Bob Stoops talks golf

Finishing fourth last month at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops won the Jack Lemmon award which goes to the amateur that helps their pro the most.

Playing with a 14 handicap, Stoops helped Hunter Haas, his pro partner, by 31 strokes. Stoops relived the experience Monday on the first day of spring practice. The highlight was a birdie on No. 17 the final day of the tournament.

“All the guys are reading (tip sheets) what they want to hit, the slope of the green,” Stoops said. “I said, ‘I don’t have to do that. My caddy tells me what I’ve got to do.’ He tells me to hit it to the middle of the green and hit my seven-medal (wood). That’s about 190 (yards) carry over the bunkers.

“I hit it in the dead middle of the green. People are cheering. I tip my hat, laughing every time I do that. Then people (near) the green start going crazy. My caddy is yelling at me, ‘It’s going in, it’s going in.’ The ball was literally was six inches from going in the hole.”

Once the group arrived at the green, Rocco Mediate gave the legendary football coach a hard time.

“Rocco was like, ‘Really, coach, you’re going to show us up on 17,’” Stoops said. “It was pretty funny. It’s a beautiful hole and 18, going up that coast line is pretty special, too.”