Golf was her world a good chunk of time right out of college, and that’s not just because Jody Andrade’s Wake Forest sweetheart-turned-husband was PGA Tour member Billy Andrade.

No, sir. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Jody had a presence in the game. She worked for CBS Sports, which was heavily invested in PGA Tour broadcasts. Then, after earning a Master’s degree in Sports Administration from Georgia State University, she served lead roles in running the Honda Classic and a tournament on what was then called the Nike Tour.

“Then, she became my agent for six years, though she tried to fire me after three,” laughed Billy, who gladly relates the background to this story because it is so crucial to what took place last night. The 25threcipient of the Payne Stewart Award, Andrade – the pride of Bristol, R.I. – in his adopted hometown of Atlanta accepted the honor that goes to a golfer who demonstrates Stewart’s values of character, charity, and sportsmanship.

Andrade and Stewart, who tragically died in October of 1999, were competitors and friends for the good part of 12 seasons and that helps provide fitting symmetry to the honor. It also helps that Andrade has been a charitable behemoth for more than 30 years.

But the biggest help of all is Jody Andrade.

“She’s always had my back,” said Billy. “She’s got a gift.”

Chalk that up as a massive understatement because here is what Jody Andrade did around 13 years ago. “She told me she had a calling,” said Billy Andrade. “She was going to go into the Seminary.”

The Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Ga., is a three-year, fulltime program, but Jody Andrade was still a wife to a husband who traveled and a mother to son Cameron and daughter Grace, both of whom needed her fulltime. “But Jody is remarkable. She has great soul and she did the program part-time in five years,” said Billy.

In 2014, the year when Billy Andrade turned 50 and pushed off on another career – they call it the PGA Tour Champions – Jody Andrade was ordained into the Presbyterian Church and set her life in another direction.

Should you be wondering which of the two embarked upon a more meaningful course, here’s a hint: It’s the one who tees it up at Pleasant Hill Presbyterian Church in Duluth, Ga. Even Billy enthusiastically gives his vote to Rev. Jody Andrade.

“She’s a very special person to do what she’s done,” said Billy, “and that’s what I’m going to say in my speech when I’m up at that podium. I’m not up there if not for Jody.”

Rev. Jody Andrade is not in the business of talking about herself, which is quite all right. Humility is a beautiful thing and so needed in this day and age.

In her role as associate pastor for congregational care, however, she is in the business of talking to people who are feeling pain. She is in the business of listening to the cries for help. It’s a marvelous skill set that Jody Andrade has and her husband cherishes that about her.

“Everyone is battling something,” said Billy. “She’s that somebody you want to be there for you, to have your back, to lift you up.”

He knows so well, because for years he could have let the game beat him up, but Billy Andrade didn’t do that. He won four times in 633 starts across 22 PGA Tour seasons and has added three more wins in nine PGA Tour Champions seasons. Total prize money is roughly $20m.

Deservedly proud of those numbers, Andrade will give some credit to his buoyant personality. “When I didn’t have it (on the golf course), I was good at never getting too down; I think it’s one of my best qualities.”

But the greater part of his success was owed to the significant impact Jody had upon him. “She always reminded me that it was about the family, about maintaining perspective.”

Growing up in Rhode Island, Andrade was raised a Roman Catholic “and it was part of the routine that Sunday church is what our family did.”

He maintained that practice in college and into adulthood. That his wife is Presbyterian is nothing to be fazed about, Billy said. Not while we’re living in a world that is dealing with so many problems and so much heartache.

“We’re all in this together,” said Billy, whose sense of compassion was formed early, the direct byproduct of having an older brother, Jack, who had special needs. Jack Andrade attended Meeting Street in East Providence where caring teachers helped empower these gifted students.

Andrade’s passion for spreading goodwill – the Billy Andrade & Brad Faxon Charities was formed in 1991 and has raised about $15m for children’s charities in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts – is rooted in those early observations at Meeting Street.

Impressive, all of that, and it defines the great character for which Andrade was honored Tuesday evening. He was humbled. He was appreciative. He was overwhelmed.

Most of all, he was prepared to point toward his hero and his relentless support staff, the esteemed Rev. Jody Andrade. Billy is still captivated by his wife’s decision to pursue the Seminary and devote herself to a life of faith and selflessness.

We’d do well to share his awe.