Winter Park Golf Course has had a special place in my golfing heart since 2010, when it was really the only place I could afford to play during an unpaid internship in Orlando. Since then, it’s undergone a massive overhaul that helps provide a model for what municipal golf should be in the United States.

For my Special Ops project this month, I wanted to shine some more light on a place nearby that deserves all the accolades we have to give.

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NLU Special Ops: Winter Park GC

It’s a home game! After a sleepy post-Masters stretch, one of the best non-major events of the year has got the juices flowing again. It helps that I’ve attended this event in some capacity 22 of the last 25 years, but there’s a reason it remains one of my favorite weeks.

Growing up in Dublin, I had no idea that this tournament was a special one on the tour. I think I just assumed all events were that good. Having had the opportunity to see how a dozen or so other tournaments are run and how those venues play, I now have a full appreciation for how spoiled I was as a kid to get to see such a great field at such a tremendous site every year.

Muirfield was the site of Jack Nicklaus’ first career Open Championship, and became the name of his pride and joy in Dublin, Ohio, a small suburb of Columbus. Muirfield Village Golf Club was built in 1976 and designed by the Columbus native, and has played host to this event since then. My family set up shop in Muirfield Village in 1992, and my parents still live there today.

Two weeks out from Shinnecock, guys typically show up to this event primed and ready for the summer stretch. In 2016, the purse was jacked up from $6.2 million to $8.5 million. It’s now $8.9 million, and the winner of the event is granted a three-year exemption, as opposed to a two-year pass for regular events. Add in the fact this is one of the five invitational events on the schedule, one of the leaders in player hospitality, and on one of the best tour courses of the year, and you officially have a big boy event.

It may be blasphemous to say, but Muirfield Village may be the closest thing on the tour to Augusta National. Nicklaus admits that Augusta was a huge influence on the design, and to this day, the tournament is run in a similar fashion to the Masters. Like Augusta, the course is known as a second-shot golf course. It’s defined by its lush green grass, elegant water hazards, and underrated elevation changes that can’t be appreciated until you see them in person. The similarities on the back nine get a little bit creepy to the point where it almost feels as if Jack used Muirfield Village as an excuse to remind you of his six Masters titles.

Both the 12th and the 16th holes look and play like replicas of the same holes at Augusta, with the Muirfield Village ones playing longer and more difficult (the 16th green 

 doesn’t hold balls nearly as well as the other greens, seven years after the hole was redone).

Those two examples are the easiest to illustrate visually, but that is not where they end. At both courses, the first hole is a long, difficult, dogleg right par 4 that is protected by fairway bunkers to the right. The third holes are each short par-4’s that don’t require a driver. The fourth holes are long par-3’s that serve as one of the most non-descript holes at both courses. The 17th is a long, straight away par-4 on both courses, and the 18th is a long, dogleg right par-4 that chutes straight up the hill toward the clubhouse. The par-5’s are all reachable, and the course is ALWAYS being tinkered with – lengthening, adding/moving bunkers, resurfacing the greens. Muirfield is Jack’s lego set.

After a short spin around the course on Tuesday, it was easy to note that some trees are missing. I’m not sure if those are intentional removals or if they came down in storms, but the most notable was the one that hung over the front right of the par-5 11th green.

The spring in the midwest was brutal (it snowed twice in Dublin in April!), so it’s not surprising that the course is playing soft. With more weather on the way this week, I can’t picture it drying out, so it’s safe to expect some low scores.

With the large feline back in town for the first time in three years, the buzz around the event seems back. His last go around was unforgettable to those that witnessed, as he limped in with an 85 on Saturday, which stands as his worst round as a professional. I continue to be amazed that we are watching a healthy (and happy!) Tiger Woods, competing at the highest level of professional golf. Considering all that he has overcome (many of it self-inflicted, but still), and despite all the coverage he gets, I think this comeback is being underrated.

HOWEVA! I’ll be infinitely more impressed and more confident in him going forward once we see some success on a course other than a flat Florida layout. In his four starts in the Sunshine State, his worst finish was a solo 12th at the Honda Classic (accompanied by a T2 at Valspar, T5 at Bay Hill, and a T11 at the Players). His four starts outside of Florida are an MC, T23, T32, and a T55.

Muirfield Village is definitely more similar to Quail Hollow and Augusta in terms of elevation change than it is anything in Florida. How well will his body hold up going and down hills, chopping out of (low key) thicc rough (seriously, guys were losing balls in the rough during practice rounds), and potential starts and stops with weather? He’s obviously got a ton of great history here on his side, but it’ll be interesting to see how he fares out here in this phase of his career. If he passes this test, it’s time to start talking about him for Shinnecock. But until he proves that, I have a hard time believing he’ll be a factor in two weeks on Long Island.

– Trey Mullinax teed it up with JT on Tuesday in a practice round. JT went first and pounded a ball down the first fairway. As soon as he hit it, Mullinax goes, “I am so glad you went first. I was getting ready to hit to that fairway,” as he pointed up the 9th. I would have paid to see that happen.

– Robert Streb is just like you and me. This during Tuesday’s practice round:

– The U.S. Women’s Open is at Shoal Creek this week, and despite some torrential downpours, the USGA has stated that they will play the ball down. Mud ball alert! I get that the USGA wanted to stick to their guns regarding making the U.S. Open the toughest ultimate test in golf, but this seems a bit reckless. If you’re going to take the event to a golf course whose soil presents this issue, it’s pretty easily solved by letting players play it up in the short grass. That makes for a much better competition than watching players guess which way the mud is going to make their ball fly. The players already lost an entire day of preparation with the course closed on Tuesday (

and some even took their talents to Top Golf to get some reps in

– The ROLEX Series moves on in Europe with the Italian Open with Fleetwood, Noren, Molinari, Poulter, Fitz, Hatton, and RCB headlining the field.

