Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys In Print
April 09, 2010 | Cowboy Golf
April 9, 2010
Oklahoma State's men's golf team has won 10 national championships during its storied history and none may be as unique as the squad's 1995 title.
Several storylines played out over the course of the year and ultimately ended with the Cowboys knocking off a talented Stanford team led by Tiger Woods.
And now the story of OSU's run to its eighth national title is documented in print with the release of "The Last Putt: Two Teams, One Dream, and a Freshman Named Tiger" today.
The book was co-authored by Neil Hayes, a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, and Brian Murphy, a columnist for Yahoo Sports, and offers a rare look into the world of college golf.
For the most part, college golf has avoided the limelight so the thought of writing a book about the sport is something that is unique and actually had to be sold on Hayes.
"My agent, Frank Scatoni of Venture Literary, first proposed it to me. Frankly, I was skeptical. College golf? Who cares?," Hayes said.
However, it did not take long for Hayes to change his tune and quickly he was on board. "The more I researched the story the better it got, however, and soon I was hooked," Hayes said. "There are so many compelling characters whose lives and fates are so intertwined that it became irresistible."
What Hayes found as he researched the 1995 NCAA Championship, the season preceding it and personalities involved was that the story was truly unique.
"The 1995 season was overshadowed by the Oklahoma State-Stanford rivalry and all the compelling characters that defined it," Hayes said. "As for the tournament itself, it ended in the first playoff in the 98-year history of the event. Oklahoma State entered that playoff a man down, believe it or not. The three rain delays added intrigue and suspense. Plus, it was played at the Scarlet Course, which is the most storied course in college golf."
"It was a perfect storm."
In order to properly and thoroughly tell the story, the two writers divided the book with Hayes taking the OSU side and Murphy covering the Stanford angle.
"I thought it was an ideal two-person project from the start, because one person could focus on Stanford and the other on Oklahoma State--which is what we did, by the way," Hayes said. "Brian wrote three chapters on Stanford, I wrote three chapters on Oklahoma State, and the other chapters we wrote together."
Completing the 368-page end product was a task five years in the making and not without its bumps in the road. Hayes and Murphy got serious about the project in 2005, producing a 75-page outline for the book then followed with two years of research and writing. However, publication was delayed for more than a year due to the merger of publishing companies Houghton-Mifflin and Harcourt. Tack on an additional year to edit some 20,000 words from the original manuscript and you arrive at the April 5 release date.
"The Last Putt" project was not Hayes' first foray into the world of book writing. His latest project was the beneficiary of his previous work.
"The one thing I learned while writing my first book, "When the Game Stands Tall," about De La Salle High School's 151-game winning streak, was that a project can really take on a spirit of its own when you make capturing the moment the goal," Hayes said. "I wanted Oklahoma State and Stanford players to finish the book, set it down and say "that's exactly how it was." When that happens, based on my experience, you've got something people will want to read."
The book is definitely one OSU fans will want to read and will not be difficult to get their hands on. Most bookstores are set the carry it as well as Amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.
