Buddy Alexander

Buddy Alexander
Biographical details
Born (1953-02-20) February 20, 1953
St. Petersburg, Florida
Playing career
1972–1975 Georgia Southern
Position(s) Golfer
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1977–1980 Georgia Southern
1983–1987 Louisiana State
1988–2014 Florida
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
NCAA (1993, 2001)
Southeastern Conference
(1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1999, 2003, 2011)
Awards
All-American (1974, 1975)
Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year
(1986, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1999, 2003, 2004)
Golfweek National Coach of the Year (1993)
GCAA National Coach of the Year (1993, 2001, 2004)
GCAA Coaches Hall of Fame (2001)

Stewart Murray Alexander (born February 20, 1953), nicknamed Buddy Alexander, is an American former college golf coach and amateur golfer. Alexander is the former head coach of the Florida Gators men's golf team of the University of Florida. He is best known for coaching the Gators to National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I tournament championships in 1993 and 2001.

Playing career

During his collegiate playing career at Georgia Southern University, Alexander was recognized as an All-American in 1974 and 1975.[1] After his graduation from Georgia Southern, he continued to play competitive golf as an amateur, and notably won the 1976 Azalea Invitational, the 1977 Eastern Amateur, and the 1986 U.S. Amateur Championship.[2] He was a member of the 1986 Eisenhower Trophy team[3] and the 1987 U.S. Walker Cup team.[1]

Coaching career

Alexander served as the head coach of the Florida Gators men's golf team from January 1988 to April 2014.[1] Alexander's Gators teams have won two National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament championships in 1993[4] and 2001.[5] During the 2001 NCAA tournament, Alexander also coached team captain Nick Gilliam to an individual NCAA golf championship, only the second in the history of the Gators golf program.[6] His teams have also won eight Southeastern Conference (SEC) team championships (1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1999, 2003, 2011), and his players have won eight SEC individual titles, in his twenty-two seasons as the Gators' coach.[7]

Alexander previously coached the men's and women's golf teams at Louisiana State University (LSU) from 1983 to 1987, and the men's golf team at Georgia Southern University from 1977 to 1980.[1] Alexander became the head golf coach at his alma mater, Georgia Southern, in 1977, only two years after his graduation.[1] As the head men's and women's golf coach at LSU, Alexander's teams won two SEC team titles (1986, 1987),[7] and his LSU players won two SEC individual titles.[7]

In thirty-three years as a head coach, Alexander's teams finished among the top ten in the NCAA tournament fifteen times.[1] His teams amassed seventy-two tournament victories, and thirty-one of his players earned All-American honors.[1] The Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) honored him as its National Coach of the Year three times (1993, 2001 and 2004),[1] and the GCAA inducted him into its Coaches Hall of Fame in 2001, joining former Gators coach Buster Bishop.[8] The SEC recognized him seven times as its Coach of the Year (1986, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1999, 2003, 2004).[1] As of 2010, Alexander had coached thirty-three future professional golfers as collegians, including eighteen at Florida.

In 2005, Alexander was selected to coach the U.S. national amateur team in Palmer Cup competition.[1]

In 2013, Alexander's Gator golfers finished fourth of fourteen teams in the SEC championship tournament in Sea Island, Georgia, and twenty-fifth of thirty invited teams at the NCAA Tournament in Woodstock, Georgia.

Personal

Alexander was born in St. Petersburg, Florida.[1] He graduated from Georgia Southern University with bachelor's degree in recreation in 1975, and again with a master's degree in educational administration in 1980.[1] His father, Skip Alexander, was a former Duke University golf stand-out and PGA Tour player.[1] Alexander's current wife, Joan, previously worked as a PGA Tour media official.[1] Alexander and his first wife, Jane, have a daughter, Cortnee, and a son, Tyson.[1] Tyson played for his father's Gators golf from 2006 to 2010,[1] and qualified for the U.S. Open, like his father and grandfather before him, in 2009.[9] Tyson turned pro in 2010.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 GatorZone.com, Men's Golf, Coaching & Support Staff, Buddy Alexander Archived April 2, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.. Retrieved May 22, 2011.
  2. ↑ Jaime Diaz, "He's All Right, Jack: An ex-pro won the Amateur, but it was a lousy week for Nicklauses," Sports Illustrated (September 8, 1986). Retrieved August 4, 2009.
  3. ↑ Buddy Alexander Archived September 27, 2011, at the Wayback Machine., World Amateur Team Championship, Eisenhower Trophy record. Retrieved August 4, 2009.
  4. ↑ Robbie Andreu, "Top 25 Gator teams: #23 1993 Men's Golf," Gainesville Sun (June 2, 2009). Retrieved August 1, 2009.
  5. ↑ Kevin Brockaway, "Top 25 Gator teams: #12 2001 Men's golf," Gainesville Sun (June 13, 2009). Retrieved August 1, 2009.
  6. ↑ NCAA, NCAA History, Division I Men's Golf History, Division I Champions. Retrieved August 1, 2009.
  7. 1 2 3 SECSports.com, SEC Record Book, Men's Golf. Retrieved August 1, 2009
  8. ↑ Golf Coaches Association of America, GCAA Coaches Hall of Fame. Retrieved June 10, 2011.
  9. ↑ "Another Alexander gets his Open shot," GatorCountry.com (June 11, 2009). Retrieved August 1, 2009.
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