Two Titles, Thirty Years, Lifetime Connections

Three decades before Oklahoma State's men's golf team delivered the 12th NCAA title in program history, there were the 1995 title-winning Cowboys.

Two teams separated by 30 years but forever connected by three words.

Believe In Destiny.

While that phrase finds itself prominently affixed to a pair of historic championship runs cemented in Cowboy lore, those teams find themselves intertwined in more ways than a catchphrase.

First and foremost, both shared similar dynamics with depth, talent and strong chemistry cemented by friendships on and off the course.

"This team was made up a lot the same way. Ethan (Fang) and Eric (Lee) are really close and play together all the time, like Alan (Bratton) and Chris (Tidland). Preston (Stout) and Gaven (Lane) play together all the time like Kris (Cox) and me," former Cowboy All-American Trip Kuehne said.

Mix in Leif Westerberg with the former and Filip Fahlberg-Johnsson for the latter, Swedish standouts who both had great relationships across the board, and you have a championship formula.

After beginning his collegiate career at Arizona State, Kuehne added an unfamiliar dynamic to the team, becoming just the second player to transfer into the Cowboy program. An addition that very nearly did not take place.

"I was 99 percent sure I was going to SMU, but decided before I did that, I needed to go to Stillwater just to make sure I am making the right decision, because Coach Holder is the best coach," Kuehne said.

"I was told I would hate Stillwater, but I fell in love with it. Stillwater and Oklahoma State revolved around athletics, and the community rallies around the school and sports, and to be a part of that community means the world to me."

The 2025 edition of Cowboy golf was the beneficiary of not one, but two players who began their career elsewhere. Initially, Fang, who began his career at the University of California, Berkeley, made the decision to move closer to his hometown of Plano, Texas. Soon thereafter, Lee, his Bear classmate and close friend, would follow.

"The No. 1 message (Bratton) told me was if you want to win a national championship, you have to come to Oklahoma State … and he was right," Fang said.

If only it was that simple.

The Foundation?
There is a science to melding the different components of a roster together, which is paramount to a team's success. Nothing provides a better opportunity for a team to do so than life on the road. Like the 1995 squad, the present-day Cowboys bonded over card games on plane rides throughout the season.

"We started playing spades on the road, and that was a throwback for me to that 1995 team. We used to do that all the time. It was myself and Chris against Trip and Kris, and then we would play on the golf course against each other as well," Bratton, in his 12th year as OSU's head coach, said.

With the games on and away from the course maintaining the teams' competitive edge, both squads piled up wins in bunches as they trended toward the season's crowning event.

The Cowboys of yesteryear started their campaign with three victories in the fall, including their finale at the Golf World/Palmetto Dunes.

OSU reeled off four consecutive victories to begin the spring season before tallying win No. 8 of the year at the Big Eight Championship at famed Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan.

This past season, the Pokes closed the fall slate with their first victory of the season at the Jackson T. Stephens Cup before winning their spring opener in Hawaii at the Amer Ari Intercollegiate. Like their predecessors, the Cowboys then ripped off an impressive winning streak, finishing with four consecutive victories, including the program's 57th conference title, with their Big 12 title run at historic Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa.

However, neither campaign would feel complete without hoisting college golf's ultimate prize.?

Writing the Story?
Rewind to that championship all those years ago and a Cowboy team pursuing its place in history.

Bratton and the Cowboys would stage a comeback reserved for Hollywood scripts. In fact, the victory would lead to a book titled "The Last Putt" being penned years later to document the feat.

A less-than-ideal start for the current Cowboy head coach would lead to a pivotal moment in the tournament's outcome.

"I was playing terrible that week. I was scraping it around, and I was our No. 1 guy. I definitely was not doing my job," said Bratton, of his opening two rounds of 75 and 76.

Expecting a stern lecture, Bratton received quite the opposite from head coach Mike Holder to jumpstart his game.

