Unique journeys connecting Longwood’s West Penn duo
By Josh Rowntree, Director of Communications • March 21, 2025
Scott Jordan and Hunter Swidzinski each went through unique and challenging recruiting processes as they finished high school.
The two Western Pennsylvanians, however, eventually found a home to play college golf, and found the right fit in their academic journeys. Now, both are excelling in both avenues as they bookend their collegiate careers. Together.
For Jordan, an Upper St. Clair High School graduate with long ties to the game of golf both locally and beyond, a senior year of high school golf came crashing down when the COVID-19 pandemic struck and recruiting took a heavy blow in all sports.
High school seniors were left with decreasing options nationwide thanks to extended eligibility leashes in the inability for coaches to actively recruit in the manner they were accustomed to.
But Jordan’s high school resumé was strong: a three-time WPIAL qualifier with two top ten finishes in the district, including third in 2019. He was also a two-time PIAA qualifier, placing in the top ten twice at the state competition.
Plus, where there’s talent, there’s a way. And Longwood men’s golf coach Kevin Fillman was able to spot that talent and was able to verge into a recruiting territory he had little experience in. It helped that Jordan had a bit of an uncommon connection to the school already, too.
“My mom’s sorority at Edinboro was founded at Longwood,” says the senior with a chuckle. “So, she introduced me to Longwood and it got my attention. Coach didn’t do too much recruiting because of COVID. I didn’t even do a visit until I signed.”
Jordan’s love for golf has been there as long as he can remember, as he carries a bit of the game’s origins in his blood.
“I have a big history of golf in my family,” he says. “My great-grandfather was from Scotland, and he introduced my grandpa to golf. He was an ambidextrous golfer who introduced my dad to golf, and he was a lefty golfer, as well. I never got into that. I’m a righty. And I started with plastic clubs when I was two years old.”
Jordan played numerous sports as a child, with baseball, soccer and basketball also occupying his time. But golf was the biggest passion, by far.
So, when an opportunity presented itself to play at the collegiate level, Jordan knew he needed to pounce on it.
The additions of Jordan and Swidzinski, as well as Punxsutawney native Willie Hoover — who played his last two seasons of golf at Longwood — have been new for Fillman, who has not recruited Western Pennsylvania much over his 28 years with the Lancers despite hailing from Newcomerstown, Ohio, about 100 miles west of Pittsburgh.
“I’m an Eastern Ohio guy, not that far away from (Western Pennsylvania),” says Fillman. “I recruit Ohio a good bit, and what I like about those guys, and the Western Pennsylvania guys, is that nothing’s been given to them. They’ve earned it. They’re tough. Where they’re from, there’s things that are just ingrained in them.”
He saw those qualities in Jordan, as well as innate power.
“My initial impression of Scott was how far he hit the golf ball,” says Fillman of Jordan, an accounting major who will graduate this spring. “We’ve gotten him to harness some of the situations where he got himself into trouble in the past. He’s a smart kid. We’ve gotten him to be a little bit more of a thinker on the golf course.”
Fillman met Swidzinski — a Butler high school grad — via the 2024 AJGA Senior Showcase event in Las Vegas. Swidzinski was an unsigned senior, but had a strong, yet abbreviated track record of success.
“I looked at his bio and thought, ‘what the heck is going on,” Fillman says. “As soon as I read that bio, I sent an email immediately. He was halfway through his senior year at that point, but we got him down here for a visit and things went from there.”
For Swidzinski, a close look at the program’s success revealed all he needed to know.
“I saw that it was a good program,” he says. “I came down a few months later and signed. I had no connection to the school, at all, before coach reached out to me.”
Swidzinski played golf growing up. His father, Sean, is the head professional at Olde Stonewall Golf Club in Ellwood City. But the game wasn’t his top athletic priority early on, as baseball had his heart.
That, however, changed as he got into high school and began to focus on golf.
