Another week, another round of bracketology.
As the final men’s conference tournaments finish up, GolfChannel.com’s college golf insider Brentley Romine predicts which teams will make regionals, what seeds they’ll receive and where they’ll be sent.
The official regional fields will be revealed Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET on Golf Channel. Each of the six regionals will be contested on May 16-18.
There 81 total teams that qualify for postseason, and the top five teams (and top individual not on an advancing team) from each regional will advance to the 30-team NCAA Championship on May 27-June 1 at Grayhawk.
As for the magic number, the term coined by Golfweek’s Lance Ringler for the Golfstat ranking of the final at-large berth, that is at 70. That factors in four teams inside the number that are under .500 and therefore don’t satisfy the .500 rule – No. 47 Alabama, No. 55 Baylor, No. 68 Iowa and No. 69 West Virginia.
But the number is subject to change as No. 66 UC Davis still has golf left at the Big West Championship and the Golfstat rankings are set to update once more on Tuesday evening with Nos. 70 and 71, Loyola Marymount and Colorado State, each finishing second in their respective conference tournaments. Loyola Marymount was just five shots back of winner and No. 6 Pepperdine.
Here’s a projection of how this year’s six regionals will look when the fields are finalized:
(Note: Automatic qualifiers are listed with their conference in parentheses; *-projected conference champion)
Norman Regional
Jimmie Austin GC, Norman, Oklahoma
Bryan Regional
Traditions Club, Bryan, Texas
1. Oklahoma State
2. Texas A&M
3. Arkansas
4. Clemson
5. N.C. State
6. Arizona
7. North Florida (ASUN)
8. San Diego State (Mountain West)
9. Florida Gulf Coast
10. Houston
11. Kentucky
12. Abilene Christian (WAC)
13. Southeastern Louisiana (Southland)
14. Texas…
..
