NCAA Men's Golf Championship highlights: Playoff coming for final spot in Monday's round

CARLSBAD, Calif. — The 2025 NCAA Men's Golf Championship moves on to Sunday, where after the third round, half of the teams in the field will head home.

The first two days of stroke play are in the books, and now it gets serious at Omni La Costa Resort and Spa. Teams outside the top 15 after Sunday's third round will miss the cut, and after Monday, only the top-eight teams will advance to match play, which begins Tuesday.

Follow along below for live updates from the third round of the NCAA Men's Golf Championship:

NCAA Men's Golf Championship live leaderboard

Click here to follow scores from the NCAA Men's Golf Championship.

Individual spots clinched

Tenessee's Lance Simpson had a stellar round with six birdies in the afternoon, signing for 2-under 70 and moving to 1 over for the tournament, earning himself a Monday tee time in the process. He's one of seven players who will move on as individuals Monday, with the last two spots to be decided after Monday's playoff.

Meet the teams advancing to Monday's final round

Fourteen of the 15 spots in Monday's final round are locked up. After Monday, only eight teams will remain fighting four the national championship.

Playoff coming for final spot

Monday morning, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech will have a playoff for the final spot in Monday's final round of stroke play. Both teams finished at 17 over.

Possible playoff coming?

We could have a playoff for the final spot.

Texas Tech, Texas A&M trying to steal Monday tee times

A pair of Texas teams are trying to play their way into Monday.

Texas Tech sits at 5 over thru Nos. 11-14, and Texas A&M is 13 over thru Nos. 14-16. Both are inside the cutline, which is still 15 over. Georgia Tech is the first team on the outside, sitting at 17 over. Wake Forest, playing with Texas A&M, is at 15 over.

Looking at the cut line

As it stands, Vanderbilt and Pepperdine are the last two teams inside the cut line, which is 15 over. There are three teams above it who are playing in the afternoon wave: Texas A&M (+6), Texas Tech (+12) and Wake Forest (+14). A&M has the best round going on the course and is nearing the turn but has the difficult back side to play. As of now, the first two teams out are Georgia Tech and California.

Time to sit, wait and watch.

Michael La Sasso avoids penalty

The individual leader almost got penalized a shot for slow play. Here's more on the situation.

Phichaksn Maichon birdies 5 straight to begin

If anyone has a chance to chase down La Sasso, it could be the senior from Texas A&M. Maichon, the 18-hole leader, birdied his first three straight holes Sunday to move to 8 under overall and three behind La Sasso, who has a hole remaining in his third round.

An addition, he has now birdied five straight.

Jackson Koivun's plans

As mentioned below, Koivun could earn his PGA Tour card this week. Here's what he would do if he accomplishes the feat.

Mahanth Chirravuri going low

The junior at Pepperdine has the best individual round on the course Sunday, sitting at 5 under with five holes to play on the front nine. Chirravuri has one win this year but he has moved into a tie for third and is five behind Michael La Sasso.

Illinois in danger

Michael La Sasso pulling away in individual race

The junior at Ole Miss, a Haskins finalist, is playing near flawless golf at Omni La Costa. He has reached 12 under with eight holes to play in his second round. He has three birdies in his first 10 holes and is six ahead of Oklahoma State's Preston Stout.

Top teams distancing

Auburn, Oklahoma and Arizona State are putting some space between themselves and the field.

The Tigers (-12), Sooners (-11) and Sun Devils (-11) have opened up a significant gap between them and the teams fourth and below, in front by eight shots after making the turn. Oklahoma State and Florida, sitting at 3 under, are the only other teams under par. But for the top three, with a strong finish Sunday, they can be in an excellent position to make match play.

BYU check in

The Cougars are the only team in the field not at Omni La Costa on Sunday, having played their third round Thursday. BYU doesn't compete on Sundays because of religious reasons.

Sitting at 14 over, BYU is outside the 15-team cut line as of now, but depending on how scores play out throughout the day, there's a chance the Cougars could earn their way into a Monday tee time.

Jackson Koivun watch

The sophomore at Auburn, who won the Haskins Award last year, has started hot in the third round, birdieing three of his first four holes to move to T-3 and three shots behind Ole Miss' Michael La Sasso.

