Category Archives: College Golf

Rose Zhang and Sam Bennett make their Professional Debuts

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After the completion of the NCAA D1 Championships, two notable amateur golfers turned professional. Rose Zhang the #1 female amateur golfer in the world and Sam Bennett the #5 ranked male golfer in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.

Rose Zhang

You cannot call yourself a golf fan if you do not know about Rose Zhang. She won the 2023 Augusta National Women’s Amateur, she has been ranked the #1 female golfer in the world for a record 141 weeks, she has won the D1 Individual NCAA Championship title back-to-back (2022 and 2023). Other notable wins in her amateur career include the U.S. Girls Junior (2021) and the U.S. Women’s Amateur (2020). Her other amateur accomplishments are too long to list.

She had all eyes on her at the LPGA’s Mizuho American Open (at Liberty National in New Jersey where the President’s Cup was held in 2017). How did she do? She WON!!!

It’s incredible that Rose Zhang won her 1st LPGA professional event. Her scores were:

Round One: Tied 12th at 2-under par

Round Two: Tied 4th at 5-under par

Round Three: Leader at 11-under par

Round Four: Tied 1st at 9-under. Won in playoff.

It was an exciting ending for fans (probably very stressful for Zhang) because she was in a playoff against Jennifer Kupcho. Zhang won on the 2nd playoff hole.

It really is remarkable what she has accomplished. The last player to win in her debut on the LPGA was in 1951.

Sam Bennett

Although Sam Bennett was not the #1 amateur in the world; he became an amateur darling with his stellar performance at the 2023 Masters taking home the low amateur honors but more impressive was his T16 (2-under) finish. Of course, he was invited to the Masters as the reigning U.S. Amateur.

Bennett made his professional debut at the Memorial Tournament (notable for being hosted by Jack Nicklaus at his course at Muirfield Village in Ohio). So how did Bennett fare:

Round One: 1-under

Round Two: Even

Round Three: Even

Round Four: Tied 63rd, +12 (an 84 on the last day was not a great finish)

Final Thoughts

Sam Bennett had a very respectable showing for his first PGA Tour event. Just making the cut in your debut on tour would be considered a major accomplishment.

As for Rose Zhang – she has once again shown the golf world what a special golfer she truly is by winning her first professional tournament. Keep an eye on her at the U.S. Women’s Open because she holds the course record (63) at Pebble Beach. And even better is that she is now eligible for The Solheim Cup this fall. I would bet my house on Zhang being a captain’s pick by Stacey Lewis.

2023 NCAA Men’s Golf Championship on Golf Channel

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Last week was the Women’s NCAA championship and Wake Forest won. This week the men compete for the national title. The competition began on Friday with rounds determining the cut for individual stroke play and also the final teams for match play.

Days and Format of Play:

Same format as the women. Below is the stroke play and match play information:

  • Friday, May 26 | Stroke play (All 156 participants)
  • Saturday, May 27 | Stroke play (All 156 participants)
  • Sunday, May 28 | Stroke play ( All 156 participants)
  • Monday, May 29 | Stroke play (Top 15 teams, top nine individuals)
  • Tuesday, May 30 | Match play (Top eight teams, Individual champion crowned)
  • Wednesday, May 31 | Match play (Team champion crowned)

How to Watch:

Same timeline as the women’s last week. The Golf Channel Broadcast times (in the USA):

May 29 (Monday) at 5 pm: Final Round Individual Stroke Play
May 30 (Tuesday) at Noon: Quarter Finals, Team Matches
May 30 (Tuesday) at 5 p.m.: Semi-Finals, Team Matches
May 31 (Wednesday) at 5 p.m.: Final Team Match
streaming is also available on Peacock

You can follow the live scoring online at Golf Stats website

Defending Champions:

Individual Stroke Play: Gordon Sargent, Vanderbilt University

Team Match Play: Texas University

Top 5 Individuals (going into the final round of Stroke Play)

  • Ross Steelman (-9), Georgia Tech
  • Neal Shipley (-5), Ohio State
  • Dylan Menante (-5), North Carolina
  • Barclay Brown (-4), Stanford
  • Fred Biondi (-4), Florida

You may be wondering about Gordon Sargent #1 ranked college player. Sargent is currently T59 at 7 over par. In fact, none of the top five ranked college players have played well in the first few rounds so they have work to do to win the national championship.

For those that remember Sam Bennett from his wonderful performance at The Masters, he sites T89 at +10.

Top Five Teams of the 15 remaining in stroke play

Note: Of the 15 the top 8 will move to match play.

  • University of Illinois
  • Pepperdine
  • Florida
  • North Carolina
  • Georgia Tech

The big shock was that Texas Tech, with Ludvig Aberg did not make the 15 teams for Monday. They were tied 15 with Ohio State and Ohio advanced.

