EDMOND, Okla. – There’s a legitimate argument for the 2017-18 Oklahoma State men’s golf team being the best of all-time. Those Cowboys won 10 tournaments, including the NCAA Championship at Karsten Creek, the first time in four tries that the storied program had come through on home soil to lift a national title.
But what made this squad so legendary was the fact that it put a whopping six players on the PGA Tour – winners Viktor Hovland, Austin Eckroat and current LIV player Matthew Wolff, plus cardholders Kris Ventura, Zach Bauchou and Sam Stevens, who was the sixth man when the Cowboys beat Alabama, 5-0, at Karsten Creek. Also on the roster was Stratton Nolen, the 2016 Big 12 individual champ, who is now the Cowboys assistant under Alan Bratton.
“We could’ve put two teams in the national championship,” Eckroat said.
While Wolff earned the clinching point by rolling in the winning birdie putt on the 15th hole, sealing a 4-and-3 win over Davis Riley and the Cowboys’ 11th NCAA Championship, the highlight of the day was Bauchou, who turned in a front-nine 29 and blitzed Jonathan Hardee, 8 and 7.
“I started tearing up on the 10th tee because I knew we were going to win,” Bauchou said.
Eight years later, Bauchou became an inspiration for the newest set of Cowboys. On the morning of last year’s NCAA final against Virginia, Bratton told his players, all freshmen and sophomores, to channel their inner-Bauchou. They responded, taking down the Cavaliers, 4-1, to cap a season that included seven wins, including each of their last five tournaments. Earlier in the season, Oklahoma State snapped the longest losing streak in school history – 19 events – before not finishing worse than third all spring and doing something that the 2018 group failed to do, win a Big 12 team trophy.
It remains to be seen what lies ahead for Preston Stout, Ethan Fang, Eric Lee, Gaven Lane and Filip Fahlberg Johnsson. Maybe they, too, can all end up on the PGA Tour like their 2018 predecessors.
For now, they’re tasked with going back-to-back this week at Omni La Costa, which would be another program first. Oklahoma State enters the 2026 NCAA Championship ranked fifth in the nation, winners of four tournaments, including another conference crown, and battle tested – literally.
The Battle of the Cowboys was a concept dreamed up by Bratton, hoping to highlight his decorated program and his two most recent championship teams by pitting them against each other in a match. The made-for-YouTube event, produced by Good Good, was held in late April at Oak Tree National in Edmond, Oklahoma, and will debut on Golf Channel’s YouTube page at 5 p.m. ET Friday, during the first round of this year’s national championship.
The matchups:
- Hovland vs. Stout
- Ventura vs. Fahlberg Johnsson
- Eckroat vs. Fang
- Wolff vs. Lane
- Bauchou vs. Lee
- Stevens vs. John Wild, who was the sixth man last year.
“I think the old boys are still the top of the food chain,” Hovland said. “I would expect us to show up and dream crush like we did in 2018.”
Not that the 2025 guys weren’t up to the task.
“A couple years ago I’d probably be pretty intimidated by Matt,” Lane said, “but you look at a lot of players that go to LIV, Cam Smith, other guys, I don’t know if the care for golf is quite the same. But I don’t know, we’ll see.”
Added Wolff: “Oh, I’m still plenty motivated. He’ll see. But at the same time, this is definitely a lose-lose for us.”