NCAA Men’s Golf Championship: Staff picks and preview…

NCAA Men’s Golf Championship: Staff picks and preview of what to watch for at Grayhawk Golf Club

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — After Stanford swept the team and individual women’s titles, the 2022 NCAA Men’s Golf Championship wraps up two long weeks of college golf in the desert at Grayhawk Golf Club this week.

A total of 30 teams and six individuals not on a qualifying team will compete for national titles, with the individual champion being decided after four rounds of stroke play from Friday, May 27 to Monday, May 30. The field of teams will then be cut to eight and the format will switch to match play, with the team champion being crowed on Wednesday, June 1.

Golfweek’s college staff made predictions for the bracket and who will take home the individual trophy, with match-play picks to come later in the week. Check out our selections and what to watch for this week in the desert.

Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings: Men’s team | Men’s individual
More: What we want to see at the 2022 NCAA Championship

Staff picks

Lance Ringler

Match play

Vanderbilt
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Pepperdine
Georgia Tech
Arizona State
Auburn
Texas

Individual champion: J.M. Butler, Auburn

Adam Woodard

Match play

Oklahoma
Arizona State
Pepperdine
Oklahoma State
Vanderbilt
Texas
North Carolina
Georgia Tech

Individual champion: Ludvig Aberg, Texas Tech

What to watch for

Just 17 of the top 25 teams in the nation advanced to the NCAA Championship, with three top-20 teams missing out on the top 30: Washington (11), Notre Dame (17) and Illinois (19).

On the flip side, Utah enters as the lowest-ranked teams to advance at No. 49, followed by Georgia Southern (43) and BYU (41).

More: Meet the 30 teams, six individuals at the 2022 NCAA Championship

Defending champion Pepperdine returns four of five starters this year, including senior Joe Highsmith, who won the NCAA Bryan regional before the Waves crashed into the NCAA Championship for the 12th time in program history.

Last year’s runner-up, Oklahoma enters the week as the No. 1 seed and favorite, and for good reason. The Sooners are on a three-win streak after claiming victory at the Thunderbird Collegiate, Big 12 Championship and NCAA Norman Regional. Overall, Oklahoma tied a program record with seven wins this season in 12 starts and hasn’t finished worse than fourth.

Nobody played the par 4s and par 5s better than hosts Arizona State last year, who return three of five starters on this year’s team. The Sun Devils finished second in birdies with 66, just two behind national-champion Pepperdine.