– After the U.S. Open passes, the Euro Tour becomes the much more interesting story for the next several months, with the French, Irish, and Scottish Opens leading up to the Open Championship. And I’m not just saying this to appease the Butt Hurt Nation of Europeans that did not care for me pointing out that Wentworth hands out an astronomical amount of world ranking points despite pulling a weaker field than the Fort Worth Invitational. I’m (now) aware that the European Tour designates this event as a flagship event, which is why it has so many points attached to it. But therein lies the exact problem. 

The OWGR are biased towards all tours but the PGA TOUR

, and that’s just a fact at this point (seriously read the link before sliding in the mentions). I could go through and dig up more examples, but in that essay Broadie outlines numerous examples of this bias to the point where I don’t understand how anyone could argue otherwise.

Weekly Briefing: Memorial Tournament

Introducing the inaugural selection for the online book club you never knew you wanted (or needed):

First, there’s an Amazon link to purchase the book through the image above, but I’d encourage you to either support your local bookseller or utilize your public library. Second, the back of the book reads as follows:

The Old Course at St. Andrews is the great hallowed ground of golf, and it was there that George Peper was playing in 1983 when he hit a slice so hideous that he never found the ball. But in looking for it, he came across a for sale sign on a stone town house alongside the famed 18th hole. Two months later he and his wife, Libby, became the proud owners of 9A Gibson Place. Twenty years later, they moved in and settled in the “Auld Grey Toon,” in the land of golf, single malt scotch, haggis, bagpipes, and television licenses, where the neighbors had accents thicker than a North Sea fog.



When he isn’t attempting to break par on the Old Course, Peper immerses himself in the local golf culture: He learns the rituals for ordering a drink at the Royal & Ancient Golf Club (est. 1754), where he becomes the first American elected to the Club Committee; endures homesickness (in the form of “Pre-Masters Post-Partum Syndrome”); and meets intriguing locals such as his neighbor Gordon Murray, quite possibly the only caddie to store his caddie bib in the trunk of a Mercedes, and Wee Raymond Gatherum, a magnificent shotmaker whose diminutive stature belies his skills.



Wry, warm, and witty, 

 will delight anyone who has played—or dreamed of playing—the Old Course.

In other words, a wonderful way to mentally prepare for the Open Championship in July!

So what’s this all about? Think Oprah’s Book Club, but golf focused. I’ve long been envious of folks belonging to vibrant book clubs, and have always hoped to use the NLU platform to start something similar. In my mind I envision a new book selection each month, though I think each book will have a two-month timespan (one month to read, the next month to discuss). I want to use the 

 for a home to discussion, and then hope to augment that with some sort of author interview in podcast or written form (whenever possible). At the very least I figure we can use the whole experiment to find and explore titles we may not have gotten to on our own. I 

it’s going to be golf books exclusively, but let’s reserve the right to wander outside the game, especially if certain ideas and topics can be tangentially tied back to golf. In other words, it’s going to be a feel-as-we-go process. Ride along for as much or as little as you wish!

Note: Listen to my interview with George Peper 

Selection #1: June 2018

If you missed out on the Women’s Championship this past week, damnit, what’s wrong with you? Luckily, there’s another chance, as the Men’s Championship begins Friday, May 25th. Let’s get the basics out of the way:


Friday, 5/25 through Wednesday, 5/30 at Karsten Creek GC, Stillwater, OK

:
Monday, 5/28: 4pm to 8pm EST
Tuesday, 5/29: 11am to 1:30pm EST AND 4pm to 8pm EST
Wednesday, 5/30: 4pm to 8pm EST

:
156 golfers will begin competition. The field is comprised of 30 qualifying teams (five members each) plus 6 individual qualifiers. Everybody plays 54 holes of stroke play over the first three days, with team standings determined by the best four scores each round. After 54 holes there is a cut down to the top 15 teams plus 9 individuals not on an advancing team. The final 18 holes of stroke play on Monday, May 28th will determine an individual national champion (overall 72-hole medalist) as well as the top 8 teams. These 8 teams will be seeded #1 through #8 and compete in a single elimination, match play tournament (five individual, 18-hole matches, no halves) to crown a national champion. Tuesday, May 29th will be quarterfinal and semifinal matches, and the finals will be on Wednesday, May 30th.

You can follow the scoring in real-time here: 

The 30 teams qualifying for the Championship this week all finished in the top-five at one of six regional sites. Of the 30 top seeds across the six regional sites, 23 of those programs advanced to compete in Stillwater. The most surprising absentees are top-seeded Georgia Tech and LSU, along with second-seeded Cal. The most surprising team to advance through regionals, at least based on their seed, was Augusta (seeded 12th at their regional site). Two other double-digit regional seeds advanced: Central Florida and Iowa State (both 10 seeds). Here then is my attempt to categorize the 30 Championship teams:

: Oklahoma State –more on them later, but suffice to say the unanimous #1 ranked team in the final GCAA poll, playing on their home course, will be the undisputed favorites this week.


: Oklahoma, Texas A&M, and Vanderbilt –all top seeds at regionals and all within the top-5 of the final GCAA ranking.


: Alabama, Arizona State, Arkansas, Auburn, Baylor, Clemson, Duke, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Oregon, Stanford, Texas, Texas Tech, and UCLA –all these programs were top-5 seeds at their respective regional site and can absolutely win the title this week.


: Iowa State, Kansas, North Carolina State, and Northwestern –they were all outside the top-5 seeds at regionals. If you enjoy rooting for the house in blackjack, I’d recommend adopting one of these squads for the week.


: Augusta, BYU, and UNLV — these programs have all won at least one team national championship and will look to play spoiler again this week.


