Summer is over, the calendar has turned to September and college golf is back. That means it’s time to rank the teams heading into the season.
The chase to win the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship is on. Next spring, the championships will be held at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California, the second year of a three-year contract.
Last year, Auburn captured its first national championship in school history, knocking off Florida State 3-2 in the match-play final to win the title. With plenty of players back, including the reigning player of the year, the Tigers find themselves in a familiar spot to begin the season.
Here’s a look at Golfweek’s 2024-25 men’s college golf preseason rankings.
1. Auburn
The defending national champions take the top spot, and for good reason. Auburn returns consensus national Player of the Year Jackson Koivun, Brendan Valdes, Carson Bacha, Josiah Gilbert and Ryan Eshleman. Add in incoming freshman Billy Davis, the Tigers will again be one of college golf’s best.
2. Arizona State
Last season was a disappointing finish for the Sun Devils, a top-seed at regionals that didn’t advance to NCAAs. This year, however, Arizona State has two of the best players in the country in U.S. Amateur champion Josele Ballester and PGA Tour University’s No. 1 Player for the Class of 2025 Preston Summerhays. Those two can do big things and lead ASU back into the national title conversation.
3. Vanderbilt
Gordon Sargent has a PGA Tour card in his future, but first, the 2022 NCAA individual champion has one more season of college golf. Along with Jackson Van Paris and Wells Williams, the Commodores may not have the depth of last year’s roster, but their top three can compete with any team on any day across the country.
4. Virginia
Virginia is a team that is deep and experienced heading into the season. It begins with 2023 Phil Mickelson Award winner Ben James, who could content for the Haskins Award as the best player in college golf. Add in Bryan Lee, Deven Patel, Josh Duangmanee and Paul Chang, the Cavaliers’ lineup is stout 1-5 and is a strong contender to make it back to match play in the spring.
5. Florida State
Florida State made it to the national championship match in the spring before losing to Auburn, and the Seminoles have a good chance to get back to the big stage this year. That all starts with World No. 1 amateur Luke Clanton, who in the spring won three straight times and built on it with one of the more impressive summers on the professional circuit ever by an amateur. The Seminoles will go as Clanton does.
6. Tennessee
The departure of Caleb Surratt in the middle of last season was hard to replace for the Volunteers, but they remained one of the best teams in the country and are only better this year. One of the big reasons why will be incoming freshman Jackson Herrington, who had a spectacular summer and became one of the best juniors in recent months. His ceiling is high, and with Tennessee’s other returning players like Evan Woosley-Reed and Lance Simpson, watch out for the Vols.
7. Texas
Texas is no stranger to having success in recent years, winning the national championship in 2022. But the last two years, the Longhorns haven’t made match play. This year, expect Texas to be in the conversation as one of the nation’s best with Tommy Morrison, Christiaan Maas and Arizona State transfer Luke Potter leading the way.
8. Illinois
Illinois won the stroke-play portion of NCAAs in the spring but was upset in the quarterfinals of match play. This year, the Illini bring back plenty of experience and talented players, including U.S. Amateur semifinalist Jackson Buchanan, a Player of the Year candidate, and Max Herendeen, one of the best freshman in the country last year.
9. Florida
The 2023 national champions narrowly missed out on match play last year, but the Gators have reloaded and look to be one of the country’s best heading into 2024-25. Leading the charge is Western Amateur champion Ian Gilligan, 2023 U.S. Amateur semifinalist Parker Bell, Matthew Kress, Luke Poulter and Jack Turner.
10. North Carolina
North Carolina lost three key players from its lineup at the 2024 NCAA Championship, but the brothers Ford, David and Maxwell, are back for their senior seasons in Carolina blue. Also joining the roster is Texas transfer Keaton Vo, who will have a big role if the Tar Heels are going to content for a title.
Nos. 11-20
11. Oklahoma
12. Ole Miss
13. Georgia Tech
14. Texas Tech
15. Arizona
16. Alabama
17. Arkansas
18. Texas A&M
19. Oklahoma State
20. Washington
Nos. 21-30
21. Stanford
22. Georgia
23. Duke
24. Ohio State
25. Oregon
26. UCLA
27. LSU
28. Mississippi State
29. East Tennessee State
30. California
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Golfweek’s 2024-25 men’s college golf preseason team rankings
