The NCAA Division-I men’s golf postseason is almost upon us.
The NCAA men’s regional round will be contested May 13-15 at six different sites with 13 or 14 teams at each site. The 81 teams consist of 30 automatic qualifiers that won their respective conference championships and 51 at-large bids. Five teams will advance out of each regional to the NCAA Championship at La Costa.
The selection show is scheduled for May 1 at 2 p.m. ET on Golf Channel.
How the NCAA committee selects the at-large bids and assigns regional seeding could be different this year. With Golfstat’s ranking no longer available, the committee’s main resource is Mark Broadie’s national collegiate golf ranking. The NCAA’s Competition Oversight Committee did update selection criteria for this season only, allowing the golf committees to use other established ranking systems in addition to Broadie’s ranking. However, the Golfweek/Sagarin ranking also is no longer published, so it’s unknown if any other ranking is established enough to be considered. Golf Channel has learned that teams have been asked to send in brag sheets, or resumés, to further assist the committee.
Currently, the at-large cutoff in Broadie’s ranking, referred to as the magic number, is No. 68, which is Colorado State. That also factors in four teams currently below .500 – No. 53 Pepperdine, No. 58 Oregon State, No. 63 North Carolina State and No. 65 Colorado. The Wolfpack are already eliminated while the Waves will have to win the West Coast Conference Championship to advance to regionals. No. 62 South Carolina is another team to watch, as the Gamecocks need to avoid finishing last at the SEC Championship to stay at .500 or better.
• NCAA D-I men’s golf conference championship schedule, results
Here’s a projection of how this year’s six regionals will look when the fields are finalized:
(Note: Automatic qualifiers are listed with their conference in parentheses; projected conference champs are listed in parentheses as those tournaments have yet to be completed.)
(Updated on April 23.)
BATON ROUGE REGIONAL
1. Auburn
2. Texas Tech
3. Virginia
4. Oregon
5. Duke
6. LSU (host)
7. Missouri
8. Louisville
9. Houston
10. South Carolina
11. West Virginia
12. Little Rock (Ohio Valley)
13. Loyola (Md.) (Patriot)
14. Arkansas-Pine Bluff (SWAC)
WEST LAFAYETTE REGIONAL
1. Vanderbilt
2. Arkansas
3. Oklahoma
4. Georgia
5. Purdue (host)
6. Ohio State
7. Mississippi State
8. South Florida
9. Fresno State
10. Washington State
11. Grand Canyon
12. Kent State (MAC)
13. Wright State (Horizon)
14. Siena (MAAC)
RANCHO SANTA FE REGIONAL
1. Arizona State
2. Washington
3. Florida
4. Texas A&M
5. Oklahoma State
6. Notre Dame
7. UNC Greensboro
8. Indiana
9. UNLV
10. San Diego (host)
11. Florida Gulf Coast
12. North Dakota State (Summit)
13. Howard (Northeast)
CHAPEL HILL REGIONAL
1. North Carolina (ACC) (host)
2. Alabama
3. Georgia Tech
4. Cal
5. Wake Forest
6. Baylor
7. BYU
8. Loyola Marymount
9. Utah
10. Clemson
11. Colorado State
12. Lipscomb (ASUN)
13. Yale (Ivy League)
14. Winthrop (192)
AUSTIN REGIONAL
1. Ole Miss
2. Arizona
3. Texas (host)
4. East Tennessee State
5. UCLA
6. San Diego State
7. SMU
8. Northwestern
9. Long Beach State
10. Stetson
11. Augusta (Southland)
12. Arkansas State (Sun Belt)
13. Southern Illinois (Missouri Valley)
STANFORD REGIONAL
1. Florida State
2. Tennessee
3. Illinois
4. New Mexico
5. Stanford (host)
6. North Florida
7. VCU
8. Chattanooga
9. College of Charleston
10. San Jose State
11. Sam Houston (C-USA)
12. Marquette (Big East)
13. Sacramento State (Big Sky)
English
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Spanish