Virginia's Ben James leads PGA Tour University preseason rankings for Class of 2026
The 2025-26 season is almost upon us, as plenty of the best amateurs in the game will tee it up in search of a national championship. This season, the NCAA Championship returns to Omni La Costa in Carlsbad, California, where the Northwestern women and Oklahoma State men took home titles in May.
With the new season also means new PGA Tour University rankings for the Class of 2026.
On Wednesday, PGA Tour U announced its preseason rankings for the Class of 2026. This will be the sixth year of PGA Tour U, with David Ford finishing in the top spot last year and earning a PGA Tour card.
The preseason ranking includes players from 16 schools, with Ole Miss having four players in the preseason top 25. In all, the top 25 features players from seven countries: China, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Sweden and the United States.
In partnership with the World Amateur Golf Ranking, PGA Tour U ranks players based on the last two years of their collegiate careers. Eligible tournaments include NCAA Division I men's team competitions, official PGA Tour tournaments and select DP World Tour events. The ranking period for the Class of 2026 began Week 23/2024 and concludes June 1, 2026, following the final round of stroke play at the NCAA Division I men's national championship.
The No. 1 player in the final PGA Tour University Ranking next June will earn PGA Tour membership, while players Nos. 2-10 will earn Korn Ferry Tour membership for 2026 and players Nos. 11-25 will earn exempt membership for PGA Tour Americas Segment II in 2026. Finishers Nos. 2-5 will be exempt into Final Stage of Q-School presented by Korn Ferry, while Nos. 6-25 will be exempt into Second Stage.
PGA Tour University Class of 2026 preseason rankings
James is a three-time Golfweek first team All-American. He has six victories in 35 collegiate starts, and he helped the Cavaliers to a national runner-up finish at the 2025 NCAA Championship. James has represented the United States twice at the Arnold Palmer Cup (2023, 2024) and will make his second appearance at the Walker Cup in September. He has made nine starts on the PGA Tour, including the last two U.S. Opens, and finished T-33 at the Valero Texas Open in April.
In 2024-25, Maas led the Longhorns with 18 rounds in the 60s and posted eight top-10s, including a victory at the Pauma Valley Invitational. A native of Pretoria, South Africa, Maas has four made cuts in seven starts on the DP World Tour, including a fourth-place finish at the Investec South African Open Championship in March 2025.
La Sasso became the second player from Ole Miss to win the NCAA individual title, joining Braden Thornberry (2017). In 12 starts during his junior season, La Sasso tallied three victories and compiled the lowest scoring average (69.48) in program history en route to being named a Golfweek first-team All-American. He is making his fifth PGA Tour start of the summer at this week's 3M Open, and in September he will join James on the U.S. team at the Walker Cup.
Morrison posted 10 top-20 finishes during his junior season at Texas, including his first collegiate victory at the Amer Ari Invitational. In June 2024, he became the first American to win the European Amateur and earned an exemption into the 2024 Open Championship, where he made the cut and finished T-60. Morrison has advanced to match play at The Amateur Championship the last two years.
Summy's junior season included seven top-10s and a victory at the Maridoe Intercollegiate, and he led the Sooners with 20 rounds in the 60s and a 70.35 scoring average. His 2024 summer was highlighted by a runner-up finish at the Sunnehanna Amateur, and this summer he has a T-12 at the Northeast Amateur and T-3 at the Southern Amateur. Oklahoma is the only school that has produced a PGA Tour U graduate each of the first five years (2021-25), and the Sooners lead all schools with eight PGA Tour U alumni.
Nos. 6-25
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