He is the golfer who hit the shortest drive in PGA Tour history after using his putter at the 1999 Tour Championship

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There has arguably never been a more significant staging of The Tour Championship than the 1999 event at Champions Golf Club.

Tiger Woods won The Tour Championship for the first time in his career in 1999. The boy wonder finished four shots clear of Davis Love III to secure his seventh of eight wins in the final year of the Millennium.

However, it was another player who was on the minds of everyone involved that week in Houston.

Ahead of the opening round, many of the 29 players gathered on the first tee to take part in a service for the man who should have been joining them in teeing it up, Payne Stewart.

Why Bob Estes hit the shortest drive in PGA Tour history at The Tour Championship in 1999

Stewart had been travelling to Texas for The Tour Championship when he was one of six people killed in a plane crash.

Unsurprisingly, there were doubts over whether the tournament would even take place. But ultimately, it proved to be an opportunity for many of the world’s best golfers to pay tribute to the man who had won the US Open for a second time just a few months earlier.

Interestingly, Bob Estes’ tribute to Stewart involved him setting the record for the shortest drive in PGA Tour history on his first hole of the day.

Estes took out his putter and attempted to hit his ball around 15 feet. It remained on the tee box and Estes ended up making a double bogey on the hole.

And speaking after the opening day’s play had concluded, Estes explained the significance of the shot.

“Using the putter off the 10th tee, first hole today, just, I guess, it had so much emotion, I wanted people to truly know how much Payne meant to all of us, you know,” he said.

“The putt that I hit was somewhat symbolic of the putt that Payne made to win the US Open. I guess, watching that video over and over on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday morning, you know, as they were doing all the memorials and all the recapping of his career, just, you know, it was — it was tough to watch, but it was in a way, good therapy all at the same time because he was gone.”

Estes ended up finishing at one under par for the week, 14 shots behind Woods.

How Tiger Woods reacted to his victory following an incredibly emotional week at The Tour Championship

A surreal week saw no play take place on Friday with Stewart’s memorial service held in Orlando, Florida. And after sealing his victory, Woods explained how emotionally draining the previous few days had been.

“Man, it’s been tough. I’m sure you guys would know. You guys have seen not only myself, but every player, to see what we’ve gone through this week, and you can understand from what you guys have to go through internally as well, because you guys knew Payne as well, and it’s not easy,” he said.

“To go out there and do your job, which takes a lot of concentration, and not only that, play 27 holes which is longer than you normally would go, take a day off, it really wasn’t a day off. But it has been very draining week, and, you know, thankfully this week is over.”

Woods also confirmed that he backed the decision to hold The Tour Championship and pay tribute to Stewart rather than postpone the event.

“I think with what has transpired this week, I think, for me personally, it was the best thing to do, was to play, because I don’t think you want to sit around and think about it is,” he added. “At least when you come out here, you can have a chance to let your mind focus on something else. I was out here playing with my Pro-Am partners. Pro-Am was optional. I came out here and played with them, and it was a great time to get away from everything for a while. And then after you finish, you start thinking about it again.

“But to come out here and put all of your energy into something else instead of letting your mind wander about memories and what could have been, you know, how things could have changed, and all different things that you go through, coming out here and playing was definitely good for me, emotionally.”

You would imagine, meanwhile, that Estes would be quite content for his record to remain unbroken for as long as the PGA Tour is around given the reasoning behind it.