It’s that time again! You may be absorbed in the PGA Championship this weekend but I’d argue it’s absolutely not the most fun tournament being contested. That distinction goes to NCAA Division-I Women’s Golf championship, which kicks off Friday, May 17th. While television coverage won’t come until Monday, May 20th, you can follow along with the action thanks to 

. I said the exact same thing last year but it bears repeating—the women’s championship is the opening act of a two-part drama (the men begin their championship the week after the women) which is genuinely one of my favorite stretches within the golf calendar each and every year. It’s a perfect recipe of individual stroke play, passion-filled, team-based match play, and life-altering, yet wholly-intrinsic stakes. I urge you to check it out.

Friday, May 17th, through Wednesday, May 22rd, at Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Blessings celebrates its 15thyear of existence by playing host to the 2019 NCAA Championships. The home course of the Arkansas Razorbacks, it’s a Robert Trent Jones, Jr. design touched up more recently by Kyle Phillips. The private course was the brainchild of Tyson Foods chairman, John H. Tyson (if you want to enjoy some chicken nuggets while watching coverage be sure to also check out some of the warm, fuzzy press around Tyson’s practices. Yum!) Anyway, the course is par 72 (37-35) that can be stretched out to a comfy 7,900+ yards with a 79.1 rating and 153 slope. Exactly my type of track!

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 best teams are seeded 1 through 8 and square off in match play involving five duels. 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, is crowned the individual NCAA national champion.

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

As always, I couldn’t possibly tell you where to place your allegiance. Like last year, though, I’ve broken the field out in my own way which I hope will serve to help inform a rooting interest should you be searching (number in parenthesis next to each team is their 

There have been 36 NCAA D-I Women’s Golf Team national championships awarded throughout history. The following schools have won a combined 23 of them:

 –the Trojans have three team titles in their history. This year’s squad is led by sophomore Jennifer Chang, 3rd-ranked nationally. They’re young and deep, five players within the top-29, all sophomores or freshmen.

 –highest ranked player is sophomore Jaravee Boonchant (4th). Squad also features senior Virginia Elana-Carta, NCAA champion four years ago as a freshman, who comes in ranked 50th.

 –last year’s team champs will look to run it back with a very experienced squad. Haley Moore, who clinched the winning point last year on the 19th hole, is back. 

I urge you to read this piece on her by Golf Channel’s Ryan Lavner.

 –have won 8 team titles, most in NCAA history. This year’s team is led by junior Olivia Mehaffey, ranked 7th nationally.

 –led by sophomore Patty Tavatanakit who comes in ranked 8th this year and was low amateur at the 2018 US Women’s Open.

These programs have a team title to their name, all in this decade. Another title would catapult them up a level:

won their sole team title in 2010; highest ranked player is senior Melati Putri (91st). Will be a tall feat to make the knockout stage.

Andrea Lee, ranked 2nd nationally, leads the Cardinal. They captured the team title in 2015.

won the team title in 2016; an experienced group which is fronted by their youngest member, Rino Sasaki, ranked 60th nationally.

Between 1985 and 1992 these two programs won a combined 5 team titles, none since, however. They’d obviously love to change that:

 –great depth on this Gators team with five players ranked between 41st (Sierra Brooks) and 94th (Addison Baggarly). My opinion is completely uninformed but I look for them to make serious noise.

 –led by the dynamic duo of freshman Natasha Andrea Oon (31st ranked) and senior Abegail Arevalo (36th ranked). No other Spartans rank in the top-250. Can the rest of the squad step up?

Deep in the heart of SEC country in Fayetteville there are four tried-and-true SEC programs to pick from. Each is seeking their first team title:

–host squad should be at an advantage. 5th-ranked Maria Fassi leads the group.

 –10th-ranked Julie McCarthy leads War Eagle.

 –Julia Johnson, ranked 57th, leads Ole Miss. They have an uphill climb facing them this week.

 –95th-ranked Micheala Williams leads the Lady Vols. Like Ole Miss, I don’t foresee a long week but of course I could be wrong!

These schools have ALL THE MONEY so you shouldn’t casually root for either of them, unless you enjoy playing the Don’t Pass line at the craps table:

–led by top-ranked freshman, Frida Kinhult. She is super decorated and if that last name sounds familiar, her brother, Marcus, just won the British Masters on the Euro Tour. Excited to see her play!

–Agathe Laisne (11th) and Kaitlyn Papp (12th) lead the Longhorns, and they’re peaking at the right time. Are seeking the program’s first team title.

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

 –this is a deep team capable of winning their first title. They’re led by Jennifer Kupcho, who among other things won the 2018 individual NCAA title as well as the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur earlier this year.

 –does Vandy like being separated from the rest of the SEC? I don’t know, but it feels right. Auston Kim (37th) and Abbey Carlson (40th) offer a solid one-two punch.

 –Stephanie Lau (35th) and Brooke Riley (47th) lead this iteration of the Wildcats. They were runners-up in 2017.

