June 2, 2015
As Vanderbilt faithful congregated beside the 16th green of the Concession Golf Club, their team’s season suddenly over after coming out on the short end of match play to LSU, players and fans alike watched as head coach Scott Limbaugh hustled down the fairway to embrace senior Hunter Stewart, who was ahead in his dual when the game ended.
Assistant coach Dusty Smith, who had walked with Stewart for many of his late-season rounds, was also there as tears flowed freely back at the green by those watching the emotional scene.
It is always hard to lose in a tournament; after all, only one team is truly happy when it’s over. But it was even more difficult for everyone associated with Vanderbilt golf to bid goodbye to Stewy.
The Lexington, Ky., graduate was unaware that he had been named first-team All-American midway through today’s round, a well-earned accolade for the Southeastern Conference’s Player of the Year.
But that was not on the radar as Hunter’s teammates hurried out to shake hands with their unquestioned leader.
When an athletic team gets on a roll –and the Commodores were definitely on a roll after finishing second in the 72-hole stroke play part of this championship – there’s a feeling that you are in a car speeding down the highway. Every fiber in your body expects victory. If you fall short, it stings like a sucker punch out of nowhere.
In short order, this team and its growing legion of friends and admirers will better understand what it accomplished this season.
Never before had a Vanderbilt men’s golf team reach the Elite Eight. Never had three Commodores earn All-America honorable mention as did Stewart, Zack Jaworski and Matthias Schwab by finishing in the Top 15 individually at this event.Never had a golf team been ranked as high as No. 5. There was so much rarified air from this team, which by the way earned a composite grade point of 3.30 this year.
The season included a remarkable coaching job by Limbaugh and Smith, who worked tirelessly from the first team meeting to the final walk down the fairway. Limbaugh is a finalist for national coach of the year.
Recent seasons also produced a remarkable camaraderie among the parents and student-athletes alike. Eddie Fogler and his son Ben surprised his teammates on the first tee today after driving eight hours to catch the action. Ben made a tremendous contribution during his four years of play, both on the course and in the classroom and deserved to walk the course with his buddies.
The season becomes a fond memory but there is a bright future. In less than two weeks, Schwab and Stewart will be on opposite sides of the USA-Europe Palmer Cup in Chicago. Other Commodores have busy tournament schedules ahead. Hunter turns professional later this summer.
He will be missed but never forgotten. He helped set the standard for which future Vanderbilt teams will be compared.
