2021 KITCHENAID SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP
Sooner by chance Meeting coach in Oxford dive led to great OU career strongest player, wound up winning at least one event on the PGA Tour, while Martin, now the golf coach at Cincinnati, t’s funny how things work out. If Gregg Grost hadn’t stopped in won on the Nike Tour. Rick Bell, longtime Ping rep in Oklahoa dive called The Gin after attending a wedding in Oxford, Miss., in ma, was a reserve during Day’s two years and a starter on the summer of 1986, Glen Day would the 1989 team not be a proud representative of the that won Oklahoma Sooner golf program. the naWho knows, he may not tional even be a professional golfer. Instead, he’s a strong candidate to win when the 2021 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship is contested at Southern Hills, an event Day is looking forward to immensely. Back to that chance meeting in Oxford. Day, a headstrong youngster from Poplarville, Miss., was more enamored with fraternity life than golf early in his Ole Miss career. A meeting with coach Ernest Ross and Athletic Director Warner Alford resulted in Day being “politely” told he had two weeks to clear out. Grost had recruited Day a bit in high school and recognized him in the campus Glen Day dive. They struck up a conversation which ended with Day telling Grost he was going to come play for him at Oklahoma. “That was the last I thought about it,” Grost said. “Then in August, I get this call. “Coach, I’m on my way. See you in three days.” Grost said come on, and sure enough c h a m Day was there a few days later, beginning p i o n s h i p a wild two-year ride that left both frazzled at Oak Tree at times, but also with great mutual respect CC. His son Ryan is now a starter on the Norman High School team coached by and a long-lasting friendship. “We argued every day,” Grost said. “It Grost and he and Day have remained close was always about something different. He through the years. “When Glen came to OU, his deal at was just so passionate about playing and loved being at Oklahoma. And now, we’ve least the first year was that he didn’t want a scholarship, but he also only wanted to been best friends ever since.” The starting five in 1987 was Day, Todd practice when he wanted to,” Bell said. “He Hamilton, Grant Waite, Craig Perks and only wanted to play if he could beat the Doug Martin. Each of the five except Mar- other guys in qualifying. And there were tin, who at that time was regarded as the days when he didn’t want to (practice).” by ken macleod
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Day led the Sooners to a runnerup finish in the NCAA Championship as a senior. The following year holdovers Martin, Matthew Lane and Jeff Lee joined with Tripp Davis and Bell to win it all. Early upon Day’s arrival at OU, Grost sent Day to Houston to see swing instructor Dan Snider, with whom Day works with to this day. Snider remembers Day arrived with empty pockets, but Snider talked him into paying for his lesson by babysitting his three kids while he and his wife went to a Rockets game. “I came home and the kids are running wild through the house and Glen is sound asleep on the sofa,” Snider said. Next day they went out in a rainstorm for their first lesson. Snider asked Day if he still wanted to go through with it and Day replied he had come there to work on the swing. So for the next four hours Day hit balls in the rain under Snider’s tutelage. “I went home and told my wife this kid is going to be successful,” said Snider, a member of the South Central Section Hall of Fame who teaches now out of The Alotian near Little Rock. “He’s got the determination and the work ethic. And he was.” After leading the Sooners to eight wins and finishes of second and third in two NCAA Tournaments, Day was ready for pro golf. He met Jennifer Ralston, daughter of another section Hall of Fame member Bob Ralston, at the Arkansas Open in 1990. The two have been happily married since and their two daughters both went to Ole Miss. No hard feelings. “Everything in life happens for a reason,” Day said. “I saw Coach Alford at a deal years later. I stuck out my hand and said ‘Coach, I don’t know if you remember me.’ He said, ‘son, I’ve watched your entire career and I am so proud of you.’ “ W W W.GOLFOKL AHOMA.ORG
