Jordan Spieth
A look at the 2012 NCAA Division 1 Men's
Championship, held May 29-June 3 at
Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades,
Calif.:
Field of 30
The NCAA Championship field, in order of
Golfweek/Sagarin College Ranking:
1. Texas
2. Alabama
3. UCLA
4. USC
5. Auburn
6. California
7. Oregon
8. Stanford
10. Texas AM
11. Washington
13. North Florida
14. San Diego State
16. Kent State
17. Virginia
18. Florida
19. Florida State
22. Central Florida
24. Georgia
26. Iowa
28. Oklahoma
29. Liberty
31. Illinois
32. Chattanooga
33. Alabama-Birmingham
35. East Carolina
39. TCU
40. Memphis
48. Virginia Tech
49. Lamar
55. Tulsa
Ringler’s Fab 5:
1. Texas: The Longhorns have to be the
favorite, having been ranked No. 1 all
season. Texas has three players ranked in
the top 20.
2. Alabama: The Crimson Tide, along with
perhaps California, may be the team with
the most momentum.
3. UCLA: The Bruins have only one win this
season, but have quietly been one of
college golf’s most consistent teams.
4. California: The Golden Bears have the
fewest head-to-head losses (13) in
college golf and are peaking at the right
time.
5. Washington: This is the time of the year
this program gets noticed. The Husky
magic seems to be alive and ready for a
run at Riviera.
Overachiever:
Lamar is an obvious choice. The Cardinals,
who finished fourth at the East Regional,
were the only double-digit seed to qualify
for nationals and do not have any players
ranked in the top 100.
Underachiever:
Chattanooga’s winning the South Central
Regional might have raised a few
eyebrows. Not mine. The Mocs have
shown glimpses this season of a team
that could stick around at Riviera. With the
Southern Conference Championship its
only previous win, the Mocs were
something of a regular-season
disappointment. This team is better than
its ranking.
Number crunching:
• Conference USA was the big winner at
regionals. Five league teams – Alabama-
Birmingham, Central Florida, East Carolina,
Memphis and Tulsa – advanced. Only the
Pac-12 had more teams, with six. The SEC
had four, and the ACC and Big 12 each
had three.
• Talk about your power conferences. The
Pac-12 won three of the six regionals, and
its six teams at the NCAA finals (UCLA,
USC, Cal, Oregon, Stanford, Washington)
are ranked in the top 11 of the
Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings.
• With Oklahoma State’s streak of 65
consecutive NCAA Championships now
over, who has the longest current streak?
The answer: Florida, with 12.
• The top 20 players in Golfweek’s
individual rankings all will be at Riviera.
ABOUT THE NCAA Division I Championship
30 teams and 6 individuals not on a qualifying
team make up the field for the championship of
NCAA
Division I women's golf.
After 72 holes of stroke play, the individual
champion is crowned, and the low 8 teams advance
to
match play to determine the team champion.
View Complete Tournament Information