Perry wins 2009 Payne Stewart Award

Kenny Perry of the U.S. tees off at the 10th hole during the first round of the 2009 PGA Championship golf tournament at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota, August 13, 2009.

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Fourteen-times PGA Tour champion Kenny Perry, who donates five percent of his winnings to a university scholarship fund, won the Payne Stewart Award on Tuesday.

"We can't imagine a more deserving recipient than Kenny Perry," Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said in a statement.

"Kenny embodies all of the qualities this award represents in his character, passion for growing the game of golf and commitment to charitable giving."

Perry, a double winner on the 2009 Tour who was beaten in a three-way playoff for the U.S. Masters in April, donates five percent of his winnings to a scholarship fund at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee.

In 1995 he bought 142 acres of land and borrowed more than $2.5 million to design and build the only public course in his hometown of Franklin, Kentucky.

"There is no greater honor for a professional golfer than to receive the Payne Stewart Award," said Perry, 49.

"Payne personified all the virtues the game of golf can teach us so being recognized as a person who is worthy of an award created in his memory is incredibly humbling. This award is and will always be one of my greatest accomplishments."

Byron Nelson, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Ben Crenshaw, Nick Price, Tom Watson, Jay Haas, Brad Faxon, Gary Player, Hal Sutton and Davis Love III were previous winners of the award.

The honor is given annually to a player sharing Stewart's respect for the traditions of the game and his commitment to uphold golf's heritage of charitable support.

American Stewart, who died in a plane crash in 1999, won 11 times on the PGA Tour including three majors.

(Editing by Tony Jimenez)