Oklahoma State University Athletics
An Underclassmen Undertaking
May 31, 2025 | Cowboy Golf
The process of constructing a college roster has transformed drastically in recent years.
In an era of teams currently filled with fifth-, sixth- and even seventh-year seniors, Oklahoma State's men's golf team has bucked the trend and taken the alternate route.
The Cowboys are in the midst of a significant youth movement with five freshmen and five sophomores dotting their 11-man roster. Additionally, seven of those players are in their first year with the program, presenting a stark contrast to last year's squad which featured three fifth-year players and two seniors.
The building blocks for the future of the program were put into place last season with the addition of decorated freshmen Johnnie Clark, Gaven Lane and Preston Stout.
As part of that veteran-laden squad, it was Stout who was the first to come to the forefront and find his footing during the closing stretch of the year. A talented multi-sport athlete growing up in Texas, Stout showed his decision to pursue golf was the right one, earning all-league status.
The Richardson native showcased a flair for the dramatic as well, making a 30-foot birdie putt on the final hole at the Big 12 Championship to earn his first career victory — a win that was immediately followed by a 22nd-place finish at the Korn Ferry Tour's Veritex Bank Championship where he fired scores of 67, 64, 68 and 67 to finish at 18-under 266.
"It definitely gave me a lot of confidence. To be able to win and show myself that I could win at this level and compete with these guys was huge for me," Stout said. "Confidence is a big thing in golf and to know that I don't have to do anything special or have to play absolutely out of my mind to be able to go and win was really big."
When the results began to turn favorably for Stout, the transition to college life was complete for somebody who has a love for all things outdoors and spends spare time hunting and fishing.
"Stillwater itself, I love it. Being from Dallas, I did not really like it growing up, a lot of people and a lot of traffic. I definitely like being in more of a rural town, not as many people and everything is pretty close."
"I love it here and loved it when I came on my visits. I just knew immediately where I wanted to be."
Far from the finished product, Stout has just scratched the surface of his potential and has continued to grow into his leadership role during year two.
"Preston's built off the success he had last year and that he has really had for a number of years. His progression has been really, really good. He is a good ball hitter and coming into his own as a leader," said Cowboy head coach Alan Bratton.
Like Stout, Lane grew up in the metroplex area and set his sights on becoming a Cowboy at an early age. After a visit to OSU's home course and seeing the significance of the program, it was game over.
"I was taking visits when I was in seventh and eighth grade, and I went to all the schools around me like TCU, OU, A&M and Texas," Lane said. "Once I came up here and saw Karsten Creek and saw it was the team's place, that was my biggest selling point."
It was at an early age that the Argyle native began turning heads, becoming the third-youngest player to qualify for the U.S. Amateur, doing so as a 14-year-old in 2018. Ironically, he made history at Pebble Beach the same year former Cowboy All-American Viktor Hovland was on his way to becoming the fifth Cowboy to hoist the Havemeyer Trophy.
Lane was a mainstay in the Cowboy lineup as a freshman, competing in 13 events and posting a top 10 in his collegiate debut. However, he admits his rookie campaign was an eye-opening experience.
"I probably thought I was a little better than I was. These courses we play are not set up like junior golf or high school golf. It is a whole different game," Lane said. "The courses are tougher. You can't just fire at every pin. It takes more self-control on the course. You have to play smarter golf, and you cannot fall asleep out there.
"I have to keep working hard, and those small mistakes from being a freshman and not always knowing what I was doing last year should be gone."
Bratton ventured away from the Lone Star State and went west for the third member of his class with Clark, who hails from Mesa, Arizona. An AJGA second-team All-America selection in 2022, Clark was also a member of the U.S. Junior Presidents Cup Team and reached the round of 16 at the 2022 U.S. Junior Championship, making him a highly sought prospect as well.
Despite arriving on the scene with an impressive junior résumé of his own, Clark also had his eyes opened to a new level of golf when he arrived on campus.
"Going into last year, I was not really sure what to expect tournament-wise, practice-wise or how the coaches were going to operate," Clark said. "Coming into this year, it has been so much easier — school especially — knowing expectations and knowing where I need to be at what time and knowing what performance is."
After navigating a spring in which he earned two top-20 finishes in seven starts, Clark had a potential breakthrough performance this summer in his home state, winning the Arizona Stroke Play Championship. Like the conference title for Stout, Clark hopes bringing home a trophy this summer is a sign of things to come.
"It was very big for my confidence. My game was not in a great spot last spring, and coming into the summer it still wasn't. So finishing the summer with that kind of performance was definitely very good to get some momentum going," Clark said.
