Welcome to this week’s Golf Insider, everyone!
We’re shifting gears a little bit this week because one of the best times of the year is upon us: college golf championship season.
The NCAA Division I regional tournament wrapped up on May 13, with teams and individuals punching tickets to the 2026 NCAA DI Women’s Golf National Championship. Here are the top five teams and individuals from each region heading to Omni La Costa Resort from May 22-27.
Ann Arbor
Teams:
- USC
- Ohio State
- Duke
- Northwestern
- Texas Tech
Individual: Isabella McCauley (Minnesota)
Notable: USC showed that they have what it takes to come from behind and win the Ann Arbor region. This is a sure sign heading into the national championship, as they’ve now proven that when in a position of pressure, they can get it done.
After round two, the Trojans sat in a tie for second place, behind Ohio State. But clutch performances from USC’s one-two punch of Elise Lee and Catherine Park in the final round boosted them to a 1-over-par team total. Ohio State dropped to second place at 6-over-par.
Chapel Hill
Teams:
- Texas
- North Carolina
- Oklahoma State
- Michigan State
- Virginia
Individual: Thanana Kotchasanmanee (Princeton)
Notable: It was a down-to-the-wire finish at the Chapel Hill regional for the last two spots heading to Carlsbad. Michigan State climbed up the leaderboard to a tie for fourth after not even sniffing the top five after the first two rounds. The Spartans and Virginia knocked out NC State in a playoff to determine the tiebreaker.
Texas was nothing short of dominant. Performances from Farah O’Keefe, Lauren Kim and Cindy Hsu helped the Longhorns finish at 5-under-par, 11 strokes ahead of the second place Tarheels.
Louisville
Teams:
- Auburn
- Houston
- Arkansas
- Iowa State
- Mississippi
Individual: Sheridan Clancy (Indiana)
Notable: Anna Davis does it again. The elite amateur that made a statement in 2022 as the youngest player to win the Augusta National Women’s Amateur led her Auburn team to a six-stroke victory in the Louisville regional.
Houston put up a fantastic performance as well. The Cougars finished with a team total of 11-under-par. They’ll go to their first national championship in history.
Stanford
Teams:
- Stanford
- Pepperdine
- Oregon State
- Arizona State
- Missouri
Individual: Emma Bunch (New Mexico State)
Notable: Holy Cardinal. Stanford ended the regional tournament in Stanford fashion, shooting a team total 42-under-par. You read that right. Stanford was the host, and they do know their home course like the back of their hand, but still. 42-under-par is an unreal performance from the No. 1 ranked team in the country.
Of 15 Stanford rounds in the tournament, only one of them was over par. Andrea Revuelta was on fire; she picked up her second NCAA regional win. I’d keep my eye on the Cardinal at the national championship, a stage they’re extremely familiar with.
Tallahassee
Teams:
- Wake Forest
- Florida State
- Florida
- Eastern Michigan
- Kentucky
Individual: Johanna Sjursen (ULM)
Notable: Eastern Michigan is on the verge of completing a comeback story for the ages. After being ranked 226th in the country, EMU hired a new coach and made their first NCAA regional appearance this season. They topped it off with finishing in fourth place and securing their first national championship spot.
Waco
Teams:
- SMU
- Texas A&M
- Baylor
- LSU
- Tennessee
Individual: Kirstin Angosta (TCU)
Notable: Tennessee did not deny us another tight playoff finish at a regional championship. The Vols took down Tulsa in the first playoff hole to advance to Carlsbad for the second consecutive year.
Tennessee’s back nines in the final round were vital, as they had nine back-to-back birdies to crawl inside the cutline and force the playoff. The Vols will look to represent the SEC well next week at Omni La Costa.
Next week, we’ll take a deeper dive into the 2026 NCAA DI National Championship. See you then, golf fans.
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This week in women’s golf
LPGA News
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How to watch the 2026 Kroger Queen City Championship
Jeeno Thitikul outlasts Yin to win Mizuho Americas Open for second title this year
Ruoning Yin secures solo second at Mizuho Americas Open
LET News
Soenderby trying to ‘ride the wave’ from Mauritius victory
Henseleit happy to be teeing it up at home open
Mehaffey relishing tough test in Hamburg
Sattelkau excited to be back on home soil after best LET finish
Watch live: 2026 Amundi German Masters
LET begins European swing with Amundi German Masters
Mehaffey and Lau qualify for 2026 U.S. Women’s Open
Stacked field compete for U.S. Women’s Open spots at the Buckinghamshire
New R&A golf and health report published
Epson Tour News
Field breakdown: Copper Rock Championship
Cholcheva Wongras wins at the Reliance Matrix Championship
From Denmark to Las Vegas: Nicole Lorup’s journey to a homecoming on the Epson Tour
UNLV star McKenzi Hall returns to familiar greens as Epson Tour sponsor invite
Amateur/NCAA News
Mid-major Eastern Michigan is acting like a blue blood ahead of first NCAA regional
I don’t shine enough light on adaptive golf, so check out this story about Lulu Gribbin playing golf just three months after losing her hand and part of her leg in a bull shark encounter.
Morgan Ellison, Katie Scheck win U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball
St. Cloud State University reviving golf programs for 2026-27 season
“Becoming Caitlin Clark” is out now!
Howard Megdal’s newest book is here! “Becoming Caitlin Clark: The Unknown Origin Story of a Modern Basketball Superstar” captures both the historic nature of Clark’s rise and the critical context over the previous century that helped make it possible, including interviews with Clark, Lisa Bluder (who also wrote the foreword), C. Vivian Stringer, Jan Jensen, Molly Kazmer and many others.
