Deciding the national champion in college golf with match play has brought excitement to the sport since the format was adopted to crown a team winner for the men in 2009 and the women in 2015. Golf Channel came on board to televise the finals, which more often than not come down a dramatic final match and even a final putt.
But with the switch has also brought is controversy.
The Stanford women’s golf team finished this past season undefeated in stroke-play tournaments. During the 72-hole stroke-play portion of this year’s NCAA Women’s Championship at Omni La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, Calif., the Cardinal posted the lowest score in the history of the event, outpacing the next closest team by 21 shots. Yet after rallying for comeback wins in the quarterfinals and semifinals, Stanford fell in the championship match, 3-2, to Northwestern—a team it had beaten by 29 strokes earlier in the week.
So, did the best team really win the national championship?
The same has happened on the men’s side, where it wasn’t until 2018 that the school that earned the top seed in stroke-play qualifying won all three matches to take the title (Oklahoma State, after failing to do so in 2009, 2010 and 2011).
Is it right then for the biggest tournament of the entire season—the one that defines legacies and is remembered for years to come—get decided by a format that’s different from the vast majority of the events college teams play during the season? We posed that question to our staff and this turned out to be one of the most polarizing golf debates going.
Greg Gottfried, Web Producer: As much as I love chaos and upsets, it just doesn’t make much sense to have an NCAA Championship decided by match play. All love to Northwestern—they made the best of a weird decision—but finishing an entire season with such a fluky outcome feels a little wrong. I guess March Madness is similar in that it turns the postseason into bedlam, and yet, it feels a bit more random and odd when it comes to golf, a sport that centers on consistency. I still think there would be unpredictable outcomes with stroke play, so it’s not as if stories like Northwestern’s women’s team would disappear completely. Nor should they! There’s nothing better than an 11th seed making a historic run.
Joel Beall, Senior Writer: Match play strips away months of consistent performance to a handful of volatile head-to-head battles where anything can happen. Yet March Madness has built its status on this same fundamental flaw—the tournament’s refusal to reward the most deserving team in favor of the most opportunistic one. Golf desperately needs this kind of beautiful chaos. In a sport obsessed with precision, where players methodically grind through stroke-play rounds in relative isolation, match play injects something almost revolutionary: direct confrontation. Suddenly, a perfectly struck iron shot means nothing if your opponent holes out from the bunker. A player’s internal scorecard becomes irrelevant when they’re staring down a must-make putt to stay alive. This mano-a-mano format transforms golf from a meditation on personal excellence into genuine psychological warfare, where momentum swings wildly and mental fortitude matters as much as technical skill. The sport’s traditions rarely allow for such raw, unfiltered drama—making match play’s volatility not a weakness to be endured, but an essential jolt of unpredictability.
Alex Myers, Senior Writer: A serious championship, especially one that’s supposed to reflect who was the best team for an entire season, should be stroke play. Too many vagaries in match play. Like the 2013 Cal men’s team, the 2025 Stanford women are the victim of this fluky format. You almost may as well have had them flip five coins on the first tee! (But congrats to Northwestern!)
Oklahoma State got revenge for some failed chances in match play at NCAAs when Matt Wolfe and the team claimed the 2018 title in front of their come fans at Karsten Creek.
Shane Bevel
E. Michael Johnson, Equipment Editor: It would be easy to say stroke play. And yes, that likely would produce the most worthy champion. The vote here, however, is for match play. Part of the charm of college athletics is the underdog story. The NCAA basketball tournament is essentially match play (although watered down by NIL). Match play gives teams a puncher’s chance and offers some potential drama. The audience for collegiate golf is limited as it is. Let’s not shrink it further by providing a potentially less-exciting championship.
Tod Leonard, Senior Editor: It feels like the NCAA sold its competitive soul in golf to make it more appealing for television. This year on the women’s side is the best example ever. Stanford’sdominating stroke-play performance was worthy of the national championship. But the Cardinal beating Oreon by 21 shots would have made for awfully dull TV for anyone other than hard-core college fans and the final teams’ alums. It’s like Scottie Scheffler winning tournaments by eight shots. Instead, in what was a dramatic and compelling watch, Stanford was upset by first-time champs Northwestern. It was far better television, but in no way identified the season’s best team, even in the championship week. Upsets happen in team sports, but by switching up the format at the end, it’s like deciding an NCAA soccer championship with no match and a penalty kick shootout. Great TV, but it’s a national title that hangs in the balance less on talent and more on the unpredictability of the moment.
Ryan Herrington, Managing Editor: I attended every men’s NCAA Championship from 1998 to 2013, and every women’s from 2002 to 2013, as well as the first using match play in 2015. In that time, I saw some exciting finishes and a few upsets. But for sustained drama, I have to say the championships decided at match play have been more compelling. Consider Augusta State’s upset of Oklahoma State in the 2010 men’s championship. Or Texas (with Jordan Spieth) beating Alabama (with Justin Thomas) in the semifinals in 2012. Then Alabama’s comeback the next two years to win the title? Or the Stanford women knocking off Baylor in 2015 with the deciding match going to extra holes.
The Stanford women have won the title three times in match play and lost twice now in the finals. Cardinal coach Anne Walker has been there the whole time, and I think she spoke the most elegantly about the matter last week. “If we’re gonna be in this business and we’re gonna be part of golf, I think it’s important that we continue to grow the game, appeal to the younger generation, the broader generation. And if that’s what this does, then I’m all for that. I just don’t see how you’re a kid sitting at home and not being excited to watch the way these women are practicing, hitting shots and cheering for one another. … I find it hard to believe that if I was 12 years old, I wouldn’t be waking up every day to practice hard to be a part of this.” I land there, too.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