There's more on the line for Koivun, however. With a top-10 finish at NCAAs, he'll earn the final point he needs to clinch his PGA Tour card via PGA Tour University Accelerated. He's bound to get it next month when he plays on the Palmer Cup team, but Koivun placed T-2 last year at NCAAs and is in position for another top-10 finish at Omni La Costa.

What to watch for Sunday

The biggest story is the cut to 15 teams after the third round. The morning wave has the advantage, as Omni La Costa tends to play drastically harder in the afternoon.

On Saturday, the course played more than three shots harder in the afternoon wave than the morning wave. What will that be like Sunday? Could be bad news for teams going off in the afternoon.

NCAA Men's Golf Championship predictions, expert picks

Golfweek's college golf experts Lance Ringler and Cameron Jourdan made predictions for the championship. You can see their entire selections here.

NCAA Men's Golf Championship third-round tee times

All times EDT.

1st tee

• 9:30 a.m. – Michael Mjaaseth (Arizona State), PJ Maybank III (Oklahoma), Carson Bacha (Auburn)
• 9:41 a.m. – Peer Wernicke (Arizona State), Ryder Cowan (Oklahoma), Cayden Pope (Auburn)
• 9:52 a.m. – Preston Summerhays (Arizona State), Jase Summy (Oklahoma), Josiah Gilbert (Auburn)
• 10:03 a.m. – Josele Ballester (Arizona State), Drew Goodman (Oklahoma), Jackson Koivun (Auburn)
• 10:14 a.m. – Connor Williams (Arizona State), Clark Van Gaalen (Oklahoma), Brendan Valdes (Auburn)
• 10:25 a.m. – Filip Fahlberg-Johnsson (Oklahoma State), Kye Meeks (Mississippi), Jake Birdwell (Illinois)
• 10:36 a.m. – Ethan Fang (Oklahoma State), Cameron Tankersley (Mississippi), Trey Marrion (Illinois)
• 10:47 a.m. – Eric Lee (Oklahoma State), Tom Fischer (Mississippi), Jackson Buchanan (Illinois)
• 10:58 a.m. – Gaven Lane (Oklahoma State), Cohen Trolio (Mississippi), Ryan Voois (Illinois)
• 11:09 a.m. – Preston Stout (Oklahoma State), Michael La Sasso (Mississippi), Max Herendeen (Illinois)
• 11:20 a.m. – Benjamin Reuter (Georgia Tech), Ty Holbrook (Colorado), John Broderick (Vanderbilt)
• 11:31 a.m. – Albert Hansson (Georgia Tech), Hunter Swanson (Colorado), Chase Nevins (Vanderbilt)
• 11:42 a.m. – Kale Fontenot (Georgia Tech), Brandon Knight (Colorado), Ryan Downes (Vanderbilt)
• 11:53 a.m. – Carson Kim (Georgia Tech), Dylan McDermott (Colorado), Wells Williams (Vanderbilt)
• 12:04 p.m. – Hiroshi Tai (Georgia Tech), Justin Biwer (Colorado), Jackson Van Paris (Vanderbilt)
• 2:50 p.m. – Jacob Sosa (Texas A&M), Kyle Haas (Wake Forest)
• 3:01 p.m. – Aaron Pounds (Texas A&M), Scotty Kennon (Wake Forest)
• 3:12 p.m. – Michael Heidelbaugh (Texas A&M), Tom Haberer (Wake Forest)
• 3:23 p.m. – Wheaton Ennis (Texas A&M), Jakob Melin (Wake Forest)
• 3:34 p.m. – Phichaksn Maichon (Texas A&M), Marshall Meisel (Wake Forest)
• 3:45 p.m. – Trevor Garus (UCLA), Brett Sawaia (UNLV), Pablo Gracia (Troy)
• 3:56 p.m. – Baylor Larrabee (UCLA), Trevor Lewis (UNLV), Jake Springer (Troy)
• 4:07 p.m. – Omar Morales (UCLA), Wyatt Plattner (UNLV), Lee Poppell (Troy)
• 4:18 p.m. – Kyle An (UCLA), Caden Fioroni (UNLV), Nick Fowlkes (Troy)
• 4:29 p.m. – Pablo Ereno (UCLA), Zach Little (UNLV), Brantley Scott (Troy)
• 4:40 p.m. – Carson Herron (New Mexico), Pieter Rossouw (Augusta), Ian Maspat (San Diego)
• 4:51 p.m. – Mesa Falleur (New Mexico), Chapman Barnett (Augusta), Ryan Abuan (San Diego)
• 5:02 p.m. – Clark Sonnenberg (New Mexico), Dean Wilken (Augusta), You Seong Choi (San Diego)
• 5:13 p.m. – Wyatt Provence (New Mexico), Bo Blanchard (Augusta), Jaden Cantafio (San Diego)
• 5:24 p.m. – Oliver Cage (New Mexico), Stefan Jacobs (Augusta), Cooper Humphreys (San Diego)

