CARLSBAD, Calif. – Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Golf head coach Theo Sliman thinks prospects are very good for senior Malan Potgieter’s weekend at the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships.
“I told him this week that your display at regionals says you’re the best player in the country right now,” Sliman said. “I really believe he’s playing better than anyone else, and I think he’s quietly confident that he can do something special.”
It’s a big statement, but the numbers back it up as the native of Kirkwood, South Africa, becomes only the second Ragin’ Cajun ever to make the national championship field as an individual.
Potgieter and the rest of the 156-player field tee it up Friday, May 29 for the first of three rounds over the 7,538-yard par-72 Omni La Costa Resort & Spa layout.
A total of 450 players competed at six NCAA regional sites last week, and Potgieter was the only player out of that group to play three bogey-free rounds. His 66-65-68—199 (14-under) was good enough to share medalist honors at the Athens (Ga.) Regional and make him the first UL individual to make the national field since 1996 when Matt Trevino qualified out of the regional round.
“That was probably my best ball-striking performance in four years of college golf,” Potgieter said of the regional. “I was pin high nearly every hole, and that makes it a lot easier to make pars. My longest par putt all week was probably 12 feet and that was when I hit a bad chip.”
How hard is going bogey-free for an entire tournament? The PGA Tour – the best players in the world – have not had a bogey-free tournament since Taylor Moore accomplished that feat in the 2025 American Express event. That stretch since then includes over 90 tournaments and over 12,000 Tour rounds.
It also put Sliman to work at his backyard grill.
“We’ve got a team rule that if a player goes bogey-free in a round, they get a steak dinner,” he said. “So I owe him three of them. We had the first one this week, and we talked a lot about expectations and goals and how you have to have that confidence and belief. And what he’s displayed over four years, he’s always approached every tournament with the utmost gratitude for the opportunity, and that’s the approach we need to take to California.”
Potgieter, who had six bogey-free rounds during a senior season that included two individual wins along with the regional title, had practice rounds on Wednesday and Thursday before his start of competition at 4:02 p.m. (CDT) Friday off the No. 1 tee.
“He’s been studying the course and we’ve had some good notes given to us,” Sliman said of the Omni La Costa layout that is hosting the national tournament for the second straight year. “I think just like the regional at Athens, this course suits his game pretty well … there aren’t many courses that don’t suit his game right now.”
The field includes the top five teams and the top individual not on those teams from last week’s six regional sites – Athens, Bryan, Columbus, Corvallis, Marana and Winston-Salem. Potgieter was the individual qualifier at Athens along with team qualifiers Vanderbilt, Louisville, Auburn, Brigham Young and host Georgia. A total of 30 teams and six individuals qualified through regionals.
Finals play consists of three days and 54 holes of stroke play Friday-Sunday, with the top 15 teams and nine individuals not on an advancing team playing one final round of stroke play Monday to determine the individual champion and the eight teams that will advance to match play Tuesday-Wednesday.
Potgieter enters the NCAA meet with a 69.39 stroke average, well under UL’s school record, and a No. 33 national ranking, which would be another UL record if he maintains that ranking. He has seven top-three finishes this year in 12 tournaments, the most in the nation, and had a stretch of nine of 10 tournaments finishing in the individual top four this season.
Prior to the regional win, he took the title at the season-opening Argent Financial Classic at Squire Creek in Choudrant, and claimed his second straight championship at UL’s own Louisiana Classics at Oakbourne Country Club in March, becoming the first player in the 41-year Classics history to win back-to-back titles.
“It’s his last tournament as a college player,” Sliman said, “and if he can focus on the same things he always focuses on he’s going to have a good experience. The way he prepares every tournament, he’s like a professional playing against college kids, and now he just needs to showcase that at the nationals.”
Live scoring is available on Scoreboard/Clippd. Television coverage is available on babygrande.com from 2:30-9:30 p.m. (CDT) Friday-Sunday and 12:30-3:30 p.m. (CDT) Monday. GOLF Channel will cover Monday’s final round of stroke play from 4:30-8:30 p.m. (CDT).
NCAA DIVISION I MEN’S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS
May 29-June 3, 2026
Omni La Costa Resort & Spa (7,538 yards, par 72), Carlsbad, Calif.
TEAM ENTRIES (by region qualifying)
Athens (Ga.) Regional – Vanderbilt, Louisville, Auburn, Brigham Young, Georgia
Bryan (Texas) Regional – Texas, Texas A&M, Chattanooga, North Carolina, Tennessee
Columbus (Ohio) Regional – Florida, Stanford, Memphis, Arizona State, Florida State
Corvallis (Ore.) Regional – Oklahoma, UCLA, Arkansas, Purdue, San Diego
Marana (Ariz.) Regional – Arizona, Oklahoma State, LSU, Arkansas State, Duke
Winston-Salem (N.C.) Regional – Virginia, Pepperdine, Ole Miss, Southern California, Mississippi State
INDIVIDUAL ENTRIES (by region qualifying)
Malan Potgieter, UL (Athens); Jorge Martin Sampedro, UTRGV (Bryan); Steen Zeman, Long Beach State (Columbus); Michael Lugiano, Liberty (Corvallis); William Jennings, Alabama (Marana); Jacob Lang, Kentucky (Winston-Salem)
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