"He showed complete confidence in me. We were sitting by that tree at Ohio State, and I will never forget it. He told me, 'I know you are going to play well. Two more shots at this course and you are going to be just fine.' The next day, I played the best round I had ever played, because I was terrible tee-to-green, but I was bogey-free and 3-under."

Heading into the final round, OSU found itself in third place and three shots out of the top spot on the leaderboard.

Following dinner the night before the final round, the team returned to its hotel where Kuehne was unexpectedly greeted by a pair of notes.

"I got to the room, and there was a note lodged in the door. I opened the door, and there was another note below it," Kuehne recalled.

"The first note, I can vividly remember it saying, 'If you don't believe you can do it, you never will believe in yourself. Believe in destiny.' The other one simply said, 'Believe in destiny.'"

The penned encouragement resonated with Kuehne.

"That completely changed my outlook on the whole thing. Fear of failure has always driven me. Losing isn't an option, we are destined to do this, and we are supposed to win this championship," Kuehne said.

"Now get yourself in the mindset where you believe, and get your teammates in the mindset where they believe we are going to win this thing, too."

Who would author those messages?

The answer would not be revealed until several years later when Bratton got one of the most important figures in college golf to admit he was the man behind the mystery.

Long before Golf Channel and social media came along to shed light on the sport there was Golfweek's Ron Balicki. A man affectionately referred to as "Wrong Ron" for his uncanny ability to incorrectly predict the NCAA champion each year, Balicki was the lone voice for college golf for many years and the author of those notes.

Revered by everyone in the sport, it was Balicki with whom Rickie Fowler entrusted to tell the world he would be turning professional in 2009. Maybe Wrong Ron left that note because he picked the Cowboys to win that week, or possibly it had to do with his deep admiration and respect for the program.

"He was a special, special guy to me and our team. Like Alan, I thought about him a lot during the week, and when it was over with and we got rid of the Wrong Ron curse, that was obviously something special. What a fantastic human being. He was very influential in the college game and the amateur game," Kuehne said.

Bratton echoed his teammate's sentiment about the man he has since paid homage to during the trophy presentations for both teams he led to championships as head coach.

"It tells you a lot about him and the relationship he had with players. He talked to us a lot because we had won a lot of tournaments," Bratton said.

"So, that was cool that he decided to do that."?

The Comeback?
Even with Balicki's encouragement, it would still require a heroic effort to track down Tiger Woods and his Stanford squad. Track them down they did.

The hard-charging Cowboys would record five birdies over the final three holes to surpass Texas and catch the Cardinal on the event's 72nd hole. Leading the surge for OSU was Bratton, who birdied the final three holes, including a 30-footer to cap the charge and force the first team playoff in the history of the tournament.

In extra holes, not only would OSU be tasked with squaring off with the defending national champions and their star freshman, they would do so a man down.

Destiny would have to deliver without Westerberg.

With multiple weather delays totaling more than four hours holding up the conclusion of the event, the sophomore had left Columbus on a flight bound for London to compete at the upcoming British Amateur. Undeterred, the Cowboys readied for the playoff without their sophomore, who had closed with a crucial even-par 72.

Playing four versus five, Cox gave the Cowboys the early lead after making an eight-foot birdie putt in the first group out.

The anchor group saw Tidland and Kuehne record pars, while Bratton delivered the decisive strike, burying a 35-foot birdie putt in the heart of the cup, igniting an emotional celebration.

Reflecting on the victory evoked a familiar word among the OSU contingent.

"It was destiny that we won. I feel like I've grown up with every one of these guys, and to top it off like this is absolutely amazing," Cox said.

Holder summed up the eighth of his 10 national titles as the program's head coach simply stating, "It was destiny today."

"I think it was a typical Oklahoma State performance," Stanford head coach Wally Goodwin said.

A typical Oklahoma State performance could mean only one thing — the Cowboys were champions once again.

Destiny fulfilled.

Back to the Present?
Fast forward to present day and this year's championship where Bratton directed a fresh-faced group of Cowboys with a starting lineup of four sophomores and a freshman.