With a victory under his belt and his game trending in the right direction, Clark is drawing on his initial college experiences to help solidify his place in the Cowboys' foundation.
"The biggest thing I have learned is game management, knowing when you are not hitting it your best and how to manage it around the course and getting control of the mental game. That's something I am still working on, but have definitely improved on since last year," Clark said.
Bratton knew he would begin his 12th season at the helm with the promising trio of sophomores to build upon. He would soon be pleasantly surprised to find two familiar names, Ethan Fang and Eric Lee, in the transfer portal, giving him the opportunity to expand his foundation from three to five.
"When you have that caliber player show up in the transfer portal, that is exciting," Bratton said. "Those guys were familiar with Oklahoma State coming out of high school. They were both kids that we had planned to recruit on the front end, and they committed real early in the process to Cal."
When Fang and Lee became available, Bratton was ready and held zero hesitation in opting for more youth instead of seasoned veterans to fill out his roster. In fact, the duo enabled the Cowboy head coach to play the long game and gain immediate depth, giving his squad the best of both worlds.
"You go with the best fit, and to have two guys that have three years of eligibility left is big. Then you look around and we had three really good sophomores and some good freshmen coming in already. Going forward, we could put something together that can be a good nucleus for several years."
Fang was first in making the decision to transfer, and Lee soon followed. Growing up in Dallas, he competed with Lane and Stout, giving OSU the inside track to landing their fourth talented sophomore.
"I grew up playing junior golf with both of them. I have known Ethan for a while. We lived in Dallas together and played against each other since we were 13," Stout said. "I got to know Eric a lot better in high school. We played on the Junior Presidents Cup team together. Traveling and playing all our invitational stuff in junior golf kind of helped me get closer with Eric too."
A native of Plano, Fang enjoyed a successful freshman season that saw him earn All-Pac-12 honors as well as Pac-12 all-freshman team status. Like Clark, he was tabbed as an AJGA All-American and reached the round of 16 at the U.S. Junior Championship in 2022. This past summer, he advanced to the quarterfinals at the U.S. Amateur just prior to setting foot on the OSU campus.
An attractive résumé meant suitors aplenty for Fang, but the opportunity to reunite with his fellow Texas natives and the lure of the program's history made the choice an easy one.
"When I entered the portal, I had a few options, but OSU was my number one, obviously, because of everything about the school, the history, everyone knows all the hardware we have here, the pro golfers we have and just the program itself," Fang said.
"Being from Dallas, you hear a lot about Oklahoma State, especially when that 2018 team kind of dominated everything, so I grew up hearing about them, and it was meant to be."
It was also in the cards that the Cowboys would lure a second talented sophomore from Berkeley.
Lee got out of the gate quickly to start his collegiate career, winning his Cal debut at the at the Marquette Intercollegiate.
Initially, Lee was set to return to Cal, but Fang's decision to continue his career closer to home had the Fullerton, Calif., native reconsidering his future.
"I made the decision to stay at Cal for at least another year, but as soon as Ethan entered the portal it got me thinking maybe I should make the move, too," Lee said.
That decision pointed Lee to Stillwater as well, a place that had always been in the back of his mind with Bratton recruiting him during a prep career that saw him earn first-team AJGA All-America status and Rolex Player of the Year honors in 2022. Like Clark, Fang and Stout, Lee made a deep run at the U.S. Junior in 2022, advancing to the semifinals.
The second time through the recruiting process, Lee was intrigued by the prospect of joining a young, talented core of players.
"I knew that with Ethan, Preston and Gavin there I felt like if I joined, we could make a strong team. That is basically what the decision came down to, knowing we were going to have a young team and that we would be able to all grow together."
While there has been an adjustment to life in a true college town, a California transplant and Lee's teammates have helped him settle in nicely.
"The guys have made it pretty easy for me to adjust pretty fast, and I'm still adjusting to some things, but I think overall the transition has been pretty smooth," Lee said.
"(Former Cowboy All-American) Chris Tidland is from Placentia, which is like 10 minutes away from me, so that was pretty cool to have that connection. He told me at the beginning of the year that I would really like it here and that this is the place to be."
That place is currently home to a team with rock solid chemistry and a competitive environment. While golf is often viewed as an individual sport, the collegiate level maintains the team aspect. Those aforementioned qualities and the opportunity to develop together remain critical on all fronts.
"I think we are all pretty close game-wise — anyone can win a qualifier on any given day," Lane said. "Just being around competition like that every single day is going to improve your game."