Background on Team and Players

Rankings of the College Teams

You can check out all the rankings for college golf teams on the GolfWeek website but the top teams are currently:

  1. Vanderbilt University
  2. North Carolina
  3. University of Illinois
  4. Arizona State University
  5. Texas Tech
  6. Stanford University

Rankings of College Players

These rankings are college rankings which are different from the WAGR (World Amatuer Golf Rankings). I have listed the WAGR rankings below.

  1. Gordon Sargent, Vanderbilt
  2. Ludvig Aberg, Texas Tech
  3. Michael Thornbjorsen, Stanford
  4. Adrian Dumont de Chassart, Illinois
  5. Preston Summerhays, Arizona State

World Amateur Golf Rankings

  1. Ludvig Aberg
  2. Gordon Sargent
  3. Michael Thornbjorsen
  4. David Ford
  5. Sam Bennett

2023 NCAA Women’s Golf Championships on Golf Channel

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I love watching college sports and it’s great that Golf Channel broadcasts the NCAA D1 Championship played at Grey Hawk in Arizona. The competition began on Friday with rounds determining the cut for individual stroke play and also the final teams for match play.

Stroke Play: Monday an individual champion will be determined. After three rounds, the individual stroke top five players are:

  • Catherine Park, Southern California (-10)
  • Luica Lopez-Ortega, San Jose State (-7)
  • Ingrid Linblad, LSU (-6)
  • Rose Zhang, Stanford (-6)
  • Maddison Hinson-Tolchard, Oklahoma State (-6)

Match Play – 15 College Teams advancing to play one more day of stroke play on Monday to determine the final eight teams advancing to match play. To see scoring for all 30 collages go to the Golfstat leaderboard but the top six top teams of the 15 competing on Monday are:

  1. Stanford
  2. Wake Forest
  3. Texas
  4. Southern California
  5. Florida State
  6. South Carolina

The Golf Channel coverage begins with the final round stroke playe to determine the overall individual NCAA D1 Champion and eight teams that will move forward for match play. The team scores are calculated by taking the best four individual scores (called “counting scores”) of the five golfers playing for their college.

How to Watch:

The Golf Channel Broadcast times (in the USA):

May 22 (Monday) at 5 pm: Final Round Individual Stroke Play
May 23 (Tuesday) at Noon: Quarter Finals, Team Matches
May 23 (Tuesday) at 5 p.m.: Semi-Finals, Team Matches
May 24 (Wednesday) at 5 p.m.: Final Team Match
streaming is also available on Peacock

Format of play:

(1) Individual Championship is stroke play.

(2) Team Championship is match play. The team championship used to be stroke play but was changed to match play in 2015.

Colleges Participating:

30 colleges qualifying via six regional competitions. Per the NCAA website:

“The championship format in Scottsdale will include 30 teams and six individuals completing 54 holes of stroke play, and then the top 15 teams along with the top nine individuals not on an advancing team competing for one additional day of stroke play to determine the top eight teams for match play competition and the 72-hole stroke play individual champion. The top eight teams then compete in match play for the team national championship to be decided May 24.”

Defending Champions:

Individual Stroke Play: Rose Zhang, Stanford

Team Match Play: Stanford University

Rankings of the College Teams

You can check out all the rankings for college golf teams on the GolfWeek website but the top teams are currently:

  1. Wake Forest
  2. Stamford
  3. South Carolina
  4. LSU
  5. Texas A&M

Since I live in South Carolina, I also have to share that Clemson (Ranked 28th in the GolfWeek college team list) played but did not make the cut. Clemson finished T24 in the Team Event. For the individual competition, nine players (who’s teams are not advancing) will move forward for the individual final; and Savanah Grewal of Clemson was in a 3 person playoff for the last spot and won so she advances to Monday’s final.

Favorite Golf Podcasts

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Yes, I am a golf junkie and besides playing golf, watching golf on TV (and recently YouTube) and reading golf articles; I also listen to Golf Podcasts.

My favorites right now are (in no particular order):

  1. Above Par (Kathy Hart Wood) – focused on the mental game. Tip: Start listening with episode one.
  2. Tee Time (Tori Totlis) – the content is tailored for women golfers but many topics are good for all golfers.
  3. Hack It Out Golf (Saturday Morning Stat) – Focused on helping golfers get better. Saturday Morning Stat episodes with a focus on one stat from Lou Stagner (Arccos) is my favorite.
  4. College Golf Talk – from Golf Channel with Steve Burkowski (my favorite college expert on Golf Channel).

A bit more about each Podcast

Above Par: Kathy Hart Wood is a certified life coach and a top 50 LPGA Golf Teacher (2017-2022); and she has played golf most of her life. Her website gives you access to her coaching program but you get so much free advice from her podcast, Above Par which you can access from her website or your favorite podcast app.

