(Copyright by Mike DellaVecchio and OUInsider.com)

It has been well documented that the coaches at the University of Oklahoma are not only great football coaches but they are very athletic themselves. Most were former football players but some tend to dabble in other sports and are very successful in doing so.

Head Coach Bob Stoops is a great example as he recently teamed up with former OU golfer and current PGA Professional, Hunter Hass and played in the AT&T Pebble Beach national Pro-Am.

All Stoops and Haas did was finish 4th overall and the hole that Stoops and Haas was followed on by the TV cameras, Stoops ended with a birdie. Given the undaunting schedule that college football coaches endure and the timing of this tournament, it was amazing that Coach Stoops and Haas finished as high as they did and it is a testament to their skill on a golf course.

“Not usually am I too terribly fired up about finishing fourth but in this instance when there is over a hundred and something teams, I will take it,” said Stoops.

“To have a chance to play Pebble back to back days and to end up playing well was fun and Hunter (Haas) played great and he is an excellent young man who is out there doing well on the tour and we got really hot on Saturday and kept it going on Sunday so it was a lot of fun.”

Stoops says that he had never played in a Pro-Am before and he was excited to get an opportunity to go out and play against some of the best golfers in the nation.

“It’s different when I am playing on one of my own tournaments and you have the music box going and things but I really enjoyed it and I was actually looking forward to it,” said Stoops. “I couldn’t wait for Saturday and Sunday to be around all the people and it didn’t bother me at all.”

Oklahoma had just finished signing another top 10 recruiting class and Coach Stoops and the rest of his staff had spent all their time on the recruiting trail. Needless to say, there weren’t many opportunities to practice his golf swing prior to him participating in the Pro-Am.

“Well, we had a few decent days and I went over to our University course where the OU Men’s’ and Women’s teams practice and I would go over there for about 15-20 minutes and in all I did that about 4-5 times to try and get into a rhythm just hitting balls. I haven’t played a round of golf since July so anyway, I was trying to get a little bit of a feel trying to swing some different clubs to try and get a good feel for it so it was great once we got there and how it all went.”

With over 100m teams there and a plethora of people, Stoops said that everybody kind of split off and did their own thing and with so many celebrities there, security was at a maximum.

”I had some opportunities to interact with some of the players and celebrities while we were warming up and things but with everybody having different tee times, it was kind of hard to see everyone. It was kind of fun you know the first three days, the team behind us was Mickelson’s team so we got a chance to bump in and visit a lot so while we were waiting on holes, you get backed up here and there so that allowed us some opportunities to talk and visit and his (Mickelson’s) caddy, Bones is a Arizona State guy so my brother Mike has known them for quite a while so we were talking about Mike being back and they know him pretty well so it was fun getting to interact with a lot of people. I saw Coach Saban out there and we visited a little bit and had the opportunity to go to dinner with Coach (Bill) Belichick one evening so it was a lot of fun and then just to play well was exciting in its own right.”

The Course at Pebble Beach is breathtakingly beautiful and is very tough to play. Each hole poses a stiff challenge but at the same time would make a perfect photo for any arts enthusiast. Coach Stoops quickly pointed out that the elements were always there as the stiff winds and rains posed a problem at times.

“The course was absolutely magnificent and I think I shot and 82 on Saturday when Hunter and I went 12 under and then on Sunday, I shot and 80. A funny story on Sunday, on hole 17 (the hole out on the point/water, I hit a seven-metal in because there was a lot of breeze off the water and you had to carry it about 190 yards so they tell me to hit it to the middle of the green and it will feed left and these guys (Pros) have all their books out and heck, I don’t have any books all I had was a caddy telling me what to do so I hit it right where he wanted me to and the ball is going left and all of a sudden everybody on the green is going crazy and the ball is going dead at the hole and pulls up maybe 6-8 inches from a hole in one. I haven’t ever hit a hole in one and wouldn’t have that been a great first one?”