Bratton's squad arrived at Omni La Costa Resort and Spa outside of San Diego riding the momentum of four consecutive victories and six events overall on the year.

With only one thing in mind, a familiar phrase resurfaced between old teammates.

"Alan and I had been talking about it all week and he ended one of our text conversations with Believe In Destiny," Kuehne said.

The Cowboys were slow out of the gate, finding themselves in unfamiliar territory: tied for 14th place after the first round. However, there was no panic from the man in charge.

"We weren't in a good position, but there was no getting on them about anything. They didn't take anything for granted, they were prepared, and they handled themselves the right way. There was no need to panic, and to their credit, they really weren't," Bratton said.

"We did not have anybody who was off their game. Everybody showed up with their game, which does not always happen."

OSU moved into seventh place at the halfway point of stroke play despite an uncharacteristic performance from Fang, who had been a presence in the top 10 on the leaderboard for the Cowboys all year long.

After rounds of 73 and 75 found him tied for 64th place, Fang was not his usual unflappable self.

"I was concerned after the second round because he is unfazed almost all of the time. He was unhappy, did not eat lunch, sat there with us and did not say a word. He doesn't do that," Bratton explained.

However, there was nobody better equipped to rally the first-team All-American than Bratton, who could draw on his own struggles all those years ago next to that tree at Ohio State.

"There was a parallel with him, because I had a conversation with him like Coach did with me back in 1995," Bratton said.

By dinner that same night, Fang was refocused and sprung to life, posting rounds of 71 and 68 to ultimately climb into a share of 15th place and help secure the No. 4 seed for the match play bracket for the Cowboys.

While the goal is to earn the top seed, OSU has learned through the years that does not always produce the desired result. Since the implementation of match play in 2009, OSU garnered the top spot in the bracket on four occasions. To date, the 2018 Cowboys remain the only No. 1 seed to win both the stroke play and match play portions of the event in NCAA history.

Fortunately, history would tell you OSU's 2025 championship aspirations were alive and well.

The Cowboys drew Oklahoma in their morning quarterfinal match. With a dominant performance from Stout leading the way, OSU easily handled its Bedlam rival, 3.5-1.5, to advance. The Cowboys took command of the match with Fahlberg-Johnsson claiming the lead match before Fang and Stout delivered the clinching points.

OSU had to quickly hit the reset button for its semifinal match that same afternoon. The Cowboys would face an Ole Miss squad that had spent a good portion of the season as the nation's top-ranked team and had the individual national champion in Michael La Sasso.

Stout continued to show why he is one of the premier talents in the country, steamrolling La Sasso, 5 and 4, before Fahlberg-Johnsson once again delivered on the second extra hole to prevail over Cameron Tankersley and put the Cowboys a point away from a spot in the title match.

It was Lee who would come through in the clutch with a birdie on the first extra hole against Cohen Trolio to keep the Cowboys' championship dream alive.

An integral part of the sustained success of the Cowboy program comes from the fact you don't take on the lofty expectations alone. Throughout his tenure, Bratton has made it well known you stand on the shoulders of those who came before you, and those names displayed in the Karsten trophy hallway are more than just decorations. The pantheon of OSU greats is as beneficial as any resource available.

Among those very resources is the program's head coach. Bratton recounted the story of the 1995 title run and the three words that spurred the Cowboys to victory. The message sank in with Fang, who took it upon himself to inscribe the initials "B.I.D." on his ball prior to his final match.

"It kept popping into my head, and I was marking my ball right before I went out to the first tee and I thought it definitely can't hurt to put 'Believe In Destiny' on my ball. I ended up doing it and kept doing what I was doing," Fang said.

Fang's simple act is a deeper look into why such a young team was able to achieve at an elite level.

"I am just reminiscing, trying to inspire a little bit. I didn't know if it would connect with them or not," Bratton said.

