The 45th playing of the Augusta Haskins Award Invitational presented by Valspar (originally known as the Augusta Invitational) will bring some of the best college golf programs to Augusta later this week. The invitational will take place Saturday, April 6, and Sunday, April 7, at Forest Hills Golf Club in Augusta, Ga.
The Field: This year's field is headlined by the #1 team in the country, the North Carolina Tar Heels. The field also includes several top-ranked teams: Oklahoma (14), ETSU (17), Illinois (18), Texas (20), and Mississippi State (26). Augusta University is the host, and they are joined by Army, Marquette, Mercer, Oklahoma State, South Florida, Troy, and Wofford. These 15 teams will play a practice round on Friday, April 5th, and then the first and second rounds on Saturday, April 6th, followed by the final round on Sunday, April 7th.
The field includes some of the best individual players in college golf. Five players are ranked in the top 15 of the latest PGA Tour University Rankings. Austin Greaser of North Carolina is No. 4, Dylan Menante of North Carolina is No. 9, Mats Ege is East Tennessee State is No. 11, Ben Lorenz of Oklahoma is No. 12, and Jonas Baumgartner of Oklahoma State is No. 14.
David Ford of North Carolina is the highest-ranked player in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com World Rankings. Ford is ranked No. 3, only behind Gordon Sargent of Vanderbilt and Michael Thorbjornsen of Stanford.
A little history: Augusta University leads the field (and owns the tournament record) in most team wins, with 12 team titles in this event. Texas and North Carolina are tied for second with 3 past team titles. Notable players to have won the individual title include Masters Champions Phil Mickelson (1989) and Dustin Johnson (2007). Past team and individual winners are attached.
National Championship Predictor? The last two team champions (Texas '22 and Florida '23) have gone on to win the NCAA Championship in the same season. Will this trend continue?
PGA Tour Exemption on the line: As is tradition, the individual champion will be granted a PGA Tour exemption for their victory.
Greatest Tee Gift in College Golf: Thanks to the longstanding and generous support of the Masters, players and coaches will attend the Monday Masters practice round as a gift from the tournament.
Pairings and Live Scoring Link: The link for pairings and live scoring (beginning Saturday morning) can be found HERE.
Press release courtesy of Brian Haskins and the Haskins Foundation.