The NCAA Division I Championship is the biggest event in college golf and the culmination of a season that includes conference championships and NCAA regionals. The men’s and women’s winners each season are assured of a place in the history books, but which individuals and teams have won it the most often?
In men’s college golf, the tournament was overseen by the National Intercollegiate Golf Association between its inception in 1897 and 1938, when the NCAA took over.
Only two players have won the men’s championship three times, and both in the NCAA era. The first was Ben Crenshaw of the University of Texas. His first title came in 1971 at Tucson National Golf Club, where he finished 15-under and helped his school claim its maiden NCAA Division I title along the way.
The next year, the event moved to Florida’s Cape Coral Golf Club, where the Longhorns again won the team title, with Crenshaw one of the main drivers of that success as he claimed his second successive individual title, albeit sharing it with University of Texas teammate Tom Kite after the pair finished on nine-under.
In 1973, Crenshaw had the title all to himself at Stillwater Country Club, although on that occasion, Florida took the team honors.
Given the difficulty of winning one NCAA Division I Championship title, let alone three, it probably seemed implausible that Crenshaw’s record would be matched anytime soon, but 16 years after his last triumph, Arizona State’s Phil Mickelson had arrived on the scene.
At Oak Tree Country Club in Oklahoma in 1989, Mickelson finished on 17-under for the tournament to claim victory, and the year after he did it again, this time at Innisbrook Island Course in Florida, where seven-under was enough as his university took the team title.
In 1991, his run was halted by UNLV Rebels player Warren Schutte, who won the individual title, but he returned to winning ways a year later at UNM Championship Golf Course in Arizona, as Arizona State once again took the team honors.
Phil Mickelson matched Ben Crenshaw’s three titles in 1992
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In the NCAA era, Houston has the most men’s team titles, with 16, albeit the most recent came in 1985. However, taking into account all editions of the championship since 1897, Yale tops the list with 21 despite the last of its titles coming in 1943.
The women’s NCAA Division I Championship has a shorter history than the men’s, having only begun in 1982, and in the ensuing 42 years, only one player has won the individual title more than once.
That honor fell to Stanford’s Rose Zhang, who produced a six-under for the event to claim the 2022 title at Grayhawk Golf Club in Arizona as her school took the team title. She then repeated the feat in 2023 with a 10-under at California’s Omni La Costa Resort & Spa as Wake Forest won the team title. That win surpassed Tiger Woods’ Stanford wins record in the process.
Rose Zhang is the only women’s golfer to win the title twice
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Arizona State leads the way in women’s team NCAA Division I Championship titles, with eight between 1990 and 2017, while Duke is a close second, having amassed seven titles between 1999 and 2019.
Most NCAA Division I Titles – Team And Individuals
| Wins | Team |
|---|---|
| 16 | Houston |
| 11 | Oklahoma State |
| 7 | Stanford |
| 5 | LSU |
| 5 | Florida |
| 4 | North Texas |
| 4 | Texas |
| Wins | Team |
|---|---|
| 8 | Arizona State |
| 7 | Duke |
| 3 | Arizona |
| 3 | San Jose State |
| 3 | Stanford |
| 3 | UCLA |
| 3 | USC |
| 2 | Florida |
| Wins | Player |
|---|---|
| 3 | Ben Crenshaw (1971, 1972, 1973) |
| 3 | Phil Mickelson (1989, 1990. 1992) |
| 2 | Richard Crawford (1959, 1960) |
| 2 | Richard Crawford (1976, 1977) |
| Wins | Player |
|---|---|
| 2 | Rose Zhang (2022, 2023) |
