Hunter Stewart
Honors
• 2015 GCAA First-Team All-American
• 2015 Ben Hogan Award Semifinalist
• 2015 Palmer Cup Team Member
• 2015 SEC Player of the Year
• 2015 All-SEC First Team
• 2013 SEC Academic Honor Roll
• 2013 PING All-Southeast Region Team
• 2011-12 SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll
Summer of 2015
Played in the Palmer Cup where he represented the United States…Went 4-0, the first player to sweep his matches at the event since 2012…Won the Northeast Amateur.
As a Senior (2014-15)
Has played in all 12 events and 37 rounds, and has a stroke average of 69.49, the lowest single-season stroke average in program history…Named SEC Player of the Year, the first time ever a Commodore has won the award, and was named to the All-SEC First Team…Also named as a first-team All-American, joining Brandt Snedeker (2003) as the only two Commodores to be selected to the team…Named to the 2015 Palmer Cup U.S. team and as a semifinalist for the Ben Hogan Award, the most prestigious award in collegiate golf…Had a stellar senior season, winning three individual titles – the Carmel Cup, the Tavistock Collegiate Invitational, and the Mason Rudolph Championship – three other top five finishes (Talis Park Challenge, T-2nd; SEC Championship, T-4th; NCAA Championship, T-2nd), and four other top 10’s…Finished in a tie for second at the NCAA Championship, the best finish ever by a Vanderbilt golfer…Worst finish of the season was an 11th-place finish at the Nike Golf Collegiate Invitational…Posted 18 rounds in the 60’s in his senior season, with his low of 65 coming in the first round of the Tavistock…Had a streak of 19 straight rounds of par or better this spring…Finished T-8th or better in his last nine events…At end of playing career, he was ranked as the 5th-best U.S. Amateur and the 8th-best in the world according to the World Amateur Golf Rankings.
Summer of 2014
Finished in a tie for second at The Players Amateur…Qualified for the U.S. Amateur…Finished one stroke back of the cutline at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst.
As a Junior (2013-14)
Played in 12 events and 35 rounds in his junior season, and had the second lowest stroke average at 72.09…Had seven top 10 finishes and five top fives, with his best coming at the Carmel Cup and the DICK’s Collegiate Challenge Cup, when he finished in third…Low round of 65 came in the first round of the DICK’s Collegiate Challenge Cup…Also carded a 67 in the first round of the Osprey/Eagle Intercollegiate and a pair of 69’s in the first and second rounds of the Mason Rudolph Championship…Was Vanderbilt’s top finisher at the San Antonio Regional, finishing in fourth with a total of 211 (73-67-71)…Qualified for the PGA Tour’s RBC Heritage Classic after winning The Players Amateur in the summer of 2013…Shot a two-round score of five-over, 147 (74-73) at the RBC Heritage and missed the cut by one stroke…Qualifed for the U.S. Open in Memphis at the Colonial Country Club, surviving a five-man playoff.
Summer of 2013
Won the Players Amateur over two first-team All-Americans and earned an exemption to the RBC Heritage in 2014…Finished in a tie for third at the Monroe Invitational and in a tie for 45th at the Greystone Invitational.
As a Sophomore (2012-13)
Played in all 35 rounds this season and had a 72.97 stroke average, the best on the team…Won medalist honors at the Samford Intercollegiate with a total of 211 (-5), and had a runner-up finish at the Mason Rudolph Championship…Also had a top five finish at the Jack Nicklaus Invitational (T-4th) and the Jim West Intercollegiate (T-3rd) and a top 10 at the ASU Fall Beach Classic (T-7th)…Has led the Commodores to three team titles – the Mason Rudolph Championship, the ASU Fall Beach Classic, and the Jim West Intercollegiate.
As a Freshman (2011-12)
Played in every round in 2011-12 and tied for the second-best scoring average on the team with a 73.8 average…Posted six top 20 finishes, four top 10’s and one top five…Best performance of the year came in the Hummingbird Intercollegiate, when he tied for fourth with a two-round total of 139 (68-71)…Top 10 finishes came at the Carmel Cup (8th) and the Mason Rudolph Championship (T-9th)…Had three rounds in the 60’s, including a season and team-best 66 in the final round of the Mason Rudolph…Carded a 68 in the first round of the Hummingbird and in the first round of the Mobile Bay Intercollegiate.
High School
Attended Lexington Christian Academy in Lexington, Ky…Named Kentucky’s “Mr. Golf” and Kentucky’s Most Outstanding Senior by the Kentucky Golf Coaches Association in 2010…His Lexington Christian Academy team claimed the 2010 Kentucky State Championship and was the runner-up in 2009, while Stewart finished as the individual runner-up in 2009 and 2010…Named the Lexington Christian Academy Athlete of the Year in 2010 and was his team’s MVP in 2010 and 2009…Claimed five individual titles in his senior season…Shot a 62 in one round this year, the lowest round in Kentucky High School history; also had the lowest 36-hole total in history (63-70=133)…Also had a stellar junior career, finishing fourth at the 2009 Bubba Conlee, second at the 2009 Kentucky Junior, and third at the 2010 Kentucky State Junior. He also qualified for the 2010 US Open Sectional by placing fourth in the local qualifier…Off the course, Stewart was an Academic All-State first team selection in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010.
Personal
Jon Hunter Stewart…Born May 22, 1993 in Lexington, Kentucky…Son of Jon and Melissa Stewart…Has a younger sister, Annie (18)…Graduated with an undergraduate degree in Economics in May of 2015…Recipient of the Robert G. Benson Memorial Golf Fund…Favorite thing to do away from golf is fishing.
Stewart’s Statistics:
Year | Rounds | Strokes | Average
2014-15 | 37 | 2,571 | 69.5
2013-14 | 35 | 2,523 | 72.1
2012-13 | 35 | 2,554 | 73.0
2011-12 | 32 | 2,362 | 73.8
Career | 139 | 10,010 | 72.01