: Central Florida, Kent State, and North Florida –comparative resource disadvantage, plus, they’ve never won a national championship. As was the case last week with the women, I’ll be rooting for the MAC representative, Kent State.

INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIERS:
George Cunningham, Arizona
Pontus Nyholm, Campbell
Kyle Mueller, Michigan
Braden Thornberry, Ole Miss
Joshua McCarthy, Pepperdine
Charles Corner, UTEP

In an effort to provide you with only the best information, I reached out to a contact on the ground in Oklahoma to assist me with players to keep an eye on. This person, choosing to remain anonymous, has a much deeper knowledge of the collegiate game than yours truly, so I humbly cede the floor to the “Big Righty” (his nickname, not mine):

Doug Ghim – Sr. Texas. Winner of the Ben Hogan Award on Monday, Ghim is the latest in a long history of Longhorn greats. Is coming off victories at both Big12 (tie) & NCAA Regionals (Raleigh), was low amateur at the Masters and is ranked #1 amateur in the world.

Norman Xiong – So. Oregon. The Haskins Award favorite, 2017 Western Amateur champion and #3 amateur in the world has won 6 times this season including the NCAA Regional (Stockton). Is an absolute freight train when playing well and sniffing a lead.

Braden Thornberry – Jr. Ole Miss. Hogan Award finalist and defending NCAA Individual Champion will be competing as an individual this week as his team failed to qualify. Holds the all-time Ole Miss wins record with 11, as a Junior. #2 ranked amateur in the world.

Viktor Hovland – So. Oklahoma State. A native of Norway, Hovland is the #7 ranked amateur in the world and has been the model of consistency, finishing in the top 7 in 8 of the previous 9 tournaments with one victory.

Nick Hardy – Sr. Illinois. The 2018 Big10 Player of the Year has finished in the top 10 in 11 of 12 events this season with a win in the Big10 Championship and T4 in NCAA Regional (Columbus).

Matthew Wolff – Fr. Oklahoma State. The hands down best freshman in the country possesses a swing that is as equal unique as it is lethal. Will be captivating television watching Wolff compete this week and expect him to contend as he has 4 runner-up finishes during the season.

Theo Humphrey – Sr. Vanderbilt. The 2018 SEC Player of the Year is the leader of the #3 Vanderbilt team looking to improve on last years semifinal appearance. Humphrey finished 3rd in last years NCAA Individual Championship and was a semifinalist in the 2017 U.S. Amateur.

Chandler Phillips – Jr. Texas A&M. 4 wins in 12 events, including winner of the College Station Regional. Ranked #9 amateur in the world and only once finished outside top 15 on the season.

Shintaro Ban – Sr. UNLV. The 2018 Mountain West Player of the Year won 4 of his 13 starts this season, including a blistering -16 (200) at the Mountain West Championship.

Dylan Meyer – Sr. Illinois. Has a knack for the big moment and a stalwart of a match play player. Has 2 wins on the season to go along with 7 top 10 finishes and is the #6 ranked player in the World Amateur Rankings.

Kyle Mueller – Sr. Michigan. Will be competing as an individual as his team did not qualify for postseason play. Won the Columbus Regional against a field including Oklahoma State & Illinois.

Stephen Franken – Jr. NC State. Recently named ACC Player of the Year and coming off a T5 in Regionals (Raleigh).

Andy Zhang – So. Florida. Has come on very strong as of late winning both the SEC Championship individual and NCAA Regional (Kissimmee).

Fredrik Nilehn – Sr. Texas Tech. Is the 2018 Big12 Player of the Year. Battled through some injuries this year and is lethal when healthy. From Sweden, is the 16th ranked amateur in the world.

Zachary Bauchou – Jr. Oklahoma State. There are no weaknesses in the 2017 Canadian Amateur champion’s game.

Kristoffer Ventura – Sr. Oklahoma State. Do not let being listed as 4th member of the OSU team fool you, this senior who was co-medalist at Big12s possesses tremendous pop and 4 years of experience around Karsten Creek.

Brad Dalke – Jr. Oklahoma. The leader of the defending national champions, playing in home state, at rival school’s home course. Won the 2013 AJGA PING Invitational at Karsten Creek.

George Cunningham – Sr. Arizona. Qualified as an individual in the Kissimmee Regional and has had a great senior season and risen to inside top 25 in rankings.

Davis Riley – Jr. Alabama. Big hitter that usually shines on tough courses and in big events.

Ryan Gronlund – Jr. Oregon. Has a knack for the spotlight. Birdied the final 4 holes in 2017 to send Oregon into match play, which ultimately led to a runner-up finish. Went out in 29 at Regionals to lead a spirited charge for the Ducks to rally and qualify as the 5th seed in the Stockton Regional.

The Big Righty thinks the following teams will make it to the Quaterfinals (no love for my Golden Flashes!):

Oklahoma State. Top ranked team, home course. Will be huge disappointment if they don’t advance out of stroke play.

Oklahoma. Motivated, experienced, arguably the best 5th man of the top 4 teams, which could prove valuable in match play.

Vanderbilt. Veteran team returning 4 members off the semi-final team last year at Rich Harvest Farms.

Texas A&M. Have been ranked as a top 3 team all season. Will be paired with Oklahoma & Oklahoma State the first 2 rounds which will add a big stage for the Aggies.

Baylor. The Bears possess a solid 1-5 lineup but its most important asset this week is Coach Mike McGraw. McGraw was a coach at Oklahoma State from 1998-2013 and has been a coach on 3 previous national title teams (2 at OSU & 1 at Alabama).

Florida. An explosive team that can be boom or bust. If firing on all cylinders can compete with anybody.

Illinois. Has 2 show ponies in Hardy & Meyer who are as good of a veteran combo as any team possesses. Young in spots 3-5 could be their undoing.

