Oklahoma State’s Austin Eckroat had already made his decision. His junior season was going to be his last in college golf, and it was time to hit the professional ranks to hopefully join old teammate Matthew Wolff and roommate Viktor Hovland on the PGA TOUR. Eckroat was a key member of the Cowboys’ 2018 NCAA Championship team, and has seen firsthand throughout his career what it takes to become one of the best. But as the saying goes in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, the best laid plans… The uncertainty of where to get starts is one that faces every young upstart professional, but Eckroat is now facing a world of uncertainty unlike any seen before with the Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada, PGA TOUR Latinoamérica and PGA TOUR Series-China canceled seasons in late May, and the PGA TOUR and Korn Ferry Tour were suspended until early June. Ironically, the advent of the new PGA TOUR University program could ensure Eckroat has more clarity on where his professional starts will come from following graduation in spring of 2021. His world-beating teammates Hovland and Wolff had to lean on exemptions after college golf (albeit with tremendous success), but Eckroat just might benefit from the access a top-5 finish in the final PGA TOUR University Ranking might provide. The long-awaited collegiate path to the PGA TOUR was launched on June 1, and will award the top 15, four-year players exempt status on the Korn Ferry Tour (Nos. 1-5) or one of the International Tours (Nos. 6-15) following the conclusion of the annual NCAA Championship. “Basically, I had thoughts of going pro this year and that was kind of the plan I was going with, but I knew this thing was coming up, PGA TOUR University. Coach (Alan Bratton) had been talking about it throughout the year, and it was one of those things that sounds almost too good to be true,” Eckroat said. “It’s like Coach has to be a little off on something but turns out he wasn’t. So, it’s a great opportunity for us guys. With two groups, the rising seniors and [existing] seniors coming back for an extra year, it’s going to be a little tougher, but it’s a huge influence on why I came back to school.” So instead of turning pro, he’s back hitting the amateur circuit hard this summer, with upcoming starts beginning this week at the Southern Amateur, and from there the Sunnehanna Amateur, Western Amateur and U.S. Amateur, all before returning to Stillwater for his senior season. If Eckroat’s hunch is any indication, he’ll be one of the first to take a path that many will choose in the future – returning to college to pursue guaranteed starts over the uncertainty of chasing sponsor exemptions and Monday qualifiers. “It’s one of those things where you have to win the U.S. Am like Viktor or completely dominate like Matt to have as many starts as they had. Starts are hard to come by, so having a path where you’re guaranteed starts on the Korn Ferry Tour (or International Tours) – that’s kind of the path the PGA TOUR wants you to take,” he said. “It’s definitely going to be nice to know you have a schedule and not just hoping you get in every week. I think it’s going to be a good thing for college players, and I think it’s going to be a big recruiting tool in the future with teams that have stronger schedules. It should change the way that college golf is played.” Wolff, who talks to Eckroat daily and remains one of his closest friends, fully expects the 21-year-old rising star to be among the top five in the PGA TOUR University rankings. “He’s a really good player and an unbelievable ball-striker. He’s someone I’ve always respected as a player and is not someone you need to take lightly as a competitor, because he definitely has a lot of firepower and on any given day he can go out and shoot a really low score,” said Wolff, who won the 2019 3M Open and is currently ranked No. 59 in the Official World Golf Ranking, just 13 months after turning professional. Wolff got to see some of that firepower firsthand a month ago. Just weeks before the PGA TOUR winner finished runner-up at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, he flew into Edmond, Oklahoma, to hang out with Eckroat and play a little golf. Despite shooting 69 at Oak Tree Country Club, Wolff lost by eight shots to his former teammate, who broke the course record with a 61 – including birdies on the first six holes. “Oh gosh, I kicked his ass that day. That was a cool day. Oak Tree is a very tough golf course, and we were having a friendly game and Matt made the comment, ‘Well, if I’m going to get my ass kicked, you better shoot 59. I don’t want to see you shoot 63, it’s not that cool,’” said Eckroat with a laugh. “But it turned from them getting pissed off about it to rooting almost harder for me than I was. The funny thing about that is I think I’ve gotten more publicity from that (round) than anything else I’ve done in my golf career.” The Oak Tree 61 wasn’t the only time Eckroat’s shown he can hang with the pros. From a casual round with Jordan Spieth in high school to the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, where practice round partners included the likes of Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler, Rory McIlroy and Gary Woodland, Eckroat has held his own amongst the game’s best. In late April, he competed against a number of pros at the Maridoe Samaritan Fund Invitational – a Dallas-area event which was launched to help raise funds for Covid relief efforts. Over 54 holes, the only pros who beat the OSU standout were Scottie Scheffler, current Korn Ferry Tour points leader Will Zalatoris, and Hovland. The three-day event was another testing ground for Eckroat, who has continued to prove to his peers – and more importantly, himself – that the PGA TOUR will be his ultimate destination. “I’ve told people this before – Matt and Viktor were clearly better than me when we were in school. It was almost like I was just one step behind. I finished third most of the time my sophomore year and they were clipping me by a stroke here and there every round, but it was nice to know that I could get to their level and I didn’t feel like I was far,” Eckroat said. But until then, Eckroat is back to school for one more year, eyeing three goals: A top-5 spot in the University Ranking, a National Championship for OSU, and a Player of the Year nod. Lofty goals for a Cowboy following in the footsteps of collegiate legends, but certainly within reach given the talent he’s been surrounded by in Stillwater. “A big goal of mine has been Player of the Year. That’s something I really want to achieve, but my main overall goal is to have a chance at NCAAs with my team and to get one of those top 5 spots, because that would just make life a lot simpler when I graduate.”
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