Kathy talks fast and her podcasts are 15 to 20 mins long. She gives useful tips, tools, strategies. For example, I used to feel bad for friends getting upset when they were playing bad. In her podcast “How to Deal with Negative Golfers” Kathy explains its not your responsibility to make them feel better and it will only hurt your game by wasting your energy on trying to change them. And if that person is your partner, she gives a strategy to say at the beginning of the round “Let’s agree not to be negative. Let’s agree not to apologize for missed shots there’s no upside to it and we are all going to have our share of missed shots.”

Tee Time: The podcast is hosted by Tori Totlis an Arizona golfer who created a program (website) called Complete Confidence Golf and has a passion for helping women get into and enjoy the game of golf. The blog page of her website has links to all her podcasts (or you can search for Tee Time on whatever app you use to listen to your favorite podcasts).

Tee Time podcasts run about an hour because Tori goes in-depth on the topic she is discussing. Tori has had Lou Stagner and other experts on her podcast. I also enjoy when she has other golfers on the show; particularly golfers that have played in USGA Amateur events.

Hack It Out Golf – This podcast has three guys talking about how to improve your game. I like the episodes that are released on Saturday called “Saturday Morning Stat” and are about 10-15 mins. long with Lou Stagner from Arccos focusing on a single golf stat. Lou Stagner has a newsletter and you can signup at his website. He is also very active on Twitter or you can search for Hack It Out Golf on your favorite podcast app.

I plan to write a blog post about Golf Stats because learning stats from Lou Stanger has helped me put my game in perspective!

Here is one interesting statistic from Lou Stagner – Tiger Woods only made 80% of greens from a 110 yards out. Or he missed the green 20% of the time from 110 yards. The stats he shares are all about setting expectations for amateur golfers. If Tiger only hits greens 80% then why do we, as amateurs, get upset when we miss a green.

College Golf Talk – If you enjoy watching college golf on Golf Channel then you may enjoy this podcast hosted by Steve Burkowski and Brentley Romine from the Golf Channel. Full disclosure I do not listen to this podcast every week (like I do my other favorites) but I’ll listen before big events like the NCAAs or The Augusta Women’s Amateur.

I’ve been following college golf for a few years and love the fact that you can watch a college golfer and then see them transition to the professional ranks. In 2018, I remember watching the NCAA Division 1 golf on Golf Channel and Jennifer Kupcho won the individual title. In 2019, I cheered for Jennifer Kupcho to win the first Augusta National Women’s Amateur; which she won. Then I became vested in watching her on the LPGA and seeing Kupcho win her first LPGA Major (The Chevron, formally ANA, formally DIana Shore) in 2022 was exciting. Unfortunately as I’m writing this blog post, Kupcho (as the defending champion of the Chevron) missed the cut.

Do you have a favorite golf podcast? Let me now in the comments so I can check it out!

Watch College Golf

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If you love to watch golf but don’t watch college golf, you are missing out. If you like watching stroke play – it’s got it. If you like watching match play – it’s got it. If you like team sports – yup, college golf is all about “the team.”

The other reasons I love college golf:

  1. Future Stars of Professional golf: It’s fun to see the up and coming golfers and then follow their careers in the top amateur events and then see who makes it on the professional tours.
  2. Relating to the College Golfers: Yes, their games are well beyond my skill set but they are still learning and I find I can relate to the ups and downs they have in their rounds. And they let you know how they are feeling because they are so expressive with their emotions.
  3. Big Moments: It never seems to fail that there is a big moment or a moment that you can tell changes a golfer’s life. One example, Haley Moore, playing for University of Arizona made the winning putt for the 2018 NCAA Women’s National Championship. That moment changed her life not only because of the winning putt but also because of the focused on her compelling “backstory” which was the focus of many articles, etc. She made it to the LPGA tour because of her talent but I doubt she would have PXG as a sponsor or be well known by LPGA fans if not for the moment created by that final putt at the NCAA championship and the focus on her personal story.

The college golf event that gets all the attention is NCAA Championship in the spring but thanks to Golf Channel’s commitment to college golf, you can watch the Maridoe Invitational (Men’s golf) today thru Wednesday (September 13 – September 15) on Golf Channel (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. EST). Maridoe is a course in Texas – side note: my favorite PGA Tour Player Jordan Speith is a member.

You can also read interesting articles at College Central on the Golf Channel Website. Also, Golf Week has a good college golf section. And I like to follow Julie Williams of GolfWeek on Twitter. I think one of the best college golf geeks is on Golf Channel, Steve Burkowski and he’s also on Twitter.

In 2021, Pepperdine won the NCAA for the men and Ole Miss won for the women. Both were a surprise. For me, especially Ole Miss because Stanford has an amazing women’s team. In fact, in 2022, I would be shocked if Stanford doesn’t win because they now have Rose Zhang as a freshman (#1 Amateur in the world rankings) and Rachel Heck is a sophmore (and as a freshman won the 2021 Individual NCAA women’s champion and is the #2 Amateur in the world rankings).

At a minimum you should watch the NCAA in the spring on Golf Channel. They televise both the men and women’s championships!