Auburn. The Tigers gained valuable match play experience in route to winning the 2018 SEC Championship. Start 3 underclassmen but their pair of freshmen, Padgett & Mancheno, are talented.

Alabama. The Jay Seawell-led team finished runner-up in the 2018 SEC Championship

Iowa State. A team that is catching fire at the right time finished 4th in the Big12 Championship and 3rd in their Regional (Stockton).

-Oklahoma State is one of the most successful men’s golf programs in NCAA history. This is due in large part to their former coach (and current AD), 

. Aside from being the driving force behind the construction of Karsten Creek, Holder won eight national championships at Oklahoma State. He won NCAA titles in four different decades, one of only five coaches in any sport to accomplish such a feat. Additionally, his squads captured 21 conference championships, second only to legendary Kansas basketball coach, Phog Allen, across all sports. Finally, Holder’s squads produced numerous individual champions, an embarrassment of All-Americans, and many notable professional players. Oklahoma State enters this year’s championship as the best team in the country (unanimous #1 ranked team per GCAA, winners of 9 of 12 tournaments this year), competing on their home course, and subjects of a Golf Channel show (“Driven”). All this is to say they will be under immense pressure to win a championship. Anything less will be considered a failure.

-One of the teams looking to play spoiler will be OSU’s hated rival, Oklahoma. The 2nd-ranked Sooners (per GCAA) are the defending national champions, have three members from last year’s squad, and appear to be peaking at the perfect time as they won both the Big12 championship and their Regional tournament. An Oklahoma v. Oklahoma State matchup at some point this week will be crazy good drama.

-Karsten Creek showed out well on TV this past week for the women. With temperatures expected to climb into the 90s each day of the tournament, look for the course to play firm and fast, and the competition to turn into as much a test of endurance and will as it is skill. At least come team play.

-As mentioned briefly up top, the biggest team absences this week are Georgia Tech and LSU. Both were top seeds at Regionals. It marks just the third and fourth time, respectively, since 2009 that a top seed at Regional failed to qualify for the Championships.

-The best players not competing this week are a pair of Pac12 guys, Cal’s Collin Morikawa (4th ranked amateur) and USC’s Justin Suh (5th ranked amateur in the world/Pac12 POY).

-The last time Augusta (nee Augusta State) made the NCAA Championships, some cat named Patrick Reed was helping them win their second of back-to-back national championships in 2011. I wonder what ever happened to that dude?

-Aaron Wise, 21 years old and fresh off his massively impressive win at the Byron Nelson, won the 2016 individual title (his Oregon Ducks won the team title). What’s scary is Wise could be competing this week at Karsten Creek had he not decided to turn pro early.

-Speaking of former champions, last year’s winner, Braden Thornberry, is back to defend his title. He’ll try to become the first repeat national champion since Phil Mickelson went back to back in 1989 and 1990. Mickelson, you’ll note, went on to add a third title in 1992, joining Ben Crenshaw of Texas as the only 3x winners. Two-time NCAA champions include Houston’s Dick Crawford, Yale’s Dexter Cummings, Princeton’s George Dunlap, Tulane’s Fred Lamprecht, and USC’s Scott Simpson.

-I think it a bit surprising only six non-Americans have won the individual national championship. The first to do so was Australia’s James McLean (Minnesota) in 1998. Since then, England’s Luke Donald (Northwestern, 1999), Spain’s Alejandro Canizares (Arizona State, 2003), Canada’s James Lepp (Washington, 2005) and Matt Hill (NC State, 2009); and Belgium’s Thomas Pieters (Illinois, 2012) have won titles.

-Other sports get a lot of attention when it comes to the split between Power-5 schools and non Power-5 schools, but I’m here to tell you the distinction in golf seems to be of the utmost importance when it comes to winning national championships. Only seven non-P5 programs have captured a team national championship since 1950–Houston (16 of them (!!!!) but none since 1985), North Texas (1950-1952), Augusta (2010 & 2011), BYU (1981), Pepperdine (1997), SMU (1954), and UNLV (1998). I think it puts into contrast just how unique those Augusta teams were several years back.

-You may not recognize the name Mark Laesch. I admit I didn’t before reading about him. As the founder of Golfstat, Laesch helped grow the reach and accessibility of the college game. If you check in on the scores this week, at the link above, that’s Golfstat. Unfortunately, Mark succumbed to ALS earlier spring. I really enjoyed learning about Mark and reading about his spirit from this 

-If you want to do a bit of digging into the various teams and players competing, the NCAA produces a digital program. It can be found 

NCAA D1 Men's Golf Championship Preview

On behalf of the entire team at NLU, plus our partners with BMW and Callaway, we just want to say THANK YOU for helping us raise $23,520 plus the entire matching donation of $10,000 from BMW, for a total of $33,520. This total will be split evenly between the Greenville Health System Children’s Hospital and the Evans Scholars Foundation.

Over 500 individuals donated, with more than half of the donations coming in for Soly, which is both predictable and a complete disgrace. In total, Soly had about $12,600 in his corner vs. $10,860 behind yours truly (a few refused to decide and simply donated.)

 has the final dispatch from an 11-shot victory by 

As for the raffle – winners are listed below, all of whom supported the victorious Team Tron. We had several individuals win multiple items, and frequent NLU contributor Job Fickett improbably taking home the BMW Driving Experience up in Greenville (I can assure you that there were no improprieties!) Emails will be forthcoming over the next few days on how to claim prizes – please be patient, as we gave away a lot of stuff!

Congratulations to all of our winners and thanks again. We are truly staggered at how successful this campaign was!