That "iron sharpens iron" mentality is a recipe for success in Bratton's eyes.
"The best part is the competition among the group. You do not have to look very far to find somebody that is out here working hard and pushing you." Bratton said.
"You want to recruit kids that are like-minded and have similar goals. I think we have done that. We have a bunch of guys that understand team and recognize how that will help them. You don't have to sacrifice one for the other,"
As a leader who has been a part of NCAA-winning teams as a player, assistant coach and head coach at OSU, Bratton knows firsthand the formula to helping a team reach the pinnacle.
"Our best teams have been the ones that are a group of guys trying to get better in their own game, but they recognize if they lift their buddy up, it ends up helping them. We have a group of guys that get that, and they want that.
"Hopefully, that will keep attracting other like-minded players in the future."
While the future is bright, do not mistake youth for inexperience as the current crop has plenty of seasoning. Because of that, the present is promising as well.
Whether it be the multitude of successful performances in high-level USGA, AJGA or even professional events, Bratton is optimistic about the prospects of his crew being able to write the next successful chapter for a program steeped in tradition.
"That is exciting as a coach, to think that they are only sophomores. It is kind of a unique combination because they are young, but they do have a lot of experience. How valuable is that?"
Adding to the positive outlook is the implementation of PGA Tour University in recent years.
Since the system was introduced in 2020, the incentive for a player to stay in school through his final year has been increased significantly.
The program identifies the best seniors and elevates their path to the PGA Tour. Using a ranking system based on the last two years of their collegiate careers, the top 20 finishers in PGA Tour University earn access to the Korn Ferry Tour, PGA Tour Canada or PGA Tour Latinoamérica.
Simply put, PGA Tour University is music to the ears for a program that has seen as much, if not more, talent than any other school in the country make an early exit for the professional ranks.
For a program repeatedly tasked with replacing the likes of early departures such as Charles Howell, Hunter Mahan, Rickie Fowler, Peter Uihlein, Morgan Hoffmann and Eugenio Chacarra, there is a real possibility Bratton's nucleus stays together for the duration.
"That is a nice program the PGA Tour started. The guys going out on Tour now are more seasoned and that lends itself to more success out there," Bratton said.
"The guys we have now have a ways to go, but that is an incentive, and hopefully these guys are more driven to be here, earn their degrees, do some things we are used to — be in in the mix with a chance to win conference championships and national championships."
In an era of teams currently filled with fifth-, sixth- and even seventh-year seniors, Oklahoma State's men's golf team has bucked the trend and taken the alternate route.
The Cowboys are in the midst of a significant youth movement with five freshmen and five sophomores dotting their 11-man roster. Additionally, seven of those players are in their first year with the program, presenting a stark contrast to last year's squad which featured three fifth-year players and two seniors.
The building blocks for the future of the program were put into place last season with the addition of decorated freshmen Johnnie Clark, Gaven Lane and Preston Stout.
As part of that veteran-laden squad, it was Stout who was the first to come to the forefront and find his footing during the closing stretch of the year. A talented multi-sport athlete growing up in Texas, Stout showed his decision to pursue golf was the right one, earning all-league status.
The Richardson native showcased a flair for the dramatic as well, making a 30-foot birdie putt on the final hole at the Big 12 Championship to earn his first career victory — a win that was immediately followed by a 22nd-place finish at the Korn Ferry Tour's Veritex Bank Championship where he fired scores of 67, 64, 68 and 67 to finish at 18-under 266.
"It definitely gave me a lot of confidence. To be able to win and show myself that I could win at this level and compete with these guys was huge for me," Stout said. "Confidence is a big thing in golf and to know that I don't have to do anything special or have to play absolutely out of my mind to be able to go and win was really big."
When the results began to turn favorably for Stout, the transition to college life was complete for somebody who has a love for all things outdoors and spends spare time hunting and fishing.
"Stillwater itself, I love it. Being from Dallas, I did not really like it growing up, a lot of people and a lot of traffic. I definitely like being in more of a rural town, not as many people and everything is pretty close."
"I love it here and loved it when I came on my visits. I just knew immediately where I wanted to be."
Far from the finished product, Stout has just scratched the surface of his potential and has continued to grow into his leadership role during year two.
"Preston's built off the success he had last year and that he has really had for a number of years. His progression has been really, really good. He is a good ball hitter and coming into his own as a leader," said Cowboy head coach Alan Bratton.
Like Stout, Lane grew up in the metroplex area and set his sights on becoming a Cowboy at an early age. After a visit to OSU's home course and seeing the significance of the program, it was game over.
