SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – The No. 14 Texas A&M Aggies battle the best in search of their second national title at the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships from Friday to Wednesday.
Hosted by Arizona State, the site of the NCAA Championships is Grayhawk Golf Club on the par-70, 7,289-yard Raptor Course. The tournament features both stroke and match play. All 30 teams embark on stroke play the first three days. The field is cut down to 15 teams for the final round of stroke play on Monday. The top eight teams advance to the match play bracket with the quarterfinals and semifinals contested Tuesday and the national champion decided Monday.
The individual NCAA champion is crowned based on the four rounds of stroke play. The medalist earns a spot in the 2024 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club.
The Aggies won the national championship in 2009, besting Arkansas in the title bout.
The current NCAA Championship format of stroke play funneling into an eight-team match play bracket started in 2009. In addition to their 2009 title run, the Aggies also participated in the match play portion of the tournament in 2018 and 2019. The Aggies also have top-5 finishes in 1961 (5th) and 1982 (4th) when the tournament was only stroke play.
Texas A&M fields a formidable lineup including All-SEC nods Sam Bennett and William Paysse. This season, Bennett was the Masters Tournament low amateur and 122nd U.S. Amateur champion along with earning a victory at the John A. Burns Intercollegiate. Paysse owns a season-opening win at the Badger Invitational. The fivesome is rounded out by Daniel Rodrigues, Phichaksn Maichon and Vishnu Sadagopan with Jaime Montojo serving as the reserve.
In what figures to be one of the fiercest NCAA Championships in recent history, the 21 of the teams in the Golfstat Rankings Top 25 survived regionals to make the 30-team field. The SEC boasts the largest contingent with eight squads participating.
Texas A&M has four victories in the 2022-23 campaign, including the Badger Invitational, the Blessings Collegiate Invitational, the Arizona Thunderbirds Intercollegiate and the Louisiana Classics.
The Aggies’ start times are set for the first two rounds of action. The first round has the Maroon & White teeing off on hole No. 10 at 2:25 p.m. Central on Friday, paired with Alabama and…
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