BMW Charity Recap + Winners

The 2018 NCAA Division-1 Women’s Golf championship kicks off later this week. It’s the opening act of a two-part drama (the men begin their championship next week) which is genuinely one of my favorite stretches of the golf calendar each and every year. In all seriousness, if I only had five golf telecasts to watch in any season, the NCAA championships, collectively, would be an easy pick for me. It’s richly compelling drama showcasing the very best of individual stroke play and team-based match play.

It wasn’t always like this though. Beginning with the first women’s championship in 1982 and up through 2014, the finals were strictly a 72-hole format, with the low team and low individual claiming respective national championships. In a rare moment of wisdom and progress the NCAA tweaked the format starting in 2015. An individual champion is still crowned after 72 holes, but now the low eight teams after stroke play enter a single-elimination match play tournament to decide the team national champion. Sprinkle in Golf Channel’s stripped-down, tightly-focused coverage of the event and what we have is a wonderfully tasty recipe combining high-level golf with notes of drama, unpredictability and raw emotion. In this the #YearofRejoicing, it’s important to highlight that which is righteous and good. Well, the NCAA Championships are awesome. If you’ve missed out the past few years don’t let it happen again. Tune in. You won’t be disappointed.

Friday, May 18th, through Wednesday, May 23rd, at 

Twenty-four years ago Karsten Creek opened up as the home course for the Oklahoma State men’s and women’s golf teams. A Tom Fazio design, the course was the culmination of the multi-pronged efforts of former coach (and current AD) Mike Holder. Karsten Creek consistently rates in the upper echelon of public courses across the country and should provide a good backdrop for the action over the next couple weeks. As their write-up says, “the zoysia fairways were cut from a forest of oaks and black jacks, complemented by an undulating terrain that flows throughout the course. The back nine cascades around the 110 acre Lake Louise that is featured on the finishing holes.” I’m excited to see it for myself on TV! Until then, here’s the scenic video tour:


Two NCAA national championships will be awarded: one for the team champion and one for the individual champion.

The team format consists of 72 holes of stroke play to whittle the field from twenty-four programs to eight. The eight remaining teams are then seeded accordingly and square off in five individual match play competitions, with the winning team winning at least three of the matches. The team tournament from the quarterfinals through the finals is single elimination with individual matches consisting of 18 holes.

The individual format consists of the aforementioned 72 holes of stroke play. The low competitor from the competing twenty-four programs, plus an additional twelve individual qualifiers, will be crowned the individual NCAA national champion.

: 4:00pm to 8:00pm EST (Final round of stroke play–individual champion crowned, plus team match play brackets finalized)

: 11:00am to 1:30pm EST (Team Quarterfinal Matches) AND 4:00pm to 8:00pm EST (Team Semifinal Matches)

: 4:00pm to 8:00pm (Team National Championship Matches)

I’d never tell you who to root for, that’s a very personal decision. But what I will do, for my own edification (and maybe yours) is break out the 24-team field into different categories which might help inform your rooting interests (number in parenthesis next to each team is their 

There have been 35 NCAA Division I Women’s Golf team champions. The following schools (along with San Jose State!!!) are the only programs to win three or more:

Arizona State (14) – 8 national championships, most in NCAA D-1. Will be looking to repeat after their title last year

Duke (4) – 6 national championships are second most ever. Last team title came in 2014

UCLA (3) – 3 team titles, their last occurring in 2011

USC (5) – 3 team titles just like their crosstown rival, their last one coming in 2013

Have all won their first team national championship within the last six years and by adding a second can join the titans of the sport:

Alabama (1) – won their team title in 2012

Stanford (6) – won the team national championship in 2015

Washington (17) – won the title in 2016, part of a current three-year string of championships out of the Pac-12


These two programs both have two team championships to their name, though the last one for either was Arizona’s title in 2000:


You SEC honks know who you are. There’s a trio to choose from this year and a title for any would be the first in school history:


These schools may or may not have ALL THE MONEY (but none have a women’s golf championship!):


Great schools, so I’m told, but zero team titles to their name:


At least as far as resources among this group. If you want to know who I’ll be pulling for, look no further than the Kent State Golden Flashes. My love for the Mid-American Conference trumps all!!

Oklahoma (19) – would be some first-class irony for the Sooners to win their first title at OSU’s Karsten Creek

, this team overcame some serious obstacles (i.e. sickness) to just get here

Colorado (21) – gotta be honest, I don’t really have a great angle here

As I noted earlier, the field for the individual national championship consists of all the members of the twenty-four qualifying teams, along with twelve additional individual qualifiers. Those twelve qualifiers are:

Jillian Hollis, Georgia –ranked 5th individually. Also just 

Maddie Szeryk, Texas A&M –ranked 23rd individually. Also Canada’s top female amateur. Was a First-Team All American last season.

Leonie Harm, Houston –ranked 37th individually. 

Shot a school-record 65 en route to getting back to the NCAA’s.

Emma Broze, Oklahoma State –ranked 64th individually and will bear the full weight of hosting duties on her shoulders (not really).

Jess Yuen, Missouri –67th ranked individual. This will be first time competing at the NCAA Championships.

Hira Naveed, Pepperdine –84th ranked individual. The New Zealand native, a junior, will be making second trip to NCAA finals.

Rose Huang, BYU –100th ranked individual. Survived a five-hole playoff to make it through to the finals.

Gabby Curtis, Wisconsin –107th ranked individual. The Senior is playing very good golf, 

Erin Harper, Indiana –ranked 134th individually. Gives the tournament a bit more of some much-needed Midwest representation.

Micheala Williams, Tennessee –139th ranked individual. Honestly couldn’t find much about her. These S.I.D.’s need to step their game up!

Marthe Wold, Cal –173th ranked individual. Fun fact: the senior is from Norway. Also, case where SID needs to step up!