"To find out afterward Ethan had written that on his golf ball, that tells you a little bit about our group. They are listening, and they are coachable, and that stuff means something to them. I think that speaks to their character and what a special group it is."

A special group that is a microcosm of a special program.

"It might not resonate as a player when you are there in that moment, but there will be somewhere through the course of your career or the week at the NCAA Championship that you are going to draw on something said by Lindy Miller, myself, Charles Howell or some other great player who has been at Oklahoma State," Kuehne said.

"It helps when you look in the crowd and all of the sudden there is Bob Tway, there is David Edwards, there is Scott Verplank, there is Rickie Fowler, there is Viktor Hovland or Matthew Wolff, just go down the list."

True to form, as the Cowboys navigated the week, messages rolled in from the likes of PGA Tour standouts Fowler, Hovland, Austin Eckroat and Sam Stevens, as well as those 1995 Cowboys complete with Tidland sending a photo of his hand wearing his championship ring from that epic victory 30 years prior.

Now, with the Cowboys on the cusp of another national championship, that support system was in a full-on embrace with Lane, who had come out on the short end of both of his matches leading up to the final.

"Trent Leon was sending messages to Gaven to encourage him because Trent was drawing back on 2006 when he didn't count a shot until the final round. He went out and played great and helped lead us to the championship. He and Gaven are friends, so there were messages there, and he kept reminding him he had to believe," Bratton said.

Kuehne was among several former players who made the trek to the west coast to support their program and would serve as much more than a casual spectator.

Arriving on property thinking he would walk with Fang or Lee, Kuehne received different marching orders from Bratton — a familiar face was exactly what the Cowboy head coach thought Lane needed.

And he was right.

The Finish Line?
The championship match between the Cowboys and a talented Virginia team developed into exactly what a championship match should be.

Once again, Fahlberg-Johnsson set the tone in the leadoff match, with the freshman taking down Maxi Puregger, 3 and 1, to finish 3-0 on the week.

Virginia answered with an impressive answer of its own with All-American Ben James taking down Stout.

With each team two points away from victory, momentum leaned the way of the Cavaliers. Bryan Lee held a 2-up lead with eight to play against Fang, while Paul Chang was in control of his match with Lane, maintaining a 2-up advantage through seven.

And then match momentum swings happened.

Fang would win three holes in a row to quickly wrestle momentum and the lead away. Lane had also rallied, winning consecutive holes to pull even before delivering a crushing blow with a 30-foot birdie putt from off the green at the 11th to remain tied when it appeared Chang was set to regain control. Instead, Lane would go on to win the next four holes to close his pivotal match.

"Good, bad or indifferent, I was there for him and anything he needed within what the rules allowed me to do to help him win his match and us win the championship," Kuehne said. "That is one of the prouder moments of my life — to be able to hug his neck when he won his match and tell him how proud I was of him. It meant a lot to me."

Like the day before against the Rebels, Lee found himself in position to provide the knockout blow for the Cowboys in his back-and-forth battle with Josh Duangmanee. The two players saw their match tied on three different occasions, and neither player led by more than one before Lee seemingly took control with a 2-up lead through 12 holes. However, Duangmanee won the next two holes, and the match was once again knotted with four holes remaining.

Lee would bury a 25-foot birdie putt on the penultimate hole to head to the closing 18th with a shot to put OSU in the history books. And what a shot it turned out to be.

After his 3-wood approach at the par 5 went wayward to the right, a tricky chip shot remained — one that would have to traverse rough, a cart path and a runoff area before it reached the green. After Lee's ball found the green and trundled toward the hole before stopping five feet away, destiny was once again on the side of the Cowboys.

With Lee providing the clinching point, a familiar feeling of euphoria reserved for champions once again washed over Bratton, Kuehne and a special group of Cowboys.

"You look at the history of the program, and it has been awesome. They are one of only 12 teams to ever do it. They're legendary, and they have an opportunity to do things that Oklahoma State hasn't done. They can become immortal," Kuehne said.

Destiny fulfilled.

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