Last weekend marked the start of the NCAA Men’s Golf Championships at Omni La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, Calif. After earning the ACC Championship title and successfully advancing through their regional tournament in Winston-Salem, N.C., No. 4 Virginia earned their place amongst the nation’s best in the field of 30.
The Cavaliers arrived in Carlsbad perhaps the premier favorite, a team that had remained amongst the top two in national rankings for the entirety of the 2025-26 campaign. The squad certainly had their eyes on a deep run into the match play portion of the event, hopefully with a trophy in their hands when all was said and done.
The first round on Friday left much to be desired, with a stellar 68 courtesy of senior Ben James only doing so much to counteract a disappointing round of 77 from freshman Michael Lee.
Graduate student Paul Chang, who Coach Bowen Sargent and his squad relied upon quite heavily throughout the year for scores that would propel Virginia atop the leaderboard, was unable to make a qualifying score in round one, shooting a disastrous seven-over 79.
After one round of play, the Cavaliers sat at even par, good for 11th place in the team standings with just the top eight qualifying for the match play portion of the event at the end of the four stroke play rounds.
Recovery was the name of the game in round two, and the Cavaliers did just that. Chang looked like a renewed golfer, discarding the burden of the prior round to card a 67 with a bogey-free 34 on the back nine. Senior Bryan Lee shot a 71 for the second consecutive round, overcoming a 39 without a birdie on the front to fire a 32 with four birdies on the back.
Junior Josh Duangmanee also matched his first-round score of an even-par 72 and, although James faltered slightly in round two, his two-over 74 did little to blemish what was otherwise a positive round for Virginia.
Unfortunately for Virginia, round three did not carry the same fate, as no player was able to surpass an even-par score. James, Chang and Bryan Lee all looked primed for low scores after nine holes with scores of 35, but the back nine proved a demoralizing challenge for all three.
Chang and Lee both struggled to put things together, each suffering a double-bogey on the way to dual scores of 39. James fared slightly better, carding a 37 that nullified his halfway standing at one-under. Still, Virginia contained its top 15 status, qualifying for a fourth and final round of stroke play.
Going into the final round, Virginia sat tied for 10th place, two spots short of match play qualification. If the Cavaliers wanted to secure a spot to keep their season alive, a strong performance on day four would be vital to avoid what looked sure to be a playoff amongst teams clustered around par.
James and Bryan Lee did all they could on the front, both shooting bogey-free through nine. Conversely, Chang and Michael Lee struggled to make inroads with scores of 37 and 38, respectively.
Once again, the back nine was a bloodbath. Bryan Lee bogeyed the last two holes in what would turn out to be the final nail in the coffin for the Cavaliers. Chang’s double bogey on 17, despite a birdie on the final hole, meant that the Cavaliers at one-over were on the outside looking in for the four-team playoff at two-under.
For Sargent and Virginia, it's an underwhelming end to what was unquestionably the Cavaliers’ best regular season performance in recent memory. Last year, when the Cavaliers found themselves facing Oklahoma State in the NCAA final, it came as a shock to many. They had only won one tournament prior to capturing the ACC title. This season was different, a display of pure dominance that saw Virginia take five tournament victories before the ACC Championship.
Now, the Cavaliers must confront a frightening reality. Next season will mark a changing of the guard for Virginia, as Chang, James and Bryan Lee all depart as some of the nation’s premier college golfers. The hole left in their wake will be nearly impossible to fill, as their talents ascended Virginia to a tier of truly dominant programs in college golf.
The weekend did provide one silver lining, however. The Cavalier faithful will not have to wait long to see James — the Connecticut wunderkind who signed on with Virginia four years ago and thus changed the trajectory of the Cavalier program — play again. As he finished atop the PGA Tour U standings this year, James earned his PGA Tour card upon the conclusion of Monday’s round.
It is likely that he will make his first start as a full member of the tour in the coming weeks, so Cavalier fans will be able to see one of their own on golf’s highest stage.
Chang and Lee also earned cards for the PGA Tour Americas, so they will also find themselves playing golf professionally for this upcoming year.
With new recruits incoming and talents like Duangmanee and Michael Lee waiting to assume their roles as team leaders, next year looks to be an exciting redemption tour for Virginia golf.
Read More
In do-or-die rematch against Jacksonville State, Virginia perishes 7-6
By Drew Dillman | 6 days ago“[Next season] we can be more surgical in our approach to really filling needs around the good young players that are here and the good young players that are coming in,” Pollard said. “[We can] really be in a position when we hit the ground running in the fall, to have so much more continuity in terms of player development.”
After ‘emotional week,’ Kevin Cassese takes over Virginia men’s lacrosse
By Michael Liebermann | 6 days agoThe press conference capped a wild nine-day saga. Virginia announced May 18 that Lars Tiffany, its 10-year head coach and two-time national champion, “will not return.”
Through fire and fury, Virginia outlasts No. 9 Southern Miss in all-time marathon
By Xander Tilock | May 31, 2026“Our guys came out and really answered the bell,” Coach Chris Pollard said postgame.
