Today was supposed to be the day when we knew who was advancing to the final round of stroke play, but we have a playoff! The 30-team field has more or less been cut in half, and we’ll know our individual champion and our 8 teams advancing to match play in 24 hours.
Since Wake Forest and Georgia Tech are tied for 15th place, where the cut line is, we’ll have a playoff in the morning. This will then determine if a playoff is needed for the 9 individuals advancing to the final round of stroke play. Those 9 individuals are derived from the teams not advancing, so we don’t know if Georgia Tech or Wake Forest players will be included in that count.
Brigham Young has made the cut despite them playing their third round on Thursday before the tournament officially began. There are many opinions on the team not competing on a Sunday, some supporting the religious basis while others feel like their not playing in the same conditions is not fair to those who competed today. What do you think?
How Does the Team Playoff Work?
The team playoff for 15th place kicks off at 8:00am PT. All five players from Wake Forest and Georgia Tech will be assigned a hole – 1, 15, 16, 17 or 18 – and will play it. All five scores will be counted, with the lowest total advancing to the final stroke play round later tomorrow. If there’s a tie, the players will move onto the next hole, with the process repeating until a tie is broken.
If there is a playoff needed for individuals, the hope is that the playoff will begin at 8:30am PT.
2025 NCAA DI Men’s Leaderboard After Round 3
Below are the overall leaders after the third day at Omni La Costa.
Team Leaderboard
1. Auburn (-10)
2. Arizona State (-6)
3. Oklahoma (-3)
4. Florida (-1)
T5. Oklahoma State (+5)
T5. Texas (+5)
7. Florida State (+9)
T8. Texas Tech (+12)
T8. Ole Miss (+12)
T8. Texas A&M (+12)
11. Virginia (+13)
12. Brigham Young (+14)
T13. Pepperdine (+15)
T13. Vanderbilt (+15)
T15. Georgia Tech (+17)
T15. Wake Forest (+17)
———————————— (cut line)
17. California (+20)
18. Illinois (+23)
19. South Carolina (+26)
20. Tennessee (+29)
21. UCLA (+30)
22. Georgia (+31)
T23. UNLV (+32)
T23. Colorado (+32)
25. USF (+33)
26. New Mexico (+36)
27. Purdue (+37)
28. Augusta (+39)
29. Troy (+42)
30. San Diego (+55)
Top 10 Individuals
1. Michael La Sasso (Ole Miss, -11)*
2. Phichaksn Maichon (Texas A&M, -9)*
3. Connor Williams (Arizona State, -6)
T4. Brendan Valdes (Auburn, -5)*
T4. Clark Van Gaalen (Oklahoma, -5)
T4. Preston Stout (Oklahoma State, -5)*
T7. Jackson Koivun (Auburn, -4)*
T7. Marshall Meisel (Wake Forest, -4)
9. Luke Clanton (Florida State, -3)*
T10. Josele Ballester (Arizona State, -2)*
T10. Supapon Amornchaichan (Purdue, -2)
T10. Mahanth Chirravuri (Pepperdine, -2)
T10. Pablo Ereno (UCLA, -2)
* Indicates player a Haskins Award Finalist
Morning Wave Leaders
While Arizona State and Oklahoma are still in the top three, Auburn is the new scoreboard leader. Carson Bacha went 3-under today to help drive the Tigers up to spots to the top. Brendan Valdes shot even today and is still in the top 5 individually, with Jackson Koivun just one stroke behind his teammate in 7th.
One of the larger jumps up the individual leaderboard was Virginia’s Paul Chang and Florida’s Matthew Kress, both shooting 3-under today to move up 32 spots into the top 15.
However, the individual leader at the end of the morning wave was Ole Miss’ Michael La Sasso at 11-under. He shot 2-under today and barely skirted a time penalty for slow pace of play. He was one of two members of his group today threatened with any extra stroke, but their third playing partner backed them saying it wasn’t their fault they were behind pace.
Afternoon Wave Leaders
Texas A&M’s Phichaksn Maichon went 5-under through his first 5 holes to boost the Aggies comfortably within the cut line. He ended the day with 8 birdies and only two off the lead.
Texas Tech also made a huge jump up the leaderboard, moving 11 spots into the safe cut line zone.
The drama came down to the 18th hole when Wake Forest’s final player on the course, Marshall Meisel, made a 5-footer for par to keep Wake Forest tied for 15th place. As a young fan said while walking by Meisel afterwards, “Clutch putt!”
Follow along tomorrow on Instagram (@fairwaytogreen) and see if the afternoon wave will have as much luck with the wind as today’s.
