Big week for Miller, 1976 Cowboy team, Oak Tree National

It’s quite a two-week stretch for former Oklahoma State four-time All-America golfer Lindy Miller.

On Friday, Miller will join his 1976 college teammates in being honored at the Cowboy Pro-Am in Stillwater. That team won the national championship in coach Mike Holder’s third season, the first of eight Holder’s teams won in his 32 years as coach and the second of 10 OSU titles overall.

Expected back from the 1976 team are Miller, Tom Jones, Britt Harrison and David Edwards. Jamie Gonzalez will not be able to attend.

On Oct. 10, Miller will be inducted into the Texas Golf Hall of Fame at ceremonies in San Antonio. Miller was the Director of Golf at Mira Vista Country Club in Fort Worth for 22 years and since 2009 has been the teaching professional at Shady Oaks Country Club, also in Fort Worth.

“It was a real honor to be selected,” Miller said. “To join the group of teachers who are already there continues our tradition in the state teaching category, which is second to none.”

Miller is not the only Texas inductee this year with Oklahoma ties. Also going in posthumously will be Joe Finger, the Texas-born architect who designed Cedar Ridge Country Club in Broken Arrow, always regarded as one of the top courses in Oklahoma.

They will join Robin Burke and Blaine McAllister in the class of 2016.

The 1976 Oklahoma State team had finished second to a loaded Wake Forest team in 1975 at Ohio State. Jerry Pate, Curtis Strange and Jay Haas were too much, but the team vowed revenge in 1976 and got it at the University of New Mexico Golf Course in Albuquerque, finishing seven shots ahead of Brigham Young, eight in front of powerful Houston and nine clear of Wake Forest.

Also being recognized Friday will be the 2006 NCAA Championship team on its 10th anniversary. All five starters who played for first-year coach Mike McGraw are expected, including individual champion Jonathan Moore and Pablo Martin, Zack Robinson, Trent Leon and Tyler Leon.

Another 40th anniversary being celebrated this week is that of Oak Tree National, a golf course with huge ties to OSU through being home at various times to many of the outstanding professionals it has produced over the decades, including Bob Tway, Scott Verplank, Doug Tewell, Willie Wood, David Edwards and more.

Oak Tree National, designed by Pete Dye at the behest of Oklahoma pros Ernie Vossler and Joe Walser, opened in 1976. Many of the former Landmark Land  executives who were around at its formation will be attending a dinner Wednesday at Oak Tree, which also has its Pro-Scratch Championship Wednesday and Thursday.

Oak Tree National, with its treacherous greens, deep bunkers, dramatic use of slope and land forms, along with the ubiquitous railroad ties, helped make Dye the most in-demand architect of the late 1970s and 1980s, importing his vision of Scottish links into various U.S. topographies.

Oak Tree National hosted the 1998 PGA Championship, the 2006 Senior PGA Championship and the 2014 U.S. Senior Open along with the 2000 PGA Club Professional Championship. It is in the running for future professional events as well. Jones is now the COO and President.