can’t say that anything would have happened differently if I was aware (of the record).

“There certainly were two bogies on the front nine that I kick myself a little bit now. But, of course, I don’t think anything would have changed.”

While shooting even-par on the front nine, he recorded two birdies (at Nos. 1 and 6) and two bogeys (Nos. 2 and 5). He started the back nine with a par and two eagles on Nos. 11 and 12 and birdies on 13, 14, 16 and 17.

The eagles were worthy of a Stewart-type round. He chipped in from just off the green at No. 11 and holed out from 70 yards on No. 12, both times using a 54-degree wedge.

Brourman, who hopes to someday compete nationally as an amateur, said coming close to the record is nice, but nearly matching a Payne Stewart mark meant more to him.

“It’s pretty cool just to be even mentioned in the same sentence with Payne Stewart,” he said.

Brourman said he’ll remember this round for as long as he still can grip a putter.

The scorecard is framed in his office.