Tiger Golf Team Set And Ready To Go At La Costa For NCAA Championship
CARLSBAD, California – A season of success has LSU at the pinnacle of men’s college golf as the No. 7 LSU men’s golf team begins play here Friday in the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship at the OMNI La Costa Resort and Spa.
The Tigers begin the opening 54 holes of the event in the preferred late-early tee times, starting at 12:45 p.m. PT (2:45 p.m. Baton Rouge time) off the 10th tee. LSU will play in the morning wave on Saturday.
It’s a playing setup most coaches love to have and LSU second-year coach Jake Amos is no exception.
“It’s actually one of the only advantages you get from having a good season. If you are ranked in the top 15, you get that wave,” Amos said. “You can see how the course is playing in the morning. You can change, adjust for the afternoon and then you really get to separate yourself to get the good tee time (for Sunday).”
While it is important, there is another message from Amos about the job ahead.
“Our goal this year is from what I’m learned in the past.” said Coach Amos. “It is not to get lost in the big picture of the 30 teams. It’s more just try and win each day, in your wave. If you can be the best team in your wave every single day. To me, that’s how you get through.”
LSU had three team wins in the wrap around 2025-26 season with finishes no worse than fourth in 10-of-11 team starts in the play five-count four format of college golf.
The Tigers will go with juniors Jay Mendell (69.43) and Noah McWilliams (69.48), both from Louisiana (Mendell from Lafayette and McWilliams from Benton) along with freshman Dan Hayes of England (70.09), sophomore Arni Sveinsson of Iceland (70.15) and senior Matty Dodd-Berry (70.39) of England. Baton Rouge senior Luke Askew (73.46) is the alternate.
Mendell and Haskew of LSU played in the 2024 championship, the first year it was played here at La Costa, and Dodd-Berry was part of the 2024 team that Coach Jake Amos brought here from East Tennessee State. They have an idea what they will be seeing when they step on the 10th tee to start tournament play on Friday.
“Arni has had a bit of injury … but he’s really starting to play well,” said Coach Amos about his team. “McWilliams has improved tremendously. Jay Mendell has had a phenomenal spring and obviously, they are both Louisiana guys. One guy that really doesn’t get a lot of attention is our freshman, Dan Hayes. He’s incredibly consistent. He’s always there. He’s been our absolute rock. For a freshman, that’s unusual. Matty has been playing well. Individually, I genuinely mean this – one through five – anyone could win it.
“I think there were a lot of teams that didn’t want us to be here because we’re just starting to click. Arnie’s starting to play better. Matty’s playing better. Jay and Noah have been great, and Dan has been super consistent. So, I promise you, all of them are trying to win it, which is a good thing for the team.
In the NCAA/Scoreboard rankings, all five LSU starters are ranked in the top 151 of Division I college golf.
Mendell is at No. 47, McWilliams is ranked from 62, Sveinsson 73, Hayes 126 and Dodd-Berry 151.
The team went through the lengthy process of the Thursday practice round as 29 teams went through their allowed 18 holes on the course. BYU, which does not play Sunday events, had its practice round before the women’s championship match on Wednesday and will play its Sunday round on Thursday after the practice round.
“I think (the course) really suits our games,” said Coach Amos, who took four consecutive teams to the NCAA at East Tennessee State prior to coming to LSU before the 2024-25 season. “We’re good ball strikers. We’re very disciplined. I think you have to be aggressive off the team, but you also have to be very disciplined and focused into the greens. You need to miss in the right spots, and we work on that a lot, so I’m excited about that. We will get to see how it’s playing Friday morning before we go out and we can kind of adjust after that.”
LSU will be making its 44th appearance in the NCAA Championship, having won the national championship in 1940, 1942, 1947, 1955 and most recently, 2015, at the Concession Club in Bradenton, Florida.
Three times, the individual national champion has come from LSU – Fred Haas Jr. in 1937; Earl Stewart in 1941 and John Peterson in 2011.
The teams will play 18-hole rounds each day through Sunday, when the first cut will take place to 15 teams. After a final round on Monday, the individual champion will be crowned and the top eight teams will begin match play on Tuesday with a national champion crowned on Wednesday.
For the first two rounds, LSU will be paired with Ole Miss and North Carolina. Ole Miss is the No. 8 seed and North Carolina is seeded ninth.
Live scoring for the event can be found at Scoreboard.clippd.com. Live streaming will be available through Babygrande on Golfchannel.com beginning around 12:30 p.m. PT through the conclusion of the first round.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
Carlsbad, California – OMNI La Costa Resort & Spa North Course
First Round Tee Waves
All Times Central Time
1st Tee
8:52 a.m. – Georgia, Florida State, Southern California
9:47 a.m. – Mississippi State, Arkansas State, Purdue
10:42 a.m. – Individual Qualifier Pairing
2:12 p.m. – Virginia, Oklahoma State, Arkansas
3:07 p.m. – Vanderbilt, Arizona, Arizona State
4:02 p.m. – Individual Pairing
10th tee
8:30 a.m. – Tennessee, Texas A&M, BYU
9:25 a.m. – Duke, UCLA, Louisville
10:20 a.m. – San Diego, Chattanooga, Memphis
1:50 p.m. – Auburn, Florida, Texas
2:45 p.m. – LSU, Ole Miss, North Carolina
3:40 p.m. – Pepperdine, Stanford, Oklahoma