Europe's top golfers last night led the tributes to US Open champion Payne Stewart. Stewart was a member of the American Ryder Cup team which beat Europe and two of the players at Brookline, Spaniard Jose Maria Olazabal and Frenchman Jean Van de Velde, spoke of their shock at the news.

Olazabal, who as Masters champion was due to play Stewart in the Grand Slam of Golf featuring all four of this season's major winners in Hawaii next month, was fighting back the tears as he said: "I have no words to express how I feel right now.

"You just don't expect these things to happen. I played with Payne quite a few times and I always enjoyed his company.

"A true sportsman on the course and a gentleman off it. He never failed to conduct himself in the true manner. We all knew what the Ryder Cup meant to him, but he never lost perspective on what the match was all about.

"He said that winning the Cup back last month completed his year. "I played him twice in Ryder Cup singles, Stewart won in 1987, me in 1989 and he was always nice, always saying `good shot'," added Olazabal.

Lee Westwood commented: "I am too choked to talk at the moment" while Open runner-up Van de Velde said: "I'm devastated, totally devastated.

"It certainly puts into perspective little things like missed putts. My thoughts go to his family because he was such a family man.

`He was a wonderful sportsman and wonderful person."

Bernhard Langer, also in Jerez and like Stewart a devout Christian, said: "We all know where he is going.

"We've been friends for a long time and he's been a wonderful colleague - very friendly, very polite, very outgoing.

"Every time you saw him he seemed happy and joyful and he was a man of many talents."

Bernard Gallacher, a former European Ryder Cup captain, said American team members will offer support to Stewart's family.

"I think the golfing world has just come to terms with Davis Love III's father dying in a crash. This will be the same. The American players and wives will gather round and comfort them.

"I think Colin Montgomerie and his wife will be very upset, it is a very sad moment."

Ken Schofield, executive director of the European PGA Tour, said: "Obviously it is a very, very sad day for the world of golf for a number of reasons. Firstly he was a wonderful person, there was no question of that, and he was a magnificent golfer with a totally international focus.

"Tonight golf is a sad family. He was the reigning US Open champion and that's says it all. Whether he was playing in the Ryder Cup in Brookline or at The Belfry, he stood for golf's sporting values."

Ben Crenshaw paid tribute to a "great champion, an individualist and a great friend".

He added: "Payne enjoyed so much playing golf all over the world. He made friends very easily; he was a very personable man, a family man but a great, great champion.

"All of us golfers have lost a great friend. We like to think of ourselves as one big family. We play golf for a living but we're shattered by this news.

"Payne loved playing in Ireland and Britain because it was a game that had an added dimension that we don't have in America. He loved the challenge of the weather and going to a different part of the world and learning golf.

"His father was a fine player and gave him his spirit, but he was a beautiful golfer to watch. He had an effortless swing. Gosh, we'll miss him - we feel like we've lost a member of the family," Crenshaw said 99421155

The US PGA Tour said in a statement that Stewart was a "very special competitor" who would be a "tremendous loss".

The statement said: "It is difficult to express our sense of shock and sadness over the death of Payne Stewart.

"This is a tremendous loss for the entire golfing community and all of sports.

"Payne was a great champion, a gentleman and devoted husband and father. He will always be remembered as a very special competitor and one who contributed enormously to the positive image of professional golf."

Stewart was a role model for many young players, including leading English amateur Zane Scotland.

He was offered words of advice during the British Open at Carnoustie in July. "This year at Carnoustie we managed to arrange a small meeting, which Payne gave some good advice to Zane," said dad Bernie. "I have nothing but admiration for him, not only as a golfer but as a man. He was a true champion and I can't believe he is dead."