Florida peaked at the perfect time in 2023. (Golfweek)
While plenty of college campuses are covered in ice, snow, and darkness, the spring college golf schedule is off and running at a breakneck pace. We've already seen a mid-season addition,
Wenyi Ding, set scoring records in Hawaii.
The spring season is the time for the best teams to peak in time for their conference title so they can make it to regionals and then on to the National Championship, which will be held at a new venue - La Costa - in Carlsbad, California.
Related: FLORIDA WINS NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 2001 For some, the move from Grayhawk to La Costa is a welcome one, as new skills might be tested away from the confines of desert golf.
While each conference is deep, here are three teams from each Power 5 Conference that are worth watching.
Big 10
Illinois
Coach Mike Small churns out competitive teams every year. The Fighting Illini dominated the Big 10 championships in 2023, beating runner-up Northwestern by 17 shots in a weather-shortened 36-hole event. The squad lost two very good players in Tommy Kuhl and Adrien Dumont de Chassart, and still won their first event - The Sahalee Players Championship. Max Herendeen and Jackson Buchanan, who finished second in the NCAA Individual event last year, are the main cogs for Small’s team.
Related: THE HAL WILLIAMS COLLEGIATE: ILLINOIS WINS BY THREE SHOTS TO GO BACK-TO-BACK
Ohio State
Neal Shipley found his game this past summer, reaching the U.S. Amateur finals before losing to Nick Dunlap. The Buckeyes secured the double in the Southwestern Invitational in late January, with Shipley winning individual honors. While Shipley and his 69 scoring average is the player who draws the most attention, Maxwell Moldovan is motivated by a few things in his senior spring. The decorated Ohio native would love to help the Buckeyes make a run in the National Championship while also chasing down status at the professional level. He is currently seventh in PGA Tour U.
Related: SOUTHWESTERN INVITATIONAL: NEAL SHIPLEY LEADS OHIO STATE TO A SEASON-OPENING SWEEP
Purdue
Norweigan Herman Wibe Sekne is the leader of the Boilermakers. His three top-five finishes and 69.21 stroke average lead the team, which won two events in the fall. In last year’s Big 10 Championship, Purdue felt hard done by the shortened event; they finished in seventh place but earned an at-large selection into the Regionals, where they fell short of reaching the National Championship. If the Boilermakers want to make an appearance in the National Championship, they’ll need their 2-5 - Peyton Snowberger, Nels Surtani, Kent Hsiao, and Sam Easterbrook - to continue the good performances they had in the fall.
Big 12
Oklahoma
Consistently one of the best programs in the country and the defending Big 12 champions, Oklahoma will lean on Luke Kluver, Drew Goodman, and Ben Lorenz to reach the National Championship. They won the Ka'anapali Classic in Hawaii to finish their fall campaign. Redshirt senior Luke Kluver won medalist honors in Hawaii and has been the team's talisman to this point in the season. He's been low Sooner in three of the team's five-stroke play events and also went 4-0-0 in the Big 12 Match Play Championship. Ryan Hybl's squad hasn't finished outside of fifth place the entire season.
Related: KA'ANAPALI COLLEGIATE: LUKE KLUVER LEADS OKLAHOMA TO CO-CHAMPIONSHIP WITH ETSU Texas
The Longhorns had a match play heavy schedule on the backend of their fall season. They opened with three stoke play events, but after October 3, they played in the Big 12 Match Play and the Cypress Point Classic. Of the four players on the roster who have played every round for Texas, three of them are sophomores - Christian Maas, Tommy Morrison, Jacob Sosa. John Fields has a young, talented team. While veteran squads tend to reach the pinnacle in recent years, this Texas team could make some noise and gain valuable experience along the way.
Texas Tech
Texas Tech lost one of the best college golfers in the country when Ludvig Aberg left for the professional ranks. Yet, the team has admirably filled in the giant hole Aberg left behind. Junior Calum Scott, a GB&I Walker Cup team member, has played well. Senior Tyran Snyders has recorded two top-three finishes in the The William H. Tucker Intercollegiate and The Southwestern. In addition to those two players, Vincente Marzilo, who transferred from North Texas, should play a big role if Texas Tech can make a push for a National Championship berth.
Pac 12
Washington
Coach Allen Murray’s team is led by a trio of international players. Graduate student Petr Hruby has recorded three top-six finishes. Senior Taehoon Song won the Husky Invitational and recently notched a runner-up in the Southwestern Invitational. A first-year player, German Finn Koelle, has been a bright spot for the Huskies thus far. He’s recorded a 70.76 and has three top-10 finishes in six events, including an impressive runner-up in the Amer Ari Invitational with a 18-under-par total.
