The Southern Highlands Collegiate men's golf tournament begins March 1 in Las Vegas, Nevada, featuring 15 top-ranked teams at the par-72 Southern Highlands Golf Club. Hosted by UNLV, the event includes powerhouses like No. 1 Virginia, No. 2 Auburn, No. 4 Texas and No. 8 Pepperdine competing over 54 holes of stroke play. Defending champion Auburn aims to repeat amid a field packed with national contenders.
The Southern Highlands Collegiate, one of collegiate golf's premier regular-season events, kicks off Sunday, March 1, and runs through Tuesday, March 3, at Southern Highlands Golf Club in Las Vegas. The par-72, 7,510-yard layout will host 18 holes of stroke play each day, with live scoring available via Clippd.
Auburn enters as the defending champion after winning by 10 shots last season, shooting 9-under par without current standout Jackson Koivun. The No. 2 Tigers, who finished second in 2024, will field Koivun, Jake Albert, Cayden Pope, Josiah Gilbert and Logan Reilly. Head coach Nick Clinard described it as “another elite test for our guys this week,” noting the course's similarities to the upcoming NCAA Championship venue at LaCosta.
No. 4 Texas, ranked highly in recent polls, brings a lineup featuring seniors Luke Potter, Tommy Morrison and Christiaan Maas, alongside Eduardo Derbez Torres, Matt Comegys and individual competitor Adam Villanueva. The Longhorns have secured two team titles and five top-two finishes this season, including a dramatic one-stroke victory at the Arizona N.I.T. Daniel Bennett will skip the event to compete in the PGA Tour's Arnold Palmer Invitational.
No. 8 Pepperdine returns with players including Mahanth Chirravuri, Byungho Lee, Brady Siravo, Willy Walsh, Oscar Bach and Luke Dariotis. No. 14 Oklahoma, winners in 2024 and 2022, fields All-Americans Ryder Cowan and Jase Summy, plus Clark Van Gaalen, PJ Maybank III and freshman Coltrane Mittag. The Sooners tee off against top-25 teams.
No. 19 New Mexico, which placed third last year, sends Mesa Falleur, Emil Albers, Wyatt Provence, Johnnie Clark and Thayer Plewe to challenge the field. Other participants include No. 1 Virginia, No. 3 Florida, No. 6 Illinois, No. 12 Oklahoma (per some rankings), No. 14 New Mexico, No. 18 Oklahoma, No. 21 UCLA, No. 25 San Diego State, Texas A&M, Georgia, South Carolina and Washington. Auburn's Sunday round starts at 11:50 a.m. CT alongside Texas and Pepperdine.
The tournament's strength, with eight top-20 teams, underscores its status as a key early-spring benchmark.