10th tee

• 9:52 a.m. – Jack Turner (Florida), Tyler Weaver (Florida State), Christiaan Maas (Texas)
• 10:03 a.m. – Matthew Kress (Florida), Gray Albright (Florida State), Daniel Bennett (Texas)
• 10:14 a.m. – Zack Swanwick (Florida), Jack Bigham (Florida State), Tommy Morrison (Texas)
• 10:25 a.m. – Ian Gilligan (Florida), Luke Clanton (Florida State), Jack Gilbert (Texas)
• 10:36 a.m. – Luke Poulter (Florida), Carson Brewer (Florida State), Luke Potter (Texas)
• 10:47 a.m. – Wenliang Xie (UC Berkeley), Deven Patel (Virginia), Kris Kuvaas (Pepperdine)
• 10:58 a.m. – Sihao Cong (UC Berkeley), Josh Duangmanee (Virginia), Luke Bailey (Pepperdine)
• 11:09 a.m. – Daniel Heo (UC Berkeley), Paul Chang (Virginia), Brady Siravo (Pepperdine)
• 11:20 a.m. – Charlie Berridge (UC Berkeley), Bryan Lee (Virginia), Willy Walsh (Pepperdine)
• 11:31 a.m. – Ziqin Zhou (UC Berkeley), Ben James (Virginia), Mahanth Chirravuri (Pepperdine)
• 11:42 a.m. – Jacob Modleski (Notre Dame), Claes Borregaard (Kennesaw State), Sakke Siltala (Texas State)
• 3:12 p.m. – Tim Wiedemeyer (Texas Tech), Marek Fleming (South Carolina), Matt Moloney (Georgia)
• 3:23 p.m. – Charles DeLong (Texas Tech), Brock Blais (South Carolina), George Langham (Georgia)
• 3:34 p.m. – Ben Gregg (Texas Tech), Frankie Harris (South Carolina), Buck Brumlow (Georgia)
• 3:45 p.m. – Calum Scott (Texas Tech), Zach Adams (South Carolina), Grayson Wood (Georgia)
• 3:56 p.m. – Connor Graham (Texas Tech), Nathan Franks (South Carolina), Carter Loflin (Georgia)
• 4:07 p.m. – Jackson Herrington (Tennessee), Kent Hsiao (Purdue), Cooper Smith (South Florida)
• 4:18 p.m. – Bruce Murphy (Tennessee), Sam Easterbrook (Purdue), Nino Palmquist (South Florida)
• 4:29 p.m. – Josh Hill (Tennessee), Jenson Forrester (Purdue), Shubham Jaglan (South Florida)
• 4:40 p.m. – Christian Pardue (Tennessee), Nels Surtani (Purdue), Jake Peacock (South Florida)
• 4:51 p.m. – Lance Simpson (Tennessee), Supapon Amornchaichan (Purdue), Wilhelm Ryding (South Florida)
• 5:02 p.m. – Bryan Kim (Duke), Hunter Thomson (Michigan), Braxton Watts (Utah)

NCAA Men's Golf Championship format

Finals play for both championships consist of three days of stroke play on Friday thru Sunday (54 holes), after which the top-15 teams and nine individuals not on an advancing team will be determined. That is followed by a final day of 18 holes of stroke play (Monday) to determine the top eight teams that will advance to match play as well as the 72-hole individual champion. The team national champion will be determined by a match-play format that will consist of quarterfinals and semifinals conducted on Tuesday, followed by the finals on Wednesday.

NCAA Men's Golf Championship TV information

Golf Channel is the TV home for the NCAA Championships. All times ET

Monday, May 26

Live coverage - 6-10 p.m.

Tuesday, May 27

Live coverage - 1-3:30 p.m.

Live coverage - 6-10 p.m.

Wednesday, May 28

Live coverage - 6-10 p.m.

NCAA Women's Golf Championship tickets

Fans must have tickets to attend this year's NCAA Golf Championships. Here's how to buy them.