 –no school has ever pulled off the men’s basketball/women’s golf double in the same year! That’s a completely arbitrary nugget I like with UVA having the opportunity this year. 39th-ranked senior, Anna Redding, leads the Cavs.

 –competing in the NCAA championships for the first time since 2007, the Hoosiers have battled back from a February swoon. Senior Erin Harper (137th) is the highest-ranked individual for IU. A berth in the knockout bracket would be a huge success.

Ranking-wise, Kent State is *not* an underdog, which makes their resource disadvantage more interesting:

 –The Flashes are experienced and looking to make serious noise this week. Led by Karoline Stormo (34th), Kent State will look to make the quarterfinals after just missing last year. As a Mid-American Conference honk I will always pull for Kent State.

 –freshman Elizabeth Moon (83rd) leads the squad. By virtue of being non-Power 5 I hope UCF makes a run this week.

–I couldn’t find a good spot for the Illini so here they are! This is their first NCAA championships, so anything past qualifying for knockouts would be a huge bonus.

As 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, with 

 –freshman has burst onto the scene this year. Ranks 5thin scoring average. Won the 2017 North & South Championship, finished second in 2018.

 –sophomore, native Oregonian set the school scoring average mark this year while ranking 10th nationally. Fun fact from her bio– she won every single league tournament in high school as a sophomore, junior and senior. Bet there were some coaches glad to see her graduate.

 –the pride of Norman, Oklahoma is 16th in scoring average nationally, having improved 2.5 strokes from her freshman year.

 –sophomore from Italy is currently 86thin scoring average. She captured the bronze medal at last summer’s European Ladies’ Amateur Championship, and we also share an October 10th birthday!

 –senior is peaking at the right time. Truthfully, I couldn’t find much else so apologies, Kathleen.

 –junior Michigan native is 59th in scoring average. A former Big10 Freshman of the Year, she has competed via sponsors exemption in the Meijer LPGA Classic on multiple occasions.

 –the redshirt senior from South Africa ranks 12th in scoring average and is back as an individual qualifier after doing so as a freshman in 2015.

 –sophomore from Thailand is 46th in scoring average. That $2 will get you a coffee tomorrow morning.

 –the Dane is 55th in scoring average across D1. She’s a senior so this is it.

 –junior from Arizona attended Xavier College Prep in Phoenix, which might have contractually obligated her to attend Xavier University (that’s a joke). All-Big East performer is a bit of a darkhorse nationally. No doubt my brother-in-law and the Maketewah faithful will be cheering her on from Cincinnati.

Amanda Hollandsworth, Virginia Tech (182nd)

 –cool tidbit here, the Virginia native was the first ever commit to the Va Tech women’s golf program back in 2013. A graduate student, she is also the first woman from the Hokie’s program to qualify for the US Open which she’ll compete in later this month.

 –a bit of a surprise qualifier perhaps as she’s not ranked in the top-250, but she was a very-highly touted freshman (3rd in 2018 class per Golfweek). Beware the streaky golfer!

-Used this tidbit last year but it holds–there’s never been a two-time NCAA individual champion. Jennifer Kupcho can change that this year, but so can Virginia Elena Carter! Something to keep an eye on.

-South Carolina is the highest ranked team (12th) to not make the championships. Similarly, Jiwon Jeon, ranked 9th for Alabama, the best player not competing this week.

-Since changing formats in 2015, the Pac-12 has won all four team titles, passing it around the league. If the trend holds look for one of the So Cal schools to win it.

-Very cool incentive starting this year as the 

individual champion will receive an exemption

 into the LPGA’s #NWAChampionship (that’s really the tourney name, I think) later this June in Rogers, Arkansas.

-San Jose State enters the week with all kinds of good karma as 

reports breaks that their athletic department has allegedly mishandled over $6 million in funds which were intended to fund athletic scholarships.

 This is the type of story I live for, and I hope the top gets blown off! Stay tuned, and as always, athletic administrators (and definitely revenue sport coaches) salaries are bloated, and athletes should be able to market their names and likenesses. And it’s all at the feet of the NCAA.

-Speaking of the NCAA, Melissa Luellen, head coach at Auburn, has her Tigers in this year’s championship. Last year I passed along the nuggets about the vacated 1988 women’s championship (team and individual titles). If you missed it, 

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

. Apparently, though, 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 won the individual title that year and 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 and I’m rooting for Luellen and her squad.

-In case you were curious about the volunteer setup, for $45 you too could volunteer. The details of what you receive are 

. On paper, begrudgingly, I understand it’s a ‘good’ deal. But I also am categorically opposed to having volunteers pay money on top of their unpaid labor, flimsy reasons be damned!

-Last thing, this is in all likelihood the last time the NCAA Championships will be held outside of Greyhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, AZ. I think it’s a mistake to tether them to one spot, as I’ve greatly enjoyed the unique flair and character of each course and venue.

2019 NCAA Women's Championship Preview

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

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:


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)

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!

NC2A

Writing

2019 NCAA Women's Championship Preview

NCAA D1 Men's Golf Championship Preview

2018 NCAA D-1 Women's Golf Championship Preview