Gary Koch Rings NYSE Bell And Reflects On Payne Stewart Award

To kick off the Tour Championship week, golf broadcasting legend Gary Koch, the recipient of the 2023 Payne Stewart Award, rang the opening bell at the NYSE this morning.

Atlanta-headquartered utility giant Southern Company, which presents the annual award recognizing sportsmanship and commitment to charitable giving, invited the six-time PGA Tour winner whose ‘better than most’ narration of a 60-foot double breaking Tiger Woods putt has become enshrined in the golf lexicon, to do the honors.

It was Koch’s first trip to the New York Stock Exchange and just to be immersed in the illustrious history of the heartbeat of the American capitalism was a thrill. When it came time for the moment to tee off the market action for the day he was a little nervous.

“There was a lot of pressure. I had to ring the bell at exactly the right time and I had to stop ringing the bell at exactly the right time and of course I was praying that the market would open up. I figured if it opened down I would never have a chance of going back. So mission accomplished from that standpoint,” Koch joked.

The trading floor hoots and hollers can get pretty boisterous. In his 2005 autobiography Phil Mickelson compared the experience of ringing the NYSE bell to feeling like a prize fighter entering a ring. Koch pegged the applause volume as on par with top tier golf tournaments he’s both played in and covered over the decades, likening it to the Players Championship or U.S. Open but noted that the energy was different.

“It was certainly unlike anything I’ve ever experienced in a golf tournament, that’s for sure— even winning a golf tournament. It was more electric, it really was, the enthusiasm from the traders and knowing beforehand that some 170 million people watch it every day. That added to it for sure,” Koch enthused.

From very early on in his career Koch entrusted professionals to manage his stock portfolio. The agency that represented him, Pros Inc., run by 1972 U.S. Amateur winner Vinny Giles, happened to be in the brokerage business before they pivoted into sports management.

“They were able to get me some Microsoft
MSFT
stock when it first came out [in 1986] so that was probably the most fortunate investment that I was able to make,” related Koch who still holds the software, cloud computing and burgeoning AI powerhouse that has returned over 550,000% since its IPO.

Behind The Unexpected Honor

The PGA Tour concocted an elaborate ruse in order to surprise Koch with the news that he would be named the 2023 recipient of the Payne Stewart Award. He received a call from PGA Tour Productions, with whom he’d worked with on and off over the years when he covered golf for NBC. They informed him that they were working on a 50^th anniversary video on the Players Championship coming up next year. Considering Koch had played in the event on a number of occasions and was synonymous with it, having called the action at TPC Sawgrass’ famous island green for 25 straight years, he wasn’t the least bit suspicious.

“It sounded very legitimate to me. The crew showed up, set up in my living room. Lights were on, I’ve got my make-up on and an interviewer is asking questions about the Players. All of a sudden, about 15 minutes in, my front door opens Tracy Stewart walks in holding the Payne Stewart Trophy and for a guy who has been paid to talk for 30 plus years I was speechless,” Koch recounted.

A very deserving winner, Koch’s philanthropic endeavors have largely centered around junior golf. Gary and his wife Donna were instrumental in turning around the First Tee Tampa Bay chapter where he currently serves as chairman. In 2011 the chapter was cash-strapped and on the brink of closure before Koch rallied support to resuscitate the chapter which just eight years later gained the distinction as the country’s largest, impacting over 90,000 area youth annually. Recent initiatives include constructing a par 3 course and learning facility along with former college teammate Steve Smyers, who waived his design fee for the Rogers Park project that opens this fall. His annual Gary Koch Invitational Pro-Am at Old Memorial Golf Club supports both First Tee–Tampa Bay and ART International Training & Research which aids individuals grappling with psychological traumas such as PTSD. His family foundation has provided University scholarship funding to over 20 first tee graduates.

Koch played with Payne Stewart in the opening two rounds of the 1984 Bay Hill Classic in Orlando, currently known as the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard.

“I played very well the first two days that I played with him and so-so the third day and I was on the fringe of contention. I ran into Payne in the locker room that Sunday morning before the final round and he had some words of encouragement. He said ‘you’re playing well, go shoot a low one, you never know what might happen,’” Koch said.

Following Payne’s pep talk, Koch would shoot a final round 63 to tie for the lead and then would go on to defeat George Burns in the sudden death playoff that followed. As a broadcaster he would have the privilege of following Stewart at the 1999 Ryder Cup at Brookline during a match against Colin Montgomerie. Late that afternoon, it become obvious that the U.S. had an excellent shot at coming from behind to win the biennial tournament and spectators were getting rowdy.

“The Boston crowd, a little overserved probably, was very loud and they were really giving Montgomerie a hard time, constantly making comments loud enough for him to hear and trying to distract him in any way that they could. Payne was continually trying to help control the crowd,” Koch explained.

“Here we are in an event where there is no love lost between the European team and the U.S. team and here was Payne trying to make sure that Montgomerie had every opportunity that he had to play his best,” Koch added of the match that famously culminated in an act of tremendous sportsmanship with Stewart conceding a long putt to his Scottish opponent.

Beyond the trophy, as part of the award made possible by Southern Company, $200,000 is distributed to Payne Stewart affiliated initiatives while $300,000 is given to charities selected by the recipient. Koch has chosen to divide those funds amongst a trio of causes: his family foundation, First Tee-Tampa Bay and Gift of Adoption’s Florida chapter.

Tomorrow evening Koch will receive the Payne Stewart sculpture at an award ceremony broadcast live from the Southern Exchange in Atlanta on Golf Channel from 7-8 p.m. ET.