Trying to determine the best college golf team of all time is a bit like putting forward a case for the greatest player there’s ever been – the answer will likely differ from person to person.
Each candidate can be judged on different factors, including the era they played in, the strength of their opponents, their tournament record, the manner of their victories, the talent within the team, and the impact those players made in their careers beyond college. Even so, several teams stand out…
Among the University of Houston‘s 16 NCAA Division I Championship men’s titles were five in succession between 1956 and 1960 under the guidance of legendary coach Dave Williams – an era that included future PGA Tour winner Phil Rodgers and Jacky Cupit, helping the univerity to set a benchmark for team success in college golf.
Almost three decades later, Phil Mickelson had begun making an indelible mark on college golf on his way to 16 wins at Arizona State, including three individual NCAA Division I Championship titles – a feat only matched by Texas Longhorns player Ben Crenshaw.
It wasn’t just individual honors that Mickelson achieved, either. His efforts also helped the Sun Devils win the team title at the 1990 NCAA Division I Championship, as Mickelson won his second individual title.
That team’s achievement and the presence of Mickelson arguably puts it into the conversation of the best ever, but add in the fact that his teammates Per Ulrik Johansson, Todd Kernaghan, Jim Lemon, Scott Frisch, Cade Stone and Keith Sbarbaro all achieved top-10 finishes in the contest, and it makes it stand out even more.
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Similarly to Mickelson’s presence on that Arizona State team, it would be hard to dismiss the Stanford team of the mid-90s if for no other reason than it included a player who would go on to not only achieve almost unprecedented feats in the professional game, but alter the entire golf landscape.
When Tiger Woods enrolled at the college, Stanford was coming off the back of a team title in the 1994 NCAA Division I Championship, with players including Casey Martin and Notah Begay III on its roster.
While Woods’ presence wasn’t enough to lead it to another title during his time at the university, he battled a bout of food poisoning in the 1995…
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