Oklahoma State NCAA Golf Preview: Cowboys Seek to Defend National Title

The Oklahoma State men’s golf team has a singular mission when it plays at the NCAA Championships this week in California.

Oklahoma State Cowboys logo. | William Purnell-Imagn Images

The NCAA Championships is where the Oklahoma State Cowboys men's golf team expects to be every year. In fact, it's a near annual tradition.

The Cowboys will be playing in the NCAA Championships for the 77th time in program history. That's impressive enough. But when you consider that the Cowboys have been playing golf for 79 years, you get a clear understanding of just how embedded the program is in the fabric of college golf.

Along the way Oklahoma State has won 12 national championships, including last year's title. They're shooting for No. 13 this year at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif., where they won last year's title. Led by Big 12 player of the year Preston Stout, the Cowboys should be a factor throughout the competition.

Here is a preview of the event.

Oklahoma State Men’s Golf Preview

The standard is the standard. #GoPokes | #golfschool pic.twitter.com/kaxNiojRTS

— OSU Cowboy Golf (@OSUCowboyGolf) May 21, 2026

NCAA Championships

When: Friday-Wednesday

Where: Omni La Costa Resort & Spa, Carlsbad, Calif.

Course Yardage, Par: 7,480 yards, Par 72

How to Follow: Live scoring can be accessed at scoreboard/clippd.com. The tournament will also be live streamed at babygrandegolf.com.

Format: The 30 teams that advanced from regionals, along with 15 individual qualifiers, will participate.

Friday-Sunday: Stroke play. After 54 holes the field is cut to the Top 15 teams and the top nine individuals not with a team.

Monday: After one more round of stroke play, the field is cut to the Top 8 teams, who advance to match play.

Tuesday: Match play quarterfinals (morning) and semifinals (afternoon).

Wednesday: Match play championship.

Teams in the Field: (Athens Regional): Vanderbilt, Louisville, Auburn, BYU, Georgia; (College Station Regional): Texas, Texas A&M, Chattanooga, North Carolina, Tennessee; (Columbus Regional): Florida, Stanford, Memphis, Arizona State, Florida State; (Corvallis Regional): Oklahoma, UCLA, Arkansas, Purdue, San Diego; (Marana Regional): Arizona, Oklahoma State, LSU, Arkansas State, Duke; (Winston-Salem Regional): Virginia, Pepperdine, Ole Miss, USC, Mississippi State.

OSU’s Last Tournament: The Cowgirls finished second in the NCAA Marana regional.

About Oklahoma State

After securing @OSUCowboyGolf's spot in NCAAs, Junior Preston Stout made his way to Dallas for his @PGATOUR debut @cjbyronnelson 🤜🤛

As a Dallas native, this tournament means more 💙

Presented by @Huntington_Bank pic.twitter.com/Ut4KoNHJKi

— PGA TOUR University (@PGATOURU) May 22, 2026

Stout just wrapped up making his PGA Tour debut as an amateur at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson last weekend. It's not every day a college golfer gets to say they prepared for the NCAA Tournament by playing in a PGA Tour event. Stout is a finalist or on the watch list for every major college award in golf, including being named a finalist for the Ben Hogan award.

The No. 3 ranked collegiate golfer won the Big 12 Championship for the third straight year and was a medalist in three other tournaments, including sharing medalist honors with a teammate, Ethan Fang, at the Maridoe Collegiate.

But it was Eric Lee who led the way when Oklahoma State finished second at the NCAA Marana Regional. He shared medalist honors with three other players at 15-under-par and nearly matched OSU’s single-round scoring record with a 63 in the second round. He showed his capability of going low in a pressure-filled environment.

Lee was one of two Cowboys to be named all-Big 12 second team, along with Gaven Lane. Fang was named all-Big 12 first team as was Stout, by virtue of being named player of the year. The only player who failed to claim all-Big 12 honors was Filip Fahlberg-Johnsson. Fang won two titles this year and had four Top 10 finishes. Lane and Lee each had three Top 10 finishes this season.

This is a battle tested group that will be facing a highly competitive field and should be prepared for the challenge of four days of stroke play, followed by what they hope will be two days of match play.