“My first tournament was probably in 7th or 8th grade, but those were single-day U.S. kid’s tournaments and I wasn’t anywhere near winning,” Swidzinski says. “But, after my freshman year of high school, that’s when I really started practicing and made it the only thing I was doing. I didn’t have success until later. I felt like I was doing decent but wasn’t being recruited.”
That changed when Fillman saw Swidzinski’s bio, one that included his astonishing performance at the 2023 PIAA Boys Class 3A Golf Championships in which he shot an 8-under round of 64 and won in a playoff to claim gold in the state’s most prestigious high school competition.
“I knew it was big at the time,” says Swidzinski. “But I didn’t know it was going to be as life changing as it was. I’m really gracious for it.”
Despite his brief history in high-end, competitive golf, Fillman saw plenty in Swidzinski.
“He’s still very young in the game,” says Fillman. “But when I watched him play, I was like, ‘oh my goodness.’”
Both young men have excelled in their careers at Longwood. Jordan received 2024 Big South Honorable Mention honors and was part of the program’s first Big South Championship winning team the year prior. He played in the NCAA Regionals that year — the first appearance for Longwood since 2007 — and shot an opening round-best score of 64, tying the best mark in Big South history. This year, he has a runner-up finish at the Surf Club Invitational — one of three top ten finishes in his final collegiate season.
Swidzinski, meanwhile, has burst onto the scene this spring. After competing well in the fall season, he has posted fourth place and tenth place finishes in his first two spring competitions, earning Big South Freshman of the Week honors on March 14.
“I’m not surprised,” says Fillman. “Anyone who has shown the ability in the short amount of time that he’s played high-level, competitive golf… I mean, when anyone posts a 64 in a major state tournament, that gets your attention. If he can do it in that situation, he can do it in a lot of situations.”
“Our team has shown some really good strengths, and we’ve put in work in practice every day,” adds Jordan, who Fillman has seen emerge into a vocal leader on the team. “I feel like I’ve developed a good captain role and have taken some from what past captains have done, and from what coach tells me. It’s a good role to have on the team.”
And Swidzinski seems comfortable taking the West Penn-Longwood torch from Jordan — who took it from Hoover — when the time comes.
“It’s been great to see the success he’s had,” says Swidzinski of Jordan. “It gives me something to strive for the rest of this year and the upcoming years. It’s always competition, but it’s fun when it’s with your own team. When he succeeds, we all succeed.”
Both players, who are standout students on top of talented golfers, intend on competing in WPGA events once the college golf season ends, and rightfully so. Swidzinski finished as the top qualifier for the West Penn Amateur Championship in 2024 at the Green Oaks qualifier. He finished 10th in the 124th WPGA Amateur, while Hoover placed fifth. The finished earned Swidzinski an exemption into the 125th WPGA Amateur this July at Sunnehanna Country Club.
Jordan impressed in WPGA competitions last season, including a runner-up showing at the 83rd WPGA Four-Ball Championship, in which he teamed up with Hoover and fell in a playoff. Jordan also was tied for the lead after the opening round of the West Penn Open last July, finished seventh overall and earning an exemption into both the West Penn Amateur and West Penn Open Championships in 2025.
“WPGA events are very beneficial for college golf,” says Jordan. “They put you in a great mindset. I try to have the same mindset for those tournaments as college tournaments and treat each one the same. Just lock in every time and do the best I can."
Swidzinski feels the same and is ready to continue to represent both Western Pennsylvania in Longwood’s competitions, and Longwood in WPGA events.
“You go out and play those competitions and then you come to college, and you aren’t overwhelmed by the players in it,” he says. “You know that you’ve played just as good — if not better — players from the West Penn. It’s a really strong area.”
For any media inquiries, please contact WPGA Director of Communications Josh Rowntree.
About the WPGA
Founded in 1899, the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association is the steward of amateur golf in the region. Started by five Member Clubs, the association now has nearly 200 Member Clubs and nearly 37,000 members. The WPGA conducts 14 individual competitions and 10 team events, and administers the WPGA Scholarship Fund and Western Pennsylvania Golf Hall of Fame.