Stewart Murray Alexander (born February 20, 1953), nicknamed Buddy Alexander, is an American former college

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

coach and amateur golfer. Alexander is the former head coach of the Florida Gators men's golf team. He is best known for coaching the Gators to

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA) Division I tournament championships in 1993 and 2001.

Early life

Alexander was born in

St. Petersburg, Florida St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the List of municipalities in Florida, fifth-most populous city in Florida and the most populous city in the sta ...

. His father, Skip Alexander, was a former

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

golf stand-out and

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...

player.

Amateur career

Alexander graduated from Georgia Southern University with

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in recreation in 1975, and again with a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in educational administration in 1980. During his collegiate playing career at

Georgia Southern University Georgia Southern University (informally known as Southern or Georgia Southern) is a public university, public research university in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The largest campus is in Statesboro, Georgia, Statesboro, with ...

, Alexander was recognized as an

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

in 1974 and 1975.GatorZone.com, Men's Golf, Coaching & Support Staff
Buddy Alexander
. Retrieved May 22, 2011. After his graduation from Georgia Southern, he continued to play competitive golf as an amateur, and notably won the 1976

Azalea Invitational The Azalea Invitational is an annual amateur golf tournament. It has been played since 1946 at the Country Club of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina. Several past champions have subsequently gained membership to the PGA Tour, including Men ...

, the 1977

Eastern Amateur The Eastern Amateur is an annual amateur golf tournament. It has been played at Elizabeth Manor Golf and Country Club in Portsmouth, Virginia since 1957; the only exceptions were in 1977 when it was played at Sleepy Hole Golf Course in Suffolk, Virg ...

, and the 1986

U.S. Amateur The United States Amateur Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Amateur, is the leading annual golf tournament in the United States for amateur golfers. It is organized by the United States Golf Association and is currently held each August ov ...

. He was a member of the 1986 Eisenhower Trophy team and the 1987 Walker Cup team.

Coaching career

Alexander served as the Florida Gators men's golf head coach from January 1988 to April 2014. Alexander's Gators teams have won two

(NCAA) tournament championships in 1993 and 2001. 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. His teams have also won 10

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

(SEC) team championships (1986, 1987, 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.SECSports.com, SEC Record Book
Men's Golf
Retrieved August 1, 2009 Alexander previously coached the men's and women's golf teams at

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

(LSU) from 1983 to 1987, and the men's golf team at

from 1977 to 1980. Alexander became the head golf coach at his alma mater, Georgia Southern, in 1977, only two years after his graduation. As the LSU men's and women's golf head coach, Alexander's teams won two SEC team titles (1986, 1987), and his LSU players won two SEC individual titles. In thirty-seven years as a head coach, Alexander's teams finished among the top ten in the NCAA tournament fifteen times. His teams amassed seventy-two tournament victories, and thirty-one of his players earned All-American honors. The

Golf Coaches Association of America The Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) is a non-profit organization that is a professional association of men's collegiate golf coaches. It was founded in 1958, and is located on 1225 West Main Street in Norman, Oklahoma. The GCAA has ov ...

(GCAA) honored him as its National Coach of the Year three times (1993, 2001 and 2004), and the GCAA inducted him into its Coaches Hall of Fame in 2001, joining former Gators coach

Buster Bishop Bernays Emery "Buster" Bishop (1920 – November 19, 2004) was an American college golf coach. Bishop was best known for leading the Florida Gators men's golf team of the University of Florida to National Collegiate Athletic Association (NC ...

. The SEC recognized him seven times as its Coach of the Year (1986, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1999, 2003, 2004). 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 The Palmer Cup is a 1200–1215 CE goblet from northern Syria or Jazira region, Jazira, and an example of early Islamic glass. It is sometimes described as "Ayyubid", since it corresponds to the time when the Ayyubids disputed control of areas of ...

competition. In 2013, Alexander's Gator golfers finished fourth of fourteen teams in the SEC championship tournament in

Sea Island, Georgia Sea Island is a privately-owned, seaside resort island in Glynn County, Georgia, part of the Golden Isles of Georgia, which include St. Simons Island, Jekyll Island, Little St. Simons Island, and the mainland city of Brunswick. Since 2016, S ...

, and twenty-fifth of thirty invited teams at the NCAA Tournament in

Woodstock, Georgia Woodstock is a city in Cherokee County, Georgia, United States. The population was 35,065 as of 2020 according to the US Census Bureau. Originally a stop on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, Woodstock is part of the Atlanta metropolitan a ...

Personal life

Alexander is married to Joan. His wife previously worked as a PGA Tour media official. Alexander has a daughter, Cortnee, and a son, Tyson. Tyson played for his father's Gators golf from 2006 to 2010, and qualified for the U.S. Open, like his father and grandfather before him, in 2009.Another Alexander gets his Open shot
" GatorCountry.com (June 11, 2009). Retrieved August 1, 2009. Tyson turned pro in 2010.

Results in major championships

*''Note: Alexander only played in the Masters and the U.S. Open.'' * *CUT = missed the half-way cut

U.S. national team appearances

Amateur *

Eisenhower Trophy The Eisenhower Trophy (World Men's Amateur Team Championships) is the biennial World Amateur Team Championship for men organized by the International Golf Federation. Since the tournament was first played in 1958 Eisenhower Trophy, 1958, it is nam ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

Walker Cup The Walker Cup is a golf trophy contested in odd-numbered years by leading male amateur golfers in two teams: United States, and Great Britain and Ireland featuring players from the United Kingdom and Ireland. The official name is the Walker Cup ...

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

(winners)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Buddy American male golfers Amateur golfers Florida Gators men's golf coaches LSU Tigers golf coaches LSU Lady Tigers golf coaches Sportspeople from Gainesville, Florida Sportspeople from St. Petersburg, Florida 1953 births Living people 20th-century American sportsmen