"I was taking visits when I was in seventh and eighth grade, and I went to all the schools around me like TCU, OU, A&M and Texas," Lane said. "Once I came up here and saw Karsten Creek and saw it was the team's place, that was my biggest selling point."
It was at an early age that the Argyle native began turning heads, becoming the third-youngest player to qualify for the U.S. Amateur, doing so as a 14-year-old in 2018. Ironically, he made history at Pebble Beach the same year former Cowboy All-American Viktor Hovland was on his way to becoming the fifth Cowboy to hoist the Havemeyer Trophy.
Lane was a mainstay in the Cowboy lineup as a freshman, competing in 13 events and posting a top 10 in his collegiate debut. However, he admits his rookie campaign was an eye-opening experience.
"I probably thought I was a little better than I was. These courses we play are not set up like junior golf or high school golf. It is a whole different game," Lane said. "The courses are tougher. You can't just fire at every pin. It takes more self-control on the course. You have to play smarter golf, and you cannot fall asleep out there.
"I have to keep working hard, and those small mistakes from being a freshman and not always knowing what I was doing last year should be gone."
Bratton ventured away from the Lone Star State and went west for the third member of his class with Clark, who hails from Mesa, Arizona. An AJGA second-team All-America selection in 2022, Clark was also a member of the U.S. Junior Presidents Cup Team and reached the round of 16 at the 2022 U.S. Junior Championship, making him a highly sought prospect as well.
Despite arriving on the scene with an impressive junior résumé of his own, Clark also had his eyes opened to a new level of golf when he arrived on campus.
"Going into last year, I was not really sure what to expect tournament-wise, practice-wise or how the coaches were going to operate," Clark said. "Coming into this year, it has been so much easier — school especially — knowing expectations and knowing where I need to be at what time and knowing what performance is."
After navigating a spring in which he earned two top-20 finishes in seven starts, Clark had a potential breakthrough performance this summer in his home state, winning the Arizona Stroke Play Championship. Like the conference title for Stout, Clark hopes bringing home a trophy this summer is a sign of things to come.
"It was very big for my confidence. My game was not in a great spot last spring, and coming into the summer it still wasn't. So finishing the summer with that kind of performance was definitely very good to get some momentum going," Clark said.
With a victory under his belt and his game trending in the right direction, Clark is drawing on his initial college experiences to help solidify his place in the Cowboys' foundation.
"The biggest thing I have learned is game management, knowing when you are not hitting it your best and how to manage it around the course and getting control of the mental game. That's something I am still working on, but have definitely improved on since last year," Clark said.
Bratton knew he would begin his 12th season at the helm with the promising trio of sophomores to build upon. He would soon be pleasantly surprised to find two familiar names, Ethan Fang and Eric Lee, in the transfer portal, giving him the opportunity to expand his foundation from three to five.
"When you have that caliber player show up in the transfer portal, that is exciting," Bratton said. "Those guys were familiar with Oklahoma State coming out of high school. They were both kids that we had planned to recruit on the front end, and they committed real early in the process to Cal."
When Fang and Lee became available, Bratton was ready and held zero hesitation in opting for more youth instead of seasoned veterans to fill out his roster. In fact, the duo enabled the Cowboy head coach to play the long game and gain immediate depth, giving his squad the best of both worlds.
"You go with the best fit, and to have two guys that have three years of eligibility left is big. Then you look around and we had three really good sophomores and some good freshmen coming in already. Going forward, we could put something together that can be a good nucleus for several years."
Fang was first in making the decision to transfer, and Lee soon followed. Growing up in Dallas, he competed with Lane and Stout, giving OSU the inside track to landing their fourth talented sophomore.
"I grew up playing junior golf with both of them. I have known Ethan for a while. We lived in Dallas together and played against each other since we were 13," Stout said. "I got to know Eric a lot better in high school. We played on the Junior Presidents Cup team together. Traveling and playing all our invitational stuff in junior golf kind of helped me get closer with Eric too."
A native of Plano, Fang enjoyed a successful freshman season that saw him earn All-Pac-12 honors as well as Pac-12 all-freshman team status. Like Clark, he was tabbed as an AJGA All-American and reached the round of 16 at the U.S. Junior Championship in 2022. This past summer, he advanced to the quarterfinals at the U.S. Amateur just prior to setting foot on the OSU campus.
An attractive résumé meant suitors aplenty for Fang, but the opportunity to reunite with his fellow Texas natives and the lure of the program's history made the choice an easy one.