Arizona State University
Mid-season pickups are usually reserved for the NBA, but adding Wenyi Ding to an already talented Sun Devil team will make them a formidable national title contender. He’s burst onto the scene with a runner-up finish in his debut and then a record-setting win in the Amer Ari Invitational shooting 27-under par. With two U.S. Junior Am champions - Ding and Preston Summerhayes - on the roster, along with the European Amateur winner Jose Luis Ballester Barrio and heralded Luke Potter, it’s hard to imagine the Sun Devils don’t improve on their quarterfinal finish in the Nation Championship last year.
Related: AMER ARI: WENYI DING SETS COLLEGIATE SCORING RECORD AS UNC WINS THE TEAM TITLE
University of Arizona
Arizona is the third team from the Pac-12 ranked in the top ten in the Scoreboard by Clippd national rankings. Junior Tiger Christiansen leads the way for the Wildcats with a 70.00 stroke average and a win in the Jackson T. Stephens Cup at Trinity Forest. While the team hasn’t won an event this year, they have finished runner up in their last two stroke play events - The Stephens Cup and The NIT.
Southeastern Conference
Auburn
The momentum for the Tigers started back at Cherry Hills in the U.S. Amateur. Jackson Koivun (quarterfinals) and J.M. Butler (semifinals) had incredible weeks. The Tigers lost to just one team all fall, winning five of their six events. Koivun leads the team in scoring average (68.6), while Butler (69.58) and Carson Bacha (69.33) also have scoring averages under 70. With little fanfare to start the season, the Tigers have made their mark and put the SEC, and the country, on notice.
Florida
While Ole Miss and Arkansas sit above Florida in the national rankings, their win at the Sea Best was a nice way to start the spring. The defending national champions look very different from last year, as they graduated a slew of stars like Fred Biondi and Ricky Castillio. However, it wouldn’t come as a surprise if the Gators were able to round into form again. Matthew Kress has led the team in scoring in five of their six tournaments; Ian Gilligan and Parker Bell have proven solid no. 2 and no. 3 players. First-year Luke Poulter has settled in nicely, earning SEC Freshman of the Week twice. The SEC is deep, and J.C. Deacon’s team will hope to use some of their national title experience to make another run at a title.
Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt’s time is now. Their veteran roster mirrors the types of rosters that have won national titles in recent years. The Commodores boast three players in PGA Tour U’s top ten - William Moll, Matthew Riedel, and Cole Sherwood. It’s also impossible to forget the No. 1 ranked amateur in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com rankings - Gordon Sargent. While Auburn’s incredible fall would be hard to match, Vanderbilt won three stroke play events and also nabbed a win in the St. Andrews Links Collegiate Medal Match Play.
Related: GORDON SARGENT: THE PGA TOUR MEMBER WHO IS STILL AN AMATEUR
Atlantic Athletic Conference
Georgia Tech
The ACC boasted three teams in the golf’s final four last year. Georgia Tech reached the finals after beating UNC. Christo Lamprecht rode the momentum of his excellent summer (Amateur Champion and Low Amateur at Open Championship) and won the first two events of the fall. He currently has a 68.33 scoring average. Bartley Forrester is another senior who has played well along with Aidan Kramer. It will be a monumental mountain to climb for Georgia Tech to reach the finals again, but Lamprecht will do his best to try and make it happen.
Related: BRITISH OPEN CHRISTO LAMPRECHT WINS THE SILVER MEDAL AS LOW AMATEUR
Florida State University
After a run to the semi-finals last year at Grayhawk, this fall started off with high expectations. However, the Seminoles started off slow with an eighth-place finish and two sixth-place finishes in their opening events. One explanation for the tough start could be their stalwart, Frederik Kjettrup did not play. Once he returned, they slowly steered the ship back in the right direction. Luke Clanton and Cole Anderson also rounded into form once Kjettrup returned. Each of them had their best finish in the Jackson T. Stephens Cup, Kjettrup’s first event back. The Seminoles won that week and then finished runner-up in the East Lake Cup Stroke Play and Match Play. Given their talent, FSU should continue to find their footing this spring.
North Carolina
The Tar Heels hope to make it one step further than they did last year. The 2023 semi-finalists were toppled by Georgia Tech at Grayhawk, but they returned the brunt of their roster. In the fall they won two stroke play events - Fighting Illini Invitational and the William Cup. David Ford leads the team in stroke average (68.83), and his twin brother Maxwell Ford (69.36) has the next-best average on the team. Dylan Menante has championship DNA after winning with Pepperdine, and Austin Greaser and Peter Fountain provide incredible depth. Both players have the game to win any time they tee it up.