Nicole Schroeder, Oregon State –234th ranked individual but is in awesome form winning the Madison Regional. Can she keep it up?

-By my research there has never been a two-time NCAA individual champion. And while last year’s champion, Monica Vaughn of Arizona State, graduated and thus can’t accomplish the feat there is one person who can. Duke junior Virginia Elena Carta won the title her freshman year at Eugene CC and looks to add a second this year.

-The 1988 women’s championship (team and individual titles) is officially listed as vacated, which naturally caught my eye. After a bit of research, and according to 

Jacob Bogage of the Chicago Tribune, Tulsa’s championships were revoked by the NCAA

. But get this, apparently the rules infractions didn’t have anything to do with the women’s golf team; instead, the NCAA vacated wins across the athletic department “after track and field coaches let athletes run under assumed names to bolster roster size.” Melissa Luellen, now head women’s coach at Auburn, won the individual title that year, and apparently still has the ring as nobody ever asked for it back. Tulsa still displays the championship banner and notes the titles in their media guides too. Hooray for the NCAA!

-Annika Sorenstam won the 1991 individual championship for Arizona. She’s the only LPGA hall of famer (remember, the first NCAA title was awarded in 1982) to do that. The next woman with a look at this honor is Stacy Lewis, who won the 2007 title while competing for Arkansas.

-Since the format moved from strictly stroke play after 2014 to a blend of stroke and match play, the Pac-12 conference has had carte blanche on the team competition. Stanford won in 2015 (defeated Baylor 3 to 2), Washington won in 2016 (defeated Stanford 3 to 2), and Arizona State won last year (defeated Northwestern 3.5 to 1.5). Can the Pac-12 make it four in row? Who knows! But it’ll be fun to watch.

-Last summer, Golf Channel inked an agreement to continue hosting the Men’s and Women’s NCAA Championships through at least 2029. That’s the good news. The maybe-not-so-good-news comes from the 

, and specifically information about future host sites for the Championships. After the Blessings Golf Club (Fayetteville, Arkansas) in 2019, the next three tournaments are slated to be held at the Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona (only venues through 2022 are listed). My disappointment isn’t with the Grayhawk Club, per se, it’s that it appears it may become the permanent host for the NCAA Championships. I think that’d be a terrible mistake. Some of my fondest memories of the past three years are directly related to the courses and locations of the tournament (the cook on the clubhouse roof in Eugene, the inexplicable row of hedges last year at Rich Harvest Farms). Please, NCAA, ignore your every instinct and keep rotating the host venue!

2018 NCAA D-1 Women's Golf Championship Preview

While I certainly intended to get this follow up to Part I of the Ryder Cup tracker out sooner than this, I’m glad, in some ways, that it’s taken a little while. Since we last got #deep on the European Tour, I’ve been traveling, working, sleeping, writing (a special feature that I’m really excited about), working some more, and even playing a little golf! After a little time off, I’ve gotta say–it feels good to get back into the Eurozone beat. Of course, with a strong international contingent at The Players this week, there’s a good chance that this installment may be moot by the time the sun sets over Ponte Vedra Beach on Sunday.

We’ve certainly seen the Team Europe standings tightening and shifting since 

 debuted on March 17, 2018. Over the past six weeks, starting with Noren’s performance at the WGC-Match Play and Casey’s Sunday flirtation with the course-record at Augusta, it feels like we might be able to lock-in eleven out of the twelve available Ryder Cup slots–in May! And there are conceivably eight or more players battling for the final slot.

My gut says that I’m a bit silly for writing this, just because it seems premature (read: absurd) to say that ten or eleven players are locks roughly five months before the matches begin–but what’s more, that up to a dozen possible contributors to this European squad are going to be left home. Let’s just say that I will not be shocked to see any of the following guys listed make the team, but it will be heartbreaking to see the others have to wait until 2020 for their next shot.

As a reminder, here are the eight gentlemen that I picked as “Locks” in Part I: Justin Rose, Sergio Garcia, Rory McIlroy, Henrik Stenson, Matt Fitzpatrick, Tyrell Hatton, Jon Rahm, and Tommy Fleetwood. Of those eight, I am 100% sticking with seven of them, and still feel 85% good about Fitzpatrick.

At this point, I think it makes sense to set up the remaining players much like one would look at the NCAA Basketball Tournament bubble in late February, with a “Last Four In,” “First Four Out,” and “Next Four Out,” along with the “Best of the Rest” category. However, we’re actually going to make the first group a “Last FIVE In,” dropping Fitzpatrick down into that group. Fitz is slowly becoming the Forgotten Man, despite solidly sitting in fifth in the European Points and ninth in the World Points. Just keep in mind as you are reading this how 

 the margins are between some of these players. Given the number of guys we’re talking about, I’ll give some brief rationale for these projections.

I won’t rehash the case I made for Fitz in Part I. I stand by my selection, but I think it’s now fair to move him from a solid lock into the “Last Five In” basket. Simply put, his record at Hazeltine did little to help his chances (in fairness, he had few opportunities, but you still have to make the most of them), and there are now simply too many players with either substantial Ryder Cup experience or more recent form that are going to be gunning for the last spot. If Fitzpatrick doesn’t nail down an automatic qualification, as close as he is to one, it would mean his form is trending in the wrong direction and that would be plenty enough reason for Bjorn to look elsewhere.

: 3rd, 2018 WGC-Match Play; 2018 EURASIA Cup (w, 1-2)

Sweden continues to produce exceptional golf talent, and Norén is the heir-apparent to the Parnevik-Jacobson-Stenson progeny. Norén sits seventh in the World Points standings (automatic qualifier), 16th in the European Points standings (immediately behind countryman Alex Bjork, who won the Volvo China Open at the end of April).

