'It's like a brotherhood': Oklahoma State golf is more than just a team

When Rickie Fowler turned pro, he said was going to honor his school, Oklahoma State, by wearing orange on Sundays.

While he’s long past his college career, Fowler is still very much invested as an alum in the Cowboys golf program, as are a lot of its former players.

“It’s like a brotherhood,” said Scott Verplank, who graduated from OSU and turned professional in 1986. “… If you play golf for Oklahoma State and you carry that golf bag, you’re not really playing for yourself. You’re playing for your teammates and all the guys that have come before you and all the great players that are going to come after you.”

Verplank, like Fowler and many others, has been integral in helping groom freshman prospects into PGA Tour mainstays.

Leading up to this week’s 84th Masters Verplank said he reached out to Matthew Wolff, Fowler and Charles Howell III.

Oklahoma State has put out some of golf’s top names, making success the standard for the collegiate game.

Coach Alan Bratton took over in 2013 and has carried on the long tradition of success at the conference and national level. In the program’s 72-year history, OSU has 55 top-five finishes. The two times the program “dipped” was in 2012 when it missed the national championship and 2013 when it finished 13th.

In addition to the Cowboys’ professional success, Oklahoma State has had three amateurs compete in the Masters in the past decade: Peter Uihlein in 2011, Jordan Niebrugge in 2014, and last year Viktor Hovland. Hovland shot a 1-under 71 on Sunday to finish 32nd. Hovland is not in this week’s field.

Hovland was the first OSU player to win the low amateur award at a major since Niebrugge in the 2015 Open Championship.

Bratton was alongside each of his amateurs as their caddie in their respective Masters. Each played a practice round with Fowler.

“It’s pretty awesome to watch your players out there living out a dream,” Bratton said. “There’s no player that’s played golf that didn’t make some putts at the end of the evening as it’s getting dark and pretending to win the Masters. Our guys have had a chance to make that a reality and hopefully this year is no different.”

This week, Wolff is playing in his first Masters. Fowler and Howell III are in their 10th.

From former players on the tour repping the “Swinging Pete” logo on their bag to sporting orange on Sundays, Bratton hopes the brand continues to grow and continue to produce some of the best talent at the professional level.

Though Fowler came close in 2018 with a second-place finish, no Oklahoma State golfer has won the Masters. Fowler, Howell and Wolff all have a chance to rectify that this year.

“(Wolff) has his regular caddie, Nick Heinen, who’s also a former player at Oklahoma State,” Bratton said. “… Maybe Matt can hoist the trophy. It would be awfully a good moment in OSU golf to have both player and a caddie be former players here at Oklahoma State.”