Three Cowboys Named To Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame Class of 2025

Three standouts with ties to the Oklahoma State men's golf program have been named to the Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame's class of 2025, which is set for a Nov. 9 induction. Willie Wood, Mike McGraw and Labron Harris Jr. all received the distinction.

Long-time friends and PGA Tour winners Willie Wood and Andrew Magee, national championship coach and golf historian Mike McGraw, maverick course developer and operator Duffy Martin and 1962 U.S. Amateur champion Labron Harris Jr. comprise the outstanding Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame Class of 2025.

The Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame merged with the Oklahoma Women's Golf Hall of Fame in 2014 and inducts a class of those who have made exceptional contributions to the game every other year. The Hall of Fame will now become a family affair, as McGraw joins twin sister Patty McGraw Coatney, who was inducted in 2006. Harris Jr. joins his father Labron Harris Sr., the founder of the Oklahoma State golf dynasty, who was inducted in 2016.

"The selection committee has delivered an outstanding group for 2025," said Tom Jones, president of the Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame board and president/COO of Oak Tree National. "This class ranges from one of the most colorful professionals in the golf business in Duffy Martin, to a man that has not only led teams to championships but also been a mentor to hundreds of young golfers in Mike McGraw. Then you have tremendous professionals such as Willie Wood and Andrew Ma- gee and a U.S. Amateur champion in Labron Harris Jr. Congratulations to all the inductees."

The 2025 Induction will be held Nov. 9 at Oklahoma City Golf & Country Club.

On his way to becoming one of the most accomplished junior amateur golfers in history, Willie Wood won his first tournament at age 9. Consider it an early start in his journey to join the 2025 class in the Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame.

Oklahoma State coach Mike Holder described Wood as follows: "He was Tiger Woods before Tiger Woods. He won just about every junior tournament you could win. There wasn't any bigger name in junior golf. Until Tiger Woods came along, there probably wasn't anyone who approached what Willie had done as a junior player."

Wood turned pro in 1983 after winning eight tournaments at OSU, which trails only Lindy Miller (11) and Scott Verplank (9) on the program's all-time career victory list.

Wood won the PGA Tour's Deposit Guaranty Classic in 1996 and two Champions Tour events in a span of three starts in 2012. In his career as a touring pro, Wood made 500 cuts, placed second five times, placed third seven times, had 25 Top-5 finishes and 43 Top-10 finishes.

Wood also won two Oklahoma Opens (1990, 1995), the Colorado Open (1984) and Nevada Open (1979). In 1982, he was Big Eight Conference medalist and was selected the Fred Haskins Award winner as collegiate player of the year. Wood was a 1983 Walker Cup member and plays out of Oak Tree National, where he lives.

As stated in his 2017 book, McGraw has always strived to leave the game, "Better Than I Found It," whether coaching juniors, high school, collegians, hosting a popular podcast or serving as the unofficial historian of the game for the state of Oklahoma.

The son of long-time Ponca City Country Club head professional Gervis McGraw and the brother of 2006 inductee Patty McGraw Coatney, McGraw has carried on an intense lifelong love affair with golf. He began working with juniors in 1979 at Kickingbird Golf Course in Edmond while still a collegiate player at Central Oklahoma. That continued in the summers even as he spent three years pursuing his dream of playing professional golf with his final event being the 1986 Oklahoma Open. He earned his teaching certificate, teaching history at Edmond's Sequoyah Middle School while serving as assistant coach to Rick Leath at Edmond High School (now Edmond Memorial). His teams at Memorial won state championships in 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1993. In 1993 he became the head coach at the new Edmond North and promptly led the Huskies to state titles in 1994, 1995 and 1996 with a runner-up finish in 1997.

During that time McGraw touched the lives of thousands of young golfers who came through the E.C. Hafer Junior Program and through lessons and coaching. After winning 36 titles in 46 events in four years at North, he was brought to Stillwater by OSU golf coach Mike Holder to be his assistant, which he did for seven years before being named the OSU women's coach for 2004-05.

McGraw replaced Holder when he became athletic director in 2005-06 and led the Cowboys to the 2006 NCAA Championship and a runner-up finish in 2010. His OSU teams won 30 tournaments including five Big 12 titles, but McGraw was released in 2013. He joined the staff at Alabama as an assistant for 2013-14 and helped lead the Tide to the NCAA Championship and was hired to be the head coach at Baylor in June of 2014.

In 10 years at Baylor, McGraw has led the Bears to 20 tournament titles and NCAA Tournament appearances in five of the last seven seasons. The Bears achieved their first-ever No. 1 national ranking, won their first NCAA Regional title and advanced to NCAA Championship match play for the first time in program history, earning the best NCAA Championship finish in program history. While coaching, McGraw finds time to host an historically significant podcast ripe with golf history and insights.

Growing up the son of a legendary golf coach in a golf community such as the one that exists in Stillwater, one might think it would be easy for Labron Harris Jr. to follow in his father's broad footsteps. Or it might be the hardest thing in the world.

Harris Jr. made it look easy. Not only in becoming an All-American golfer for his father at OSU in 1961 and 1962, but he capped off the 1962 season by winning the world's most pres- tigious amateur event, the U.S. Amateur with a 1-up victory over A. Downing Gray in the championship match at Pinehurst on the famed No. 2 course. He was the second Oklahoman to win the event after Charles Coe in 1949 and 1958. Bob Dickson won in 1967. Other OSU golfers to win include Scott Verplank in 1984, Peter Uihlein in 2010 and Viktor Hovland in 2018.

That was a heady time for Harris, who was low amateur at the 1963 Masters, played for the U.S. in the Walker Cup and won the 1963 Oklahoma Open. He turned professional in 1964 and was the runner-up for Rookie of the Year on the PGA Tour.

Harris defeated Bert Yancey in a playoff at the 1971 Robinson Open Golf Classic for his lone PGA Tour victory. He was a runner-up five times in his PGA Tour career as well, making the cut in 224 of 321 tournaments. He won the Oklahoma Open and the PGA South Central Section Championship. He later went on an influential career with both the PGA Tour and the PGA of America in various capacities, including a key role in starting what is now called the PGA Tour Champions. In 1981 he left the PGA Tour to work with Kemper Sports Management, where he was executive director of the Kemper Open from 1982-86 as well as the PGA Senior in 1982 and the 1983 Ryder Cup.

Oklahoma State University Athletics

Three Cowboys Named To Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame Class of 2025

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