FSU men host NCAA Tallahassee Regional with eyes on national title

The Florida State men’s golf team will be hosting and competing in the NCAA Tallahassee Regional starting this morning at Seminole Legacy Golf Club.

The tournament will feature three rounds with 14 teams competing. The top five teams will advance to the NCAA Championship in Carlsbad, Calif.

Florida State has not finished outside the top three of any tournament since October, and when the Seminoles have lost, it has only been to one of the top three teams in the country.

In team golf, each school tabs five players to compete. The top four scores are counted toward the team score, and the worst score is dropped. Play is scheduled to begin today at 7:30 a.m., and admission to the event is free.

Here is everything you need to know about the Florida State men’s golf team and this event:

Luke Clanton

Clanton has emerged as not just the biggest star in the FSU golf program, but one of the biggest in the entire athletics department. He already earned his PGA Tour card earlier this year, and he will start his pro career just a few weeks after nationals at the RBC Canadian Open.

First things first, Clanton has been very vocal about wanting to win a national championship with Florida State before leaving. The Seminoles finished runner-up to Auburn in last year’s tournament.

“It’s been on our mind every single day,” Clanton said. “It’s one of those things. Coming down to the final match and losing is no joke — I think everyone saw the emotion we had as a team there. When you train all year to get to that moment and don’t pull it off is hard. … It’s brutal, and it’s been on my mind every single day. Every single time we step in that gym or train during the day, whatever it is, we think about it. So I think we’re going to have a lot of fight this year and see what happens.”

Outside of his PGA Tour success, the No. 1-ranked amateur in the world has enjoyed a very good college season. He has totaled six top-10 finishes, including two wins.

Over 25 rounds, he has a 69.36 scoring average with a low of 64.

Tyler Weaver

The 31st-ranked amateur golfer, Weaver, has become the next big-name golfer from Florida State and looks poised to follow in Clanton’s footsteps to becoming a young superstar.

Weaver was named ACC Freshman of the Year in 2024, and he has followed that up with his first win at the Cabo Collegiate as well as five top-10s.

“We all know that the biggest thing is winning the team trophy,” Weaver said on Thursday. “However we do that, if I win or somebody else wins, that’s great. But at the end of the day, we’ve got to win the team prize.”

Weaver, who hails from England, had a great showing at the recent ACC Tournament, finishing as the runner-up after Notre Dame’s Jacob Modleski birdied the final hole to beat Weaver by a stroke.

According to Florida State head coach Trey Jones, that loss did not get Weaver down at all.

“Tyler’s an incredible player. He works hard, he does everything right, and he’s very blessed that he has a lot of speed and can play a hard golf course really well …,” Jones said. “If you know Tyler, it’s all about winning and it’s not second or anything like that. … And when I went to put my arm around him, I said, ‘Sorry man, great playing, you got a little bit of a bad break there at the end.’ And he said, ‘We didn’t come here for individual stuff, Coach. We came here to win this thing as a team.’ So he immediately flipped it.”

Jack Bigham

Bigham has spent most of this season inside the top 50 of the world amateur rankings and was a preseason third-team All-American in Golfweek to start the year.

“Obviously, it’s a nice thing being top 50 in the world, but the main thing is winning with Florida State and that’s all we want to do,” Bigham told the media on Thursday.

Bigham’s best finish this season was at the Seminole Intercollegiate at Glen Arven in Thomasville, Ga., where he placed fifth at 5-under par. In 11 events this season, he has recorded three top-10s. His scoring average is at 71.97 with a low of 65.

“If Jack drives the ball well, then he’s gonna play really well,” Jones said. “Jack is one of the best iron players in the country. So his key is if he can keep it in play and not have any disruptive shots, then Jack’s got the ability to win a golf tournament as well. … When he gets the ball in the fairway, he’s incredible. It’s fun to watch.”

Gary Albright

Albright, a redshirt senior, is playing his final postseason event for Florida State. He has had two top-10s in 10 events played this year. His best finish was second at the Lewis Chitengwa Memorial in Charlottesville, Va., at 3-under par.

“Gary’s a great example of our development program that we have here,” Jones said. “He redshirted his first year. … That team had John Pak and Vincent Norman on it, who both are on the PGA Tour. He didn’t get to play. …

“To see where he was to where he is now, a person that is a really important part of the program and that is a team captain.”

Carson Brewer

Brewer has been a nice addition to the Florida State lineup this year and will likely round out the five again come Monday morning.

He sat out last year, and the redshirt freshmen has been very hot heading into postseason play. Both of his top-10s this season have come in the last three tournaments.

The Ponte Vedra native will look to bounce back, however, from shooting 5-over and finishing 44th at the ACC Tournament, as well as losing his match in the quarterfinals against Cal.

“Carson’s extremely athletic, he can get the ball in the hole, and he has high expectations for himself,” Jones said. “So it’s great that he’s a freshman on this team and he’s getting these reps. But also he’s earned that.”

Patrick McCann

McCann has been a great sixth man for Florida State late in the season. He will likely not be a part of the Seminoles’ top-five lineup but instead will compete as an individual.

The Tallahassee native has one top-10 finish in the four events he has played. He followed that up by winning both of his matches at the ACC Tournament.

“I know what I can do. It’s good to see some of that on the golf course, not just in practice,” McCann said. “Winning my two matches at ACCs was awesome. It was a lot of fun.”

“Patrick was sick earlier in the spring, and that obviously kind of set him back and he got kind of passed by several other guys on the team,” Jones said. “And when he got his opportunity to go to Virginia as an individual, he was one shot out of the lead going into the final round. And then this past weekend, went up and won two matches and played as well as anybody on the golf course. So hat’s off to him for being resilient and tough … he’s gonna get a chance, and he’s gonna help us in these next two events.”

The Course

Seminole Legacy Golf Club in Tallahassee has played very tough since being renovated by Jack Nicklaus a few years ago.

The last men’s college golf tournament to be held at Legacy was the Seminole Intercollegiate in 2024, where Ole Miss actually beat Florida State by five strokes.

FSU and Ole Miss were the only two schools to finish under-par in that tournament. Only 12 of the 81 players who competed finished under-par.

Since this is an NCAA postseason event, Florida State does not get to select pin-placements or tee boxes as the Seminoles normally do when hosting tournaments.

“Depending on the hole locations and tee boxes they use … they can make this thing play really, really hard, or they can make it where some players shoot some really good numbers out there too,” Jones said. “So a lot of it is going to depend on the softness of the greens and the hole locations they decide to use. But no question, it has the ability to play really hard.”

With a good deal of rain hitting Tallahassee this past weekend, Legacy may play easier than normal. But that could change as the tournament unfolds, as the weather is expected to clear up on Tuesday and Wednesday.

2025 NCAA Tallahassee Regional Field

1.Ole Miss (No. 5)

2. Florida State (No. 11)

3. San Diego State (No. 16)

4. Georgia (No. 22)

5. Louisville (RV)

6. Northwestern

7. Notre Dame (RV)

8. New Mexico

9. Southern California

10. Michigan State

11. Furman

12. Augusta

13. Davidson

14. Florida A&M

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