When playing a four round tournament something usually gets s taken for granted unless on has done it and that is the grind of the walk for the four days. For the Pros who do it on a daily basis it’s not that big of an issue but to the celebrities that are not used to the rigors of “the walk” it can get pretty tiresome and that shows in the swing and the execution of a golfers game.

“I was tired in the evenings from the walk and you know Spyglass has a lot of hills and I haven’t been playing golf so I wasn’t used to playing that much and you are out on the course 5-6 hours and having to stay standing and walking was tough sometimes but you know what, I was so excited and I didn’t play Pebble (Beach) until Saturday so I was so excited to play it that you can’t be tired. I was really looking forward to it and then when you play well you tend to get rejuvenated and then when you get a chance to play it again on Sunday, you get excited all over again and that takes over and takes the place of the fact that you are not in the condition to play four straight rounds.”

With the stress and strain of recruiting coming to end right before the tournament, Coach Stoops said that all the coaches were smiling and seemed to have a good time and it was a welcomed opportunity to get away from the game (of football) for a while.

“It was so much fun to be out there and it was fun to be around the pro golfers and some of the other celebrities and there was just a lot of good people out there and it all relaxing and fun but I am sure the pros are grinding it a little bit but still, there demanders are fabulous. The last round, not only playing with Hunter Haas but we played with Rocco Mediate and Lee Janzen and they were great guys and a lot of fun and its funny when you are in a foursome with those guys, you tend to play better. You get to watch them and see their tempo and you try an emulate it and it actually helped me to play better.”

Coach Stoop was singled out at one point during play on Saturday by the PGA commentators who did a live look in and was evaluating Coach Stoops’ swing. That could have been intimidating to anyone but Stoops said that he enjoyed it and felt no added pressure.

“They actually didn’t tell me and when you are playing you aren’t really paying attention because you are just golfing but they had been following us for however many holes and so I hit my shot and start to walk down towards the green and they ran and caught me and said come on back because we want to analyze your swing so they didn’t say anything before hand and I didn’t care so I did know that I tend to cock my wrist too soon so when they looked at it, I saw it and said, yea there is that move so I was getting a little “wristy” with it instead of keeping that hand still and that wrist still.”

Stoops said that he was very aware that the Pros were out there for business and that he was conscious not to step in anybody’s line and tried to follow golf etiquette as much as he could.

“Oh yea, I always tried to stay out of the way and if I was out of a whole, I would pick up and get out of there but fortunately the last day, I don’t know that happened because I was playing pretty well and we finished on hole 9 which is a long hole but I had a great drive but I still had a 3-metal in and I flared it right and it went down towards the ocean and I was thinking I am out but Hunter hit a bad approach shot so I was thinking I better drop and instead of hitting it on, I flared it left this time and I was in the ruff but about 10 yards from the green so I tell my caddy that I am going to chip this in to protect out score as it would be a 5 and I hit it on the green and sure enough, it rolls right in the hole. I was mad thought because if I would have pared the hole, I would have broken 80and shot a 79 and that what I was gunning for and it didn’t happen but we still protected our board and ended up in fourth place all alone.”

This wasn’t Coach Stoops first time to play one of the PGA’s best courses as he has played Augusta a few times as well.

“Augusta and Pebble Beach are both so different but equally amazing and you can’t believe the atmosphere and Augusta with the peace and the serenity and the green everywhere and then Pebble has the ocean and the weather and the elements so they both are so different but this was amazing too.”

Football wasn’t completely shut out of the conversation as Coach Stoops did comment on this upcoming year’s schedule.

“I like the way it sets up for us,” said Stoops. “We have home and away and home and away so I think it’s obvious that when you look at West Virginia and TCU in there, this is still an amazingly difficult conference and when you look at the challenges of playing through this league, it is pretty tough. We have some byes in early October and the thing that changes it for us is the Notre Dame game because we would have a bye there but this game (ND) was scheduled about 8 years ago when a different Big XII was here and a different schedule was in place so some of it you simply can’t avoid and that’s ok, we will deal with it.”