He can make beautiful music with the violin.

He's beginning to make sweet music for the Wyoming golf team as well.

John Murdock IV is one of those special individuals who has been blessed with some special gifts.

He is a 4.0 student in business, an accomplished violinist, and he's gotten off to a great start this fall season for the Cowboys.

A Laramie native, he is supported by quite a family, too.

His coach, Joe Jensen, calls him Johnny, his teammates call him J-4.

We'll call him John.  As he tells the story, his dad, John III, didn't want to name him 'the fourth'. "But my mother (Juliette) really wanted to, "so she set down the law," he says with a big smile.

After high school, J-4 had to make a choice.  While he loved the violin and likely could have gone to school as a music major, he knew he couldn't concentrate on both the violin and the putter.  So he chose to play golf.

He still plays the violin to relax, however.

"I have played the violin since third grade," Murdock says. "The UW String Project came to my elementary school, and that's what got me interested. I had a phenomenal teacher through junior high and high school who really got me hooked.  I love playing the violin.  I found out my great grandpa, who was from North Carolina, also played the violin, so I guess it's in my genes."  His great grandfather was into bluegrass, John is into classical.

"I'm lucky that I can play my two loves, violin and golf.  I certainly see a parallel between the two.  They are both somewhat unique activities.  When I was growing up, not a lot of kids I knew played golf.  Even less played the violin.  Both take a lot of dedication and a ton of practice.  The good thing about them is I can play those two activities for the rest of my life."

Murdock found the transition from high school golf to the collegiate game to be huge, especially the mental part of the game.  While he was a high school star, he wasn't in the Cowboy lineup on a consistent basis during either his freshman or sophomore years.  Struggling with the mental part of the game held him back, according to his head coach, Joe Jensen.

It was during a tournament last year, hosted by CSU at Fort Collins, when he and his coach had a visit. "We stood on a tee box, and I told him he had to either change his attitude, or he probably wasn't going to make it," Jensen recalls.  "To his credit, he changed because he wanted to compete.  He has a great desire to be successful, and he has trained very hard to accomplish that.  You could really see his development during the summer tournaments."

Murdock credits his roommate, former Cowboy star and current assistant coach, Ryan Wallen, for his progress. "My attitude has been the thing," he says, "and Ryan has really helped me shape the mindset that I have.  He told me you can have emotion, but not on the outside, and I was showing too much emotion. I struggled thinking that I had to have the perfect swing.  I was always changing my swing, trying to be perfect. Ryan is extremely positive, and creates that kind of an environment.  He's very even keeled, and that's how I want to be.  I think I'm getting there.

"I guess when I first started playing college golf, I cared too much.  It was affecting how I played.  I was putting too much pressure on myself.  I had to accept that things weren't always going to be perfect. It was tough for me at the start. Golf wasn't going all that great, and I got my first 'B' in school.  But I've had a lot of support from some great professors, our coaching staff, my teammates, and my family.
"Joe convinced me to quit trying to continually change myself, and just hit the ball.  He told me to be confident in what I do.  That really helped me physically, and eventually mentally. I've worked hard to improve my mechanics, but the mindset is what has been the most challenging for me.  I'm certainly more in control now.  When I won the Air Force tournament, I realized that I was more in control than a year ago."

According to Jensen, Murdock is a fundamentally sound golfer.  "He has good fundamental structure with great balance and rhythm.  He also has very soft hands.  What I like about his game is that he doesn't mess around.  He steps up and hits.  While he may not bomb it like some, he is always in the fairway and he's sold around the greens and bunkers.

"I think our process and Ryan's mentoring have really helped Johnny," Jensen continues. "Ryan provides a very healthy environment for him and that has really helped with his mental maturity." He is benefitting from our system, the nutrition element, the weight room, and our practice facility.  He has bought into this program, big time. For example, it used to be a struggle to get him in the weight room.  Now he has a passion for it, and is our current 'Weight Lifter of the Year.  Like everyone on our team, I want him to enjoy the process and have a great experience."

He has for sure.  As the Cowboys prepare for a huge tournament in Hawai'i next week, Murdock is ranked as high as eighth in the country in one national poll.

Murdock and his mates are very excited about what they can accomplish, and for good reason.  In their four tournaments thus far, Wyoming has finished first, third, third and first.  Murdock himself won the Air Force tournament and has finished in the top five of the other three.  Everyone is pointing to Hawai'i because some of the country's best programs will be competing in that tournament.

"We are anxious to show what we can do," he says.  "We all had great summers, and we've carried that into the fall.  We have a veteran team, and we push each other to become better.  It is a very close group, and while we are all competitive, we are supportive of each other.  Because we are an experienced team, we are a lot more comfortable with the pressure.  It's been fun seeing that, but we all understand we have a long road ahead."

Thanks to his skills academically, with a violin and with a golf club, Murdock had plenty of college choices coming out of high school.  "It felt right coming to Wyoming," he says.  I have always been a Cowboy fan, and I had the built-in support of my family.  I also was impressed with the practice facility."

Murdock is another in a long line of believers in Wyoming's new golf facility.  "Being from Laramie, I knew some of the Cowboy players who had to hit golf balls in the Fieldhouse.  They really didn't have much of a chance to get better.  It's really amazing what they accomplished under those circumstances. There is no doubt the new facility has made a huge difference with us."

John credits much of his success to John II and John III, grandpa and dad. "They have always been there to support me.  I have never had a swing coach, never needed one. That was always my dad.  And, my grandpa would drop the world to help me."

Call it superstition, but Murdock family doesn't typically attend John's tournaments.  "They always watch the updates, but they think I play better with them not around.  At Air Force, when I got to the middle holes of the final round, I had a pretty good lead.  So they got in the car and drove from Laramie to the Academy. So, I'm walking up the 18^th fairway in good shape, feeling good.  I was walking with Ryan (Wallen), and I said to him, 'those people by the green look just like my mom and dad.  Ryan said, 'dude, that's because they are'.  I was so thrilled.  It was fun to have them there to see me win."

I have a feeling the Murdocks may want to attend more Cowboy tournaments.