Stewart Ginn is an Australian native currently living in Malaysia. He enjoys traveling around the world to play golf. In fact, he has used up an estimated 20 passports to play golf throughout the world and has won tournaments on three different tours in his career. These victories include the 2002 FORD SENIOR PLAYERS Championship, 1995 Golf Digest Japan Championship, 1992 Indian Open, 1991 Malaysian Masters, 1986 Malaysian Open and Tasmanian Open, 1981 South Coast Open, 1980 Tattersalis Tasmanian Open, New South Wales PGA Championship, 1979 Mayne Nickles PGA Championship and New Zealand Open, 1977 Malaysian Open, 1975 Victorian Open, 1974 Martini International, and 1973 North Coast Open, Tasmanian Open and Victorian PGA Championship.
Stewart turned pro in 1971, and joined the PGA Tour in 1999. He was talked out of attempting to play the PGA TOUR by his peers in the early 1970s and regrets his decision, but has been enjoying his participation on the Senior PGA Tour.
Stewart broke through for his first SENIOR TOUR victory at the 2002 FORD SENIOR PLAYERS Championship where he was a one-stroke victor over Jim Thorpe, Mike McCullough and Hubert Green. His birdie on the 17th hole proved to be the difference and earned a career-best $375,000 with the win. He also became the 13th player to win his first SENIOR TOUR title in a major championship and earned a spot in the 2002 Our Lucaya Senior Slam. He was among the leaders with nine holes to play at the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf and eventually T3 at the King & Bear, his top outing in almost a year since finishing second to Hale Irwin at the 2001 Bruno's Memorial Classic.
His career highlights include two solid years beginning his Senior PGA particpation, where he played his best golf early with five of his six top-10 finishes coming in his first 12 starts. He shot three straight sub-70 rounds at the Bruno's Memorial Classic, including a 7-under 65 on Saturday, his low score of the campaign. His 17-under 199 total at Greystone CC still left him in second place four strokes back of Hale Irwin. He equaled the low round of the field when he posted a 6-under 66 on Sunday to vault from a T22 into third place at The ACE Group Classic. Stewart recorded his first top-five finish in a senior major when he rebounded from an opening-round 73 at Ridgewood to eventually T5 at the Senior PGA Championship.
In 2000, Stewart came on late in the year to earn a spot among the top-31 money-winners. He earned over 40 percent ($318,140) of his $717,058 in his last six appearances of the year. He was not out of the top-12 in any of those final six events and put together three straight top-10s during the fall west coast swing to earn a trip to the season-ending IR SENIOR TOUR Championship. He vaulted from 33rd to 29th place on the money list with a third-place finish and top paycheck of the year, $100,800, at the final full-field event of the year, the SBC Senior Classic. His performance at Wilshire CC came during a run of 10 straight sub-70 scores, tying a season-best streak by Jim Thorpe earlier in October. His final-round 65 helped him to a fourth place finish at the BellSouth Senior Classic at Opryland. Stewart first appeared on the leaderboard in a SENIOR TOUR event in his second official start, and, ranked sixth after 36 holes of the ACE Group Classic and eventually T6, two strokes out of a playoff.
In 1999, he primarily played on the PGA European Seniors Tour and the Japan PGA Tour. Stewart finished 40th on the European Seniors Order of Merit and 47th on the Japan PGA Tour Order of Merit. His best finish in Europe was a T5 at the Senior British Open at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland. Stewart also made 19 appearances on the Japan Golf Tour, made 14 cuts and had four top-10s, highlighted by a T5 at the Super Mario Yomiuri Open. He earned a full exemption on the SENIOR PGA TOUR for 2000 by finishing among the top-eight at the National Qualifying Tournament at the Omni Tucson National Resort & Spa. He was among the leaders throughout the four-day event and eventually T2 with Howard Twitty, five strokes back of Mark Hayes with a six-under 282 total and was easily the medalist at the Q-School regional in San Antonio, winning by 11 strokes at Canyon Springs Golf Club with a 72-hole score of 20-under 268.
Stewart first began caddieing at Royal Melbourne at age 10 and fell in love with the game after watching the old Canada Cup competition in 1959 from his backyard. The Ginns were not a golf-playing family, although they lived behind the 12th green at famed Royal Melbourne Golf Club. He played Australian Rules Football as a youth, but chose to pursue a career in golf on advice from his uncle, turning professional at age 20.
Stewart Ginn enjoys fishing, restoring antiques and cars and spending time with his family, when he is not golfing.
He ranks 21st in Charles Schwab Cup Points on the SENIOR PGA TOUR.