The 2017 BMW PGA was a defining moment in Norén’s career surge. His eagle on the 72 hole will live in Euro Tour lore. Photo cred: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images

Norén has been building towards this Ryder Cup basically since the last putt dropped in Chaska in 2016. Starting in October of 2016, Norén has won three times on the European Tour, finished T-6 at the 2017 Open Championship, T-2 at the Farmers, T-16 at Riv, T-3 at the Honda, T-14 at the 2018 WGC-Mexico, and third at the 2018 WGC-Match Play. His MC at the Masters aside, I think you could make a great case that Norén should be a stronger lock than Casey (and probably Fitzpatrick) at this point. There’s no reason to think Norén is going to taper off in the next few months. Fair to call Norén a “virtual lock” as of now.

: 2nd, 2009 and 2010 WGC-Match Play; T-17 2018 WGC-Match Play; 2018 EURASIA Cup (w, 2-1); Ryder Cup 2004 (w), 2006 (w), 2008; overall record 3-2-4)

Many regular readers of this column were remarkably triggered by the fact that I did not include Casey in my “locks.” Given that he had won the week prior at Valspar, I choose to believe there was some recency bias on display. Since March, Casey has continued to help his case, with a strong run of form including a T-17 at the Match Play, T-15 at the Masters, and a T-5 at the Wells Fargo.

Definitely saucy to have a pin-up style photo of your smokeshow wife as a phone case, but…uh…Paul…you’re looking at the wrong side of the phone, my friend. Photo cred: Golf News Net

I planned on a long, drawn out diatribe about why I wasn’t ready to lock-in Casey in Part I of this column. I hear you about how the qualification rules were re-written “just for” Casey, blah blah. AND YET: If the matches started this week, Paul Casey would 

 need a Captain’s Pick from Bjorn to make the squad (he’s currently tenth in the World Points and an all-but-cooked 41st in European Points). See, winning is overrated in all facets of professional golf…except for making a European Ryder Cup team (and particularly, 

team). Although Casey has been consistently finding the first and second pages of leaderboards, he doesn’t play often in Europe and he has only won twice in his career on the PGA Tour.

In the end, I’m quite confident that Casey will be on Team Europe for the first time in a decade. But I’m not convinced he will be an automatic qualifier; we’ll call him a “virtual lock.” Another win this summer would seal the deal.

: 3rd, 2016 WGC-Match Play; 2018 EURASIA Cup (w, 1-1-1); 2016 Ryder Cup (2-0-1)

RCB gave us an all-time great albatross last year at The Players, 16th Hole, Final Round, and an even better reaction. Photo cred: Ten Golf/PGA Tour

The Notorious R-C-B: certifiable #menace, low-key gun show ticket purveyor, and all-around stud with a game that travels #allovertheworld! Rafa sits at twelfth in the European Points and thirteenth in the World Points. His prior experience as a Rookie at the 2016 Ryder Cup (record 2-0-1, paired with Garcia, won Friday Fourball 3 & 2 over Holmes/Moore; halved Saturday Foursomes against Reed/Spieth; beat Jimmy Walker 3 & 2 in Sunday Singles for 2.5 Points) makes him an alluring possible Captain’s pick on a team that will be fairly rookie-laden as it is. Rafa won the 2017 Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open (the 275 yard fairway metal he stuffed to eight feet in the playoff to clinch the victory will resonate with me for a long time) and has posted nearly a dozen top 25s combined across both Tours since.

Cabrera-Bello can–and should–do himself some favors over the summer, including his title defense in Scotland. Rafa seems due for another win, which would all but assure him a spot on the team. Even though he needs to put in some work this summer, as long as Cabrera-Bello remains inside the top 15 of both points lists, it will be very difficult for Bjorn to pass on his steady ball-striking and experience when it comes time to make the picks.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Although this segment is the “Last Five In,” I had to draw a hard line of demarcation before getting to the twelfth and final player. As confident as I feel about the eleven gentlemen projected to make the team, I have an equal amount of trepidation about slotting the final pick at this point. If the past six weeks have proven anything, it might be that Captain Bjorn has even more defensible choices than I would have surmised when I published Part I, with Poulter, Dunne, Fisher, Pepperell, Bjork, Luiten, and Paisley all firmly in the conversation. If the Ryder Cup started today, however, I think there is one player that holds the proverbial trump card by virtue of his competitiveness, grit, and (maybe above all) nationality…

You probably saw this one coming by the title of the article. On the merits, Lévy is somewhat of a sleeper pick, despite having won three times in Europe since the 2016 Matches–most recently, last month in Morocco at the Trophee Hassan II. Along with his win, Lévy has two fourth-place finishes earlier this year in Dubai and Oman, and a T-14 in China (where he’s won twice in his career). Lévy has moved up to 46 in the OWGR and is currently eighth in the Race to Dubai standings. Unlike Fitzpatrick, Lévy is trending in a positive direction of late, and it is apparent from his recent interviews that his confidence is building. Lévy finds himself ninth in European Points and fifteenth in World Points.

Perhaps El Toro will win again this summer, once the points multiplier kicks in, and really home in on an automatic spot. The one thing that might push him over the edge in a Captain’s selection, though, is the virtue of playing on native soil at Le Golf National. I’m likely reading too much into this, but I have a really difficult time believing Bjorn is going to venture to Paris without at least one French player on his team, as long as that player is Alex Lévy and he is somewhere in the neighborhood of fifteenth or better in the European Points list, healthy, and has posted some solid results in the month of August. Beyond his solid golf credentials, the fervor of the French crowd rooting on Lévy is likely to elevate his play. He is already a fierce competitor, a steady ballstriker, and a little bit crazy (in a good way).

