Oklahoma State golfers on PGA Tour are Rickie Fowler, Viktor Hovland, Matthew Wolff, Bob Tway, Talor Gooch, Scott Verplank, and many more.
Oklahoma State golf team has won 11 NCAA team national titles so far. Their alumni golfers are often referred to as the Cowboys and Cowgirls.
With the rich tradition of producing quality linksmen throughout the years, many players from the State have gone on to play on the PGA Tour.
While the likes of Rickie Flower and Talor Gooch have earned great recognition across the world, the current Cowboy roster of Leo Oyo, Jonas Baumgartner, Bo Jin, Hazen Newman, Dillon Stewart, and John Wild among many others would look to achieve the same feat.
For now, we have listed 10 Oklahoma State golf alumni who have made it to the PGA Tour and achieved considerable success over the years.
Austin Eckroat - 24 years old
Austin Eckroat turned professional in 2021. His elder sister Taylor also attended OSU, given that the Eckroats are native to Edmond.
The young lad has played in 31 PGA Tour events to date. Whilst Austin has won $1,518,991 prize money, he is yet to register any tour win.
Out of the 31 events, Eckroat has made the cut in 16 tournaments and made two Top 5 finishes. His best result came at the 2023 AT&T Byron Nelson who has runner-up with Australian Golfer Jason Day winning the accolade.
Viktor Hovland - 25 years old
Viktor turned professional in 2019 and debuted at the Travelers Championship. The Oklahoma State golfer has a total of 7 professional wins.
With his victory at the 2020 Puerto Rico Open, Hovland created history by becoming the first Norwegian to win on PGA Tour. His second tour win followed shortly at the Mayakoba Golf Classic in December 2020.
Hovland then grasped his third win at the 2021 World Wide Technology Championship. Besides this, he also has two European Tour wins to date.
In the recently concluded 2023 PGA Championship, Viktor finished joint runner-up alongside Scottie Scheffler, while Brooks Koepka won the title.
Morgan Hoffmann - 33 years old
The former World No. 1 amateur golfer Morgan Hoffmann turned pro in 2010. He turned pro after only playing on the varsity team for two years.
The 2012 U.S. Open was his first professional major event, where he finished in 29th place in a tie with Beau Hossler. Morgan achieved his highest finish in the 2017 Honda Classic as the ultimate runner-up.
Morgan announced his diagnosis of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) in December. Thus, he was absent from pro golf for two years due to his treatment and returned in April 2022.
People confirmed that he spent two years living between Nepal, Florida, and Costa Rica, to treat his condition with non-Western medicines.
Now that he has recovered, Morgan and his wife, Chelsea, actively run the Morgan Hoffmann Foundation, a physical health and wellness center.
Kevin Tway - 34 years old
Kevin Tway was the NCAA Central Regional while attending OSU. He was also named honorable mention All-American and first-team All-Big 12.
Moreover, Kevin is the son of the eight-time PGA Tour winner Bob Tway. He turned professional in 2011, right after graduating from OSU.
While Tway debuted at the 2011 Travelers Championship, his father stood beside him doing the caddy job and providing him valuable insights.
Kevin subsequently moved to the Web.com Tour in 2013 and picked up his first professional win at that year's Albertsons Boise Open.
Junior Tway secured his first victory on the PGA circuit in the 2018 Safeway Open. The 6 feet 3 inches tall Kevin has a total of 3 professional wins.
Rickie Fowler - 34 years old
Puma Sponsored golfer Rickie Fowler turned professional in 2009. Fowler was the recipient of the 2010 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year award.
His first event in the tour was the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, where he finished tied for seventh He won the 2008 Ben Hogan Award to add to many accomplishments during his amateur career.
Fowler's first PGA win came in 2012 when he won Wells Fargo Championship. Since then, he has bagged four other PGA events, including the 2015 Players Championship and Deutsche Bank Championship, the 2016 Honda Classic, and the 2019 Waste Management Phoenix Open.
He also won the 2015 Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open and the 2016 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship on European Tour. As of 2023, his professional wins count at nine.
Alex Norén - 40 years old
The Swedish pride, Alex Noren, turned professional in 2005. He had represented Sweden as an amateur on all levels before attending OSU.
As of 2023, he plays in the PGA and European Tour but has not bagged any wins in the former. Meanwhile, he has won ten times on the European Tour, including the BMW Championship in 2017 and the HNA Open de France in 2018.
Noren won four titles in 2016; the Nedbank Golf Challenge, the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open, the British Masters, and the Omega European Masters. Coming into 2023, he failed to make a cut at the 2023 Masters Tournament, won by Jon Rahm.
Hunter Mahan - 41 years old
Hunter Mahan became a two-time Big 12 Conference Player of the Year and a two-time first-team All-American, during his time in Oklahoma.
Before the Cowboys, he had spent a year at the University of Southern California. He turned pro in 2003 and earned his first PGA victory at the 2007 Travelers Championship.
Veteran golfer Mahan has registered six victories in the PGA circuit. He achieved those accomplishments during the following events:
- 2007 Travelers Championship
- 2010 Waste Management Phoenix Open
- 2010 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational
- 2012 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship
- 2012 Shell Houston Open
- 2014 Barclays
Bo Van Pelt - 48 years old
The former Cowboys golfer, Bo Van Pelt, was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity during his time there. He turned pro in 1998 and has been a PGA Tour member since 2004.
His first pro victory was the 2009 U.S. Bank Championship held in Milwaukee. Besides his one PGA Tour win to date, he has grabbed each win on European Tour, Asian Tour, PGA Tour of Australasia, and Korn Ferry Tour.
While Van Pelt had a considerably successful golf career, he had not played competitive golf between 2016 and 2019 due to shoulder injuries.
Michael Bradley - 56 years old
A former Cowboy, Michael Bradley, turned 50 in 2016 and has been playing in the PGA Tour Champions since then. But before, he was an active part of the PGA Tour, where he won four events.
Bradley had turned professional in 1988 and played in the Canadian Tour, winning the 1989 Ontario Open and the 1990 Quebec Open before joining PGA in 1992.
Michael was a full-time PGA golfer from 1993 to 2000 and won his first event in the tour in 1996. It was the Buick Challenge, followed by his win at the 1998 Doral-Ryder Open and the Puerto Rico Open in 2009 and 2011.
Scott Verplank - 58 years old
Veteran golfer Scott Verplank tops the chart of Senior PGA Tour players. Scott was a member of the 1983 NCAA Championship team for OSU.
As a prodigy, he won the 1985 Western Open even before his OSU senior year, let alone turning pro. He was the first amateur in the history of the PGA Tour to win an event in 29 years at that time.
Verplank turned pro the following year and has lifted the cups of the 1988 Buick Open, 2000 Reno–Tahoe Open, 2001 Bell Canadian Open, and the 2007 EDS Byron Nelson Championship.
Since turning 50 in July 2014, Scott Verplank started playing in the PGA Tour Champions. He made his debut at the 2014 U.S. Senior Open.
