Austin Eckroat Wins Cognizant Classic by Three Strokes

Three members of Oklahoma State’s 2018 NCAA Championship-winning golf team have now won on the PGA Tour.

Austin Eckroat on Monday wrapped up his maiden win at the Cognizant Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Eckroat finished the weather-delayed event having carded a 17-under 267, beating Erik van Rooyen and Min Woo Lee by three strokes. Eckroat joins Viktor Hovland and Matthew Wolff as Cowboys from that most recent national title-winning squad that have won on Tour. Along with the glory, the win gives Eckroat a career-high payout of $1.62 million.

His best round of the weekend came Thursday, where he carded a 6-under 65 with three birdies on the front nine and another five on the back. His tournament-clinching final round saw Eckroat finish with a 4-under 67 with three birdies on the back nine to ice the win.

Eckroat was knocking on the door of a tour win last season, finishing in the top 10 on four occasions and even earning a second-place finish at the Byron Nelson.

Out of Edmond, Eckroat was a four-time All-American at Oklahoma State before turning pro in 2021. There have been only 14 four-time All-Americans in OSU’s illustrious golfing history. Eckroat was an honorable mention in 2018 before earning third-team honors in 2019, second-team honors in 2020 and third-team honors in 2021.

Eckroat won twice in college, tying for first at the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate in 2018 before winning the Querencia Cabo Collegiate in 2019. He finished his OSU career with an average score of 71.15.