Though he started out in football, Checotah senior Carter Stewart has had his world turned around the last two years by the sport of golf.
“I started with football in the sixth grade and was approached about being a kicker since I had played some soccer. I took some lessons from (coach) Todd Friend at Fort Gibson and started kicking in the seventh grade and have kicked ever since,” said Carter.
He started playing golf with his dad around the age of four and continued with lessons and junior tournaments until he reached high school.
“My freshman year school golf was lost to Covid but by summer there were some tournaments being played and I won four of the eight I entered. I played some fall tournaments my sophomore year and did pretty well and that year went by fast. My junior year I played some tough fall tournaments around the country and finished in the top five in a lot of them. Then I transferred from Muskogee to Checotah and so I wasn’t eligible to play school golf that year, which was disappointing. But I did play in some outside tournaments to stay sharp.”
But then came a big surprise.
“I was finishing a workout last May and noticed I had some missed phone calls. I called back and the folks at the golf club told me I needed to come there and check out something in my locker. ‘My locker?’ I thought. So I hustled up there and found out that the story about the locker was just an excuse to get me there. Inside was the president of the All Pro Tour (APT) who offered me a spot in the pro tour stop at the club that started the next day. I couldn’t believe it and broke down in tears. The next day I got up, went to school as usual and went to the course around 11 for my 1:30 tee time. I still think about that day and how well I played and the advice I got from the pros I played with and them telling me that at age 16 I was the youngest player ever on that pro tour.”
This spring Carter has his sights set on qualifying for the high school state tournament, hopefully getting another shot on the APT tour stop in Muskogee in May and looking forward to moving on to play golf at Northeastern State University next fall.