Quick biographical note: Lévy was born in the United States to French parents (dual citizen), lived in California for the first four years of his life before moving to Bandol, France, and has a Spanish nickname: El Toro (the bull). Identity crisis! Get it together, man! Photo cred: Sky Sports

The one thing that could give Bjorn pause is Lévy’s less-than-stellar match play record. He failed to advance out of the group stage at the WGC-Matchplay, posting a 1-2 record. His record in the Eurasia Cup earlier this year was also 1-2. Thus, if the final pick comes down to Lévy and, for example, a trending Ian Poulter, the French Connection might not be enough. In the meantime, Lévy is close enough to an auto-berth to basically control his own destiny, and for now, the final spot is his to lose.

: [SOUNDS OF SCREAMING BY EVERY AMERICAN GOLF FAN]

Speaking of Poulter: HE WON RECENTLY, GUYS. This is fucking TERRIFYING.

This is the face of death. Photo cred: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images

Poults’ win in Houston really vaulted him up the World Points standings, where he currently sits eighth (he’s 29th in European Points). There’s a very real chance that Poulter could establish himself as an automatic qualifer, and perhaps a guaranteed Captain’s pick if he remains in the top twelve of the World Points standings. In

, he talked as though he was already convinced Poulter would be on the team. Rahm may know something I don’t, or maybe he is just certain Bjorn will be dead-set on getting some additional experience on the team.

Simply put, Poulter is the O.G. Menace of the Ryder Cup (Monty’s record is amazing but he didn’t have the same fire, sorry). Americans should be very afraid if Poulter continues this streak of resurgent play. I can see Poulter being interchangeable with Fitzpatrick at this point; there’s probably a very solid chance he races up the World Points list this summer and bumps a vulnerable player like Fitz off the team.

: 4th, 2009 WGC-Match Play; Quarter-finals, 2017 WGC-Match Play; 2010 Ryder Cup (w, 2-2-0) 2018 EURASIA Cup (w, 1-2)

Why can’t I make myself believe in Ross Fisher? He currently stands fourth…FOURTH(!)…in the European Points standings–ahead of Fitz, Fleetwood, Rory, Sergio, Stenson, and many others–which makes him an automatic qualifier if the Matches started today (he’s 14th in World Points). His quiet, unassuming personality spills onto the golf course, where his game is remarkably solid in every respect, but never really 

 you. Fisher could fully make this team on points and make me look very silly for basically writing him off at this stage, but I just think there’s too much firepower lurking all around him. Prove me wrong, Ross! I want to believe!

Fisher is supremely under the radar, even though he ranks fourth in the European Points standings. Photo cred: Daily Express

: 2015 Walker Cup (w, 1-2-1); 2018 EURASIA Cup (w, 0-3)

Dunners is a truly intriguing possibility. The Irishman seems to be in contention every single time he tees it up, no matter the continent. Dunne has posted a T-5 and T-8 at the Puntacana Championship and Houston Open, respectively. Meanwhile, he’s also finished T-19 at Abu Dhabi, second alone at the Open De Espana, and T-7 at the Volvo China Open. His lone official professional win came October of last year at the British Masters where he defeated a stacked field, including runner-up Rory McIlroy by three shots), but he also won last week at the GolfSixes (an unofficial team event with Gavin Moynihan). At age 25, Dunne is starting to feel the flow and really take charge of his career. He sits seventh in European Points and twelfth in World Points. With a strong summer, he is another youngster that could very well play his way onto Team Europe and few would be surprised by it. The question looming is how will he deal with the pressure, given his limited and relatively uninspired match play experience.

Paul Dunne showing off some hardware at the British Masters. Photo cred: Getty Images/The Independent

: 2016 Ryder Cup (4-1-0); 2018 EURASIA Cup (w, 2-1-0)

How in the fresh hell is Pieters this far down the list, you might ask? Well, to put it frankly: he might stink! The smooth-swinging Belgian is ranked 42nd in both the European and World Points lists. Pieters has struggled mightily since Hazeltine, which everyone thought was truly his breakout moment. His 4-1-0 record as a rookie was nothing short of jaw-dropping, and he paired so flawlessly with Rory in three of those matches, it seemed as though the Americans had run into a potential buzzsaw for the next five Ryder Cups every time those two were sent out.

“I’ll take, ‘.gifs That Haven’t Aged Well’ for $2000, Alex.”

Nonetheless, Pieters has shown basically no form at all since August of last year, posting only one top five finish in that timeframe at Abu Dhabi. Pieters has not cracked the top 30 on the European Tour since. His record stateside has been barely better, with a T-13 at the Honda Classic but no other top 25 finishes. Pieters is clearly an immense talent when it is clicking for him, but right now, it seems unlikely he’ll make the squad, absent a serious run of form between now and September.

Solid up-and-coming Swede that won recently at the Volvo China Open. 15th in World Points, 16th in European Points. Lurking.

Began the year on an absolute tear, but has tapered a bit since. 34th Euro, 19th World. Capable of tremendous runs of golf and might have another one in him before its all said and done.

Writing

NLU Special Ops: Winter Park GC

Weekly Briefing: Memorial Tournament

Selection #1: June 2018

NCAA D1 Men's Golf Championship Preview

BMW Charity Recap + Winners

2018 NCAA D-1 Women's Golf Championship Preview

The Eurozone: #9 (Ryder Cup Watch: Part II & The French Connection)

NLU Special Ops: The Bandon Experience

BMW Charity Pro-Am: Partner Update

Weekly Briefing: All over the world

BMW Charity Pro-Am: Soly vs. Tron

The Eurozone: #8 (Tenemos la carne)

Weekly Briefing: Heritage

Monday (Post-Masters) Leftovers

Friday Feels: Augusta

The Masters: Agronomic Summary

Stinky Nandina

The Bandon Experience: Bandon Trails