"When I entered the portal, I had a few options, but OSU was my number one, obviously, because of everything about the school, the history, everyone knows all the hardware we have here, the pro golfers we have and just the program itself," Fang said.
"Being from Dallas, you hear a lot about Oklahoma State, especially when that 2018 team kind of dominated everything, so I grew up hearing about them, and it was meant to be."
It was also in the cards that the Cowboys would lure a second talented sophomore from Berkeley.
Lee got out of the gate quickly to start his collegiate career, winning his Cal debut at the at the Marquette Intercollegiate.
Initially, Lee was set to return to Cal, but Fang's decision to continue his career closer to home had the Fullerton, Calif., native reconsidering his future.
"I made the decision to stay at Cal for at least another year, but as soon as Ethan entered the portal it got me thinking maybe I should make the move, too," Lee said.
That decision pointed Lee to Stillwater as well, a place that had always been in the back of his mind with Bratton recruiting him during a prep career that saw him earn first-team AJGA All-America status and Rolex Player of the Year honors in 2022. Like Clark, Fang and Stout, Lee made a deep run at the U.S. Junior in 2022, advancing to the semifinals.
The second time through the recruiting process, Lee was intrigued by the prospect of joining a young, talented core of players.
"I knew that with Ethan, Preston and Gavin there I felt like if I joined, we could make a strong team. That is basically what the decision came down to, knowing we were going to have a young team and that we would be able to all grow together."
While there has been an adjustment to life in a true college town, a California transplant and Lee's teammates have helped him settle in nicely.
"The guys have made it pretty easy for me to adjust pretty fast, and I'm still adjusting to some things, but I think overall the transition has been pretty smooth," Lee said.
"(Former Cowboy All-American) Chris Tidland is from Placentia, which is like 10 minutes away from me, so that was pretty cool to have that connection. He told me at the beginning of the year that I would really like it here and that this is the place to be."
That place is currently home to a team with rock solid chemistry and a competitive environment. While golf is often viewed as an individual sport, the collegiate level maintains the team aspect. Those aforementioned qualities and the opportunity to develop together remain critical on all fronts.
"I think we are all pretty close game-wise — anyone can win a qualifier on any given day," Lane said. "Just being around competition like that every single day is going to improve your game."
That "iron sharpens iron" mentality is a recipe for success in Bratton's eyes.
"The best part is the competition among the group. You do not have to look very far to find somebody that is out here working hard and pushing you." Bratton said.
"You want to recruit kids that are like-minded and have similar goals. I think we have done that. We have a bunch of guys that understand team and recognize how that will help them. You don't have to sacrifice one for the other,"
As a leader who has been a part of NCAA-winning teams as a player, assistant coach and head coach at OSU, Bratton knows firsthand the formula to helping a team reach the pinnacle.
"Our best teams have been the ones that are a group of guys trying to get better in their own game, but they recognize if they lift their buddy up, it ends up helping them. We have a group of guys that get that, and they want that.
"Hopefully, that will keep attracting other like-minded players in the future."
While the future is bright, do not mistake youth for inexperience as the current crop has plenty of seasoning. Because of that, the present is promising as well.
Whether it be the multitude of successful performances in high-level USGA, AJGA or even professional events, Bratton is optimistic about the prospects of his crew being able to write the next successful chapter for a program steeped in tradition.
"That is exciting as a coach, to think that they are only sophomores. It is kind of a unique combination because they are young, but they do have a lot of experience. How valuable is that?"
Adding to the positive outlook is the implementation of PGA Tour University in recent years.
Since the system was introduced in 2020, the incentive for a player to stay in school through his final year has been increased significantly.
The program identifies the best seniors and elevates their path to the PGA Tour. Using a ranking system based on the last two years of their collegiate careers, the top 20 finishers in PGA Tour University earn access to the Korn Ferry Tour, PGA Tour Canada or PGA Tour Latinoamérica.
Simply put, PGA Tour University is music to the ears for a program that has seen as much, if not more, talent than any other school in the country make an early exit for the professional ranks.
For a program repeatedly tasked with replacing the likes of early departures such as Charles Howell, Hunter Mahan, Rickie Fowler, Peter Uihlein, Morgan Hoffmann and Eugenio Chacarra, there is a real possibility Bratton's nucleus stays together for the duration.
"That is a nice program the PGA Tour started. The guys going out on Tour now are more seasoned and that lends itself to more success out there," Bratton said.
"The guys we have now have a ways to go, but that is an incentive, and hopefully these guys are more driven to be here, earn their degrees, do some things we are used to — be in in the mix with a chance to win conference championships and national championships."
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