Drone flyover video of Omni La Costa North Course par-3 12th hole
Omni La Costa is hosting the NCAA mens and womens golf championships for a second year in a row. The North Course features a long par-3 12th hole.
CARLSBAD, Calif. — One simple change helped Carter Loflin find his groove.
The junior at Georgia leads after the first round of NCAAs, shooting a bogey 5-under 67 on Friday during the first round of the 2025 NCAA Men’s Golf Championship at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa’s North Course. Loflin, ranked 215th in the NCAA golf rankings, has only one-top 10 finish this season, and after the morning wave at the national championship, he’s the solo leader.
What’s the difference? An equipment change.
“I made a couple of adjustments with the equipment,” Loflin said. “I switched to Ping irons. I started playing them a couple weeks ago, and they’ve just been really nice.”
At The Goodwin in late March, Loflin finished 87th of 164 players. He then finished 32nd at The Ford and 22nd at SECs. He built on that with a T-11 at the NCAA Tallahassee Regional, and now he’s pacing the national championship.
“I haven’t really done much differently with my swing,” Loflin said. “When I come out here, I can just kind of be free. It’s worked really well.”
Loflin birdied three of Omni La Costa’s four par 5s, and he added birdies at the 521-yard par-4 seventh and 245-yard par-3 12th. He leads California’s Charlie Berridge and Colorado’s Justin Biwer by a shot after the morning wave.
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