Five at The IX: Jeeno Thitikul picks up her ninth LPGA Tour victory at the 2026 Mizuho Americas Open, successfully defending her title
On Sunday, May 10, Jeeno Thitikul fired a final-round 69 to clinch her second straight Mizuho Americas Open title. Thitikul finished at 13-under-par, four strokes ahead of close friend Ruoning Yin, who was there to greet her on the 72nd green with champagne. The win was the second of the season for the 23-year-old from Thailand, who also won earlier this season in her home country. Thitikul became the fourth repeat winner on the LPGA Tour this season, joining Nelly Korda, Hannah Green and Hyo Joo Kim. In 2025, we had to wait until October for the first. Here are some snippets from her post-win press conference on Sunday, May 10 in West Caldwell, N.J.
THE MODERATOR: Very pleased to be joined by repeat winner of the Mizuho Americas Open, Jeeno Thitikul. Jeeno, just take us through the end of the round here. Knowing Ronni kind of started to catch you towards the back half, what was the mindset as you made the turn and were wrapping up?
JEENO THITIKUL: Honestly, I didn’t know any, you know—I didn’t see the leaderboard at all and I didn’t know the situations at all. I think I might know on like 12 or something, but accidentally, you know, because the hole is really close to each other, right?
And then, yeah, I knew she had a really good run on catching the leader, and then I think it’s just a normal day that definitely you’re the leader and then definitely the players will need to catch up, and then they will have a really good run for Sunday to be able to win the tournaments anyway.
But I just really stay on —in my bubble. I just really focus on my tempo, what I can control, and then it’s turn out to be good.
Q. Congratulations. Can you talk about—the greens were very difficult all week. Can you just talk about how you were able to master them here at the end?
THITIKUL: Yeah, I mean, the green here, I was on, you know, the green on the practice round and I was like—like on especially No. 9, is there any going to be possible pin around this green?
I mean, like every pin that my caddie put the hole, like the plastic hole on, it’s like it’s unplayable. It’s all unplayable from every line, every, you know, misses from the green.
And then I think it just maybe one—like the first tournament ever that I saw the pin nearby each other for every day. Like on No. 9 we had the same exactly pin, just maybe a yard left or a yard right.
That’s why you can prove it’s tough green. You can’t miss it long side of the hole at all because like it’s going to go down. Maybe even pin high is really breaking side putt.
Q. Congratulations. So you win this week; Nelly wins the previous two weeks. You’re one and two in the world rankings. What’s your thoughts or opinions on being the next—potentially the next great LPGA rivalry as you two kind of duel it out for the top spot in the world?
THITIKUL: Yeah, I mean, being a professional golfer wasn’t that easy at all. I would say you have to figure it out things every week, figure it out your feeling of your swing. And then at the same time you expect the result to be good at every point that you do and each week.
And then I think for me, world ranking or top players doesn’t really define what I’m doing. I think I’m just trying to just do my best out there, trying to be consistency as I can, because I know it’s going to be a really tough competition in and out every week, on and off every week, and different courses.
And then what I have done and then what the Tour have done so far, just really incredible job, you know. Been competing maybe full field just like 100 people at the same time in one tournament, I don’t know, and you want to be a winner and then you just want to be on top.
Just one thing that you can only do is just focus on yourself and keep getting better and better.
Q. Jeeno, what did you see from Aphrodite, playing in her group today?
THITIKUL: Yeah, she played so good. I mean, she finishing like with maybe 2-, 3-under par for sure today, because I wrote her score. I was her marker.
She is so—she looks so young to me. I mean, I wasn’t that old but she look so young to me, too. She play so good. I really think that we definitely going to have her on Tour in the next, I don’t know, two, three years for sure. She hit it straight. Her putting was really good. Surprising me by the first hole maybe sink it, 30 each or 40 each foot putt in on the first hole.
I was like, wow. That’s maybe like motivate me to play better golf as well today.
Q. And you rarely miss a cut. Obviously the missed cut at Chevron, can you talk about that disappointment and how winning so soon after kind of helps get you back on track?
THITIKUL: Yeah, obviously I talked to my coach and then I was like, you know what? I know golf wasn’t—like wasn’t your life. Golf is just golf. But when you miss cuts or you’re not hitting well, it’s hard to act like you’re okay, you know, at the same day.
I was disappointed. I was, you know, upset to not be able to make the weekend on the first major. But obviously I think still you have to accept and I have to move on. And then what the good things golf is you had a lot of opportunities in the whole year.
You got maybe 30 each tournaments in a year and then every week that you have, even every like day that you had, you can reset it and you can have a new chance to be able to do it again. I think just that’s the only part that I think that’s no matter the past is, the future always, you know, waiting for you.
And then that’s the only things that I trying to keep myself on the positive side to be able to, you know, performing in a good way, same like this week. And I mean, it just really happy to get the job done this week really quick from MC.
Mondays: Soccer
By: Annie Peterson, @AnnieMPeterson, AP Women’s Soccer
Tuesdays: Tennis
By: Joey Dillon, @JoeyDillon, Freelance Tennis Writer
Wednesdays: Basketball
By: Howard Megdal, @HowardMegdal, The IX Sports
Thursdays: Golf
By: Marin Dremock, @MDremock, The IX Sports
Fridays: Hockey
By: @TheIceGarden, The Ice Garden
Saturdays: Gymnastics
By: Jessica Taylor Price, @jesstaylorprice, Freelance Writer