The Chattanooga Mocs men’s golf team has an ambitious 2025-26 slate ahead of them. The 13-event schedule (should all go to plan) includes premium courses and events against the top of the DI golf food chain. That’s a perch the program has enjoyed for the better part of the last 20 years, and this one looks no different.
“This is probably the strongest schedule we’ve had in my four years here. The jewel is clearly hosting at The Honors. It will be fun to close the regular season on TV again at Pasatiempo.
Our guys want to play against the best. This schedule gives us a chance to do that.” – Coach Blaine Woodruff
There are five returnees and five newcomers on the roster. Junior Camden Braidech headlines. He was the team scoring leader a year with two wins and an NCAA berth under his belt. Sophomore Ethan Whitaker started every event in 2024-25 and grew into a key performer, getting a win of his own last spring.
Sophomore Ward Harris is back after missing last year with an injury. Sophomore Aidan Cohl and junior Dallas Burts also look to take advantage of new opportunity with just two starters returning.
The newcomers include Georgia transfer Billy Abdow (So.), Middle Tennessee transfer Thad Whitfield (So.) and three highly touted freshmen. Evan Rogers (Duluth, Ga.), Connor Brummitt (Abingdon, Va.) and Chattanooga native Griffin Law bring a high-level of competition to the group. Qualifying events will be premier matchups throughout the campaign.
It starts out hot with a shot trip to Tennessee National Golf Club in Loudon for Tennessee’s Visit Knoxville Collegiate the first weekend in September. The Mocs host the following week at the renowned Honors Course in suburban Ooltewah, welcoming a top-flight field from across the nation. A return to Marquette where the squad won to start 2023-24 sees another top venue in Erin Hills before the fourth and final event in Biloxi at the Fallen Oak Collegiate.
It’s a fabulous spring that starts in early February at the Battle at Briar’s Creek just outside Charleston in South Carolina’s low country. A deeper trip south to Florida’s Gator Invitational comes two weeks later before more fun in the South Carolina sun.
March starts with a trip to Hilton Head and the Colleton River Collegiate. It ends with the Hootie at Bulls Bay just northeast of Charleston. Another amazing course awaits in April with a return trip to Pasatiempo for the Western Intercollegiate on the Golf Channel. A tune-up with UAB lies in between the west coast trip and the start of the postseason with the Southern Conference Championships moving to Columbia, S.C. Yep, four of the 13 possible locations for the season are in the Palmetto State with the league making the shift to Solina G.C.
NCAA Regionals arrive in mid-May. Woodruff’s Mocs qualified as a team in 2023 and 2024 with Braidech getting an individual nod a year ago. The 2023 edition became the third in school history to advance to the NCAA Championships. This year’s Memorial Day spanning venture is back at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif.
2025-26 Schedule
Sept. 5-7: Visit Knoxville Collegiate/Tennessee National/Loudon, Tenn. (Host: Tennessee)
Sept. 15-16: Invitational at the Honors/Honors Course/Chattanooga, Tenn. (Chattanooga)
Oct 5-7: Marquette Intercollegiate at Erin Hills/Erin Hills GC/Hartford, Wisc. (Marquette)
Oct 18-20: Fallen Oak Collegiate/Fallen Oak GC (Southern Miss)
Feb. 2-3: Battle at Briar’s Creek/GC at Briar’s Creek/Johns Island, S.C. (College of Charleston)
Feb 14-15: Gator Invitational/Mark Bostick GC/Gainesville, Fla. (Florida)
Mar 1-2: Colleton River Intercollegiate/Colleton River Club/Bluffton, S.C. (Michigan State)
Mar 22-24: Hootie at Bulls Bay/Bulls Bay GC/Awendaw, S.C. (Coastal Carolina)
April 13-15: Western Intercollegiate/Pasatiempo GC/Santa Cruz, Calif. (San Jose State – on Golf Channel)
April 21: UAB Dual/The Ledges/Huntsville, Ala.
April 27-29: SoCon Championships/Solina G.C./West Columbia, S.C.
May 18-20: NCAA Tournament (Regionals)
(Locations: Athens, Ga.; Bermuda Run, N.C.; Bryan, Texas; Columbus, Ohio; Corvallis, Ore.; Marana, Ariz.)
May 28-June 3: NCAA Tournament (Finals)/Omni La Costa Resort & Spa/Carlsbad, Calif.