By Rick Lipsey
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1. Oklahoma State
Perhaps no major college sports program combines success on the field and in the classroom as well as the Cowboys. Over the last 35 years, they have nine wins and nine seconds at the NCAA Championship; they've had eight NCAA medalists; and they've spawned dozens of tour pros. Also, the Cowboys have had nine of the 14 golfers who've been first-team athletic All-America and academic All-America in the same season.
The success is largely due to Mike Holder, who coached the Cowboys from 1973 to '05, when he became the school's athletic director. A brilliant and visionary motivator and teacher (he was emphasizing physical fitness long before it became popular in golf), Holder was also a strict disciplinarian. Players who bought into Holder's system thrived; others transferred out of Stillwater. Holder's replacement, Mike McGraw, who worked as an assistant to Holder for seven years, hasn't missed a beat. He led the Cowboys to the 2006 NCAA title, and this season's team is ranked sixth in the nation, led by freshman Rickie Fowler, left, the top-ranked collegian in the country.
Credit: David Cannon/Getty Images
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