Throughout the season, junior Cameron Stewart consistently showed why he was not only the best player on Sedona Red Rock High School’s golf team, but one of the best in the state. At the Division III State Tournament — held on Monday, May 10, and Tuesday, May 11 — he did so again.
The tournament was held at the Omni Tucson National Sonoran Course. Stewart was one of 92 golfers to tee it up.
When he put his opening tee shot in play, it was the first time he’d ever played that course. But Stewart finished the opening round with a 78. He followed that up with a 74 in the second round for an aggregate total of 152. That was good enough for a tie for 13th.
“Since I’ve never played the course, it was a little rough,” Stewart said. “I was trying to figure out the course management — where to hit the ball. On the second day, I hit the ball well. The heat kind of took over me toward the end and I hit some bad shots. But I played pretty well.”
Stewart’s second day had a little bit of everything — especially at the start of the round. He played the front nine at even par — despite the fact that he didn’t make a single par over those nine holes. Stewart struggled some over the opening nine, making three bogeys and one double-bogey. But he also recorded five birdies on the outward half.
There are two potential ways to look at that. It can certainly be seen as a frustration to make that many birdies and still score only even par. On the other hand, it can be an overwhelming positive to shoot even par despite making a double and three bogeys. Stewart sees things the latter way.
“I see it as a positive — the glass is half full,” he said. “Because I came back. I was three-over at one point and birdied the last three holes. I see it as a positive to come back and get back down to even par rather than staying three-over.”
This year marked Stewart’s first trip to state. He didn’t qualify as a freshman and his sophomore season was wiped out due to the COVID-19 pandemic. His initial foray into the state tournament was an enjoyable one.
“It was really fun,” Stewart said. “A little bit more of an adrenaline rush, you’d say — just the idea that it was the state tournament. There was a lot more competition there, as well. Just started to get relaxed and played my own game.”
Stewart qualified for state as an individual as one of the top 15 ranked players in the state on a non-qualifying team [players on qualifying teams all qualify automatically as individuals].
The Scorpions not qualifying was a bit of bad luck. Sedona finished second in Division III, Section IV to Northland Prep Academy. This was despite the fact that the Scorpions lost only one match on the season and were 2-1 against the Spartans.
Northland Prep, though, had the higher iWanamaker [iWr] ranking, which, per AZpreps365.com, is determined by “the sum of the team’s four best individual iWrs, who have played the minimum number of rounds [7].” Sedona coach Mike Webster noted that a similar occurrence happened in 2017.
Despite the disappointment of the team not making it to state, Stewart was happy with how the season went, especially given the uncertainty around it at the beginning.
“It was really fun being able to play this year coming off of the canceled season last year,” he said. “It was a relief, I guess you’d say, hearing that they weren’t going to cancel the season because I know they were talking about that at the beginning. Other than that it was a really solid season.”
With one year of high school golf left, Stewart hopes to continue to improve and be in even better position for next season.
“I want to lower my handicap,” Stewart said. “Get a little better or a lot better. Stay competitive. I don’t want to get too comfortable or confident. And definitely have fun overall. I’m hoping to get a scholarship for college, as well.”
