By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — At the University of Virginia, women’s swimming is not the only athletic team ranked No. 1 nationally. Men’s golf holds that distinction, too.
It’s been a slow, steady climb for the program Bowen Sargent has led for more than two decades. When Sargent took the job in August 2004, his office was in University Hall, an aging building that would be demolished in 2019. He now occupies a well-appointed office in the palatial Dean Family Golf Performance Center, into which the UVA men’s and women’s programs moved in 2018 at Birdwood Golf Course.
“Kids want facilities, and we had none until we built them,” Sargent said.
The center’s features includes six indoor hitting bays, two bays for video analysis, a putting studio, a fitness room, locker rooms and lounges for the players, coaches’ offices, a club repair room, a conference space, and a nutrition station.
“No matter how bad the weather is, we're able to go and practice,” senior Bryan Lee said, “which is something we're very, very fortunate to do.”Nearby is the Lew Oehmig Short Game Facility, which opened in 2020 and includes multiple hitting areas, targets and greens.
“We really struck gold at the right time,” Sargent said. The top-shelf facilities helped him land sought-after recruits like Lee and Ben James, who along with Paul Chang are the anchors of a team that on Tuesday won its fourth tournament of the 2025-26 season.
How bout those Hoos?! 🏆
— Virginia Men's Golf (@UVAMensGolf) March 4, 2026
The Cavaliers bring home hardware for the FOURTH time this season! #GoHoos pic.twitter.com/5yDnDd2nT6
The Cavaliers have qualified for an NCAA regional in each of the past 17 seasons, and it’s become common for them to move on to the NCAA Championships. In recent years, they haven’t stopped there. In each of the past three seasons, UVA has been one of eight teams to advance to match play at NCAAs.
In 2023, Virginia lost to eventual champion Florida in the NCAA quarterfinals. In 2024, the Cavaliers again fell in the quarterfinals to the eventual NCAA champion, this time Auburn.
In 2025, after winning the ACC championship for the first time, UVA reached new heights at NCAAs. The Hoos defeated Auburn in the quarterfinals and Florida in the semifinals before falling to Oklahoma State in the NCAA title match.
It’s no coincidence that the program has soared since adding James and Lee, who are now fourth-years. James, who’s from Milton, Conn., was the top-ranked recruit in his high school class, and Lee, who’s from Fairfax, was highly regarded, too.
“Ben and Bryan are such great leaders, and they're so humble,” Sargent said. “They’re so focused on what they want to accomplish as a team, and there's no ego. They just want to be better, and they want to win. That's all they're focused on.”
Also back from the NCAA runner-up team are Chang, who’s a graduate student, juniors Josh Duangmanee and Sam O’Hara, and sophomore Maxi Puregger. Rounding out the roster are first-years Alex Wells and Michael Lee (Bryan’s brother).
It’s a group loaded with talent and experience. Still, when the 2025-26 team gathered for the first time at the start of the fall semester, Sargent posed some questions to his players.
“I was like, ‘What is our motivation level? Are we excited with what we did last year, or do we feel like there's still unfinished business?’ ” Sargent recalled.
The response, he said, was “resounding: ‘We have unfinished business.’ I don't think anybody was happy with the way the year ended. And one thing I've learned as a coach is, it's hard to drive a message. I think the best messages come internally from a team.
“This team, I think they feel like they have more to accomplish, and as a coach I was so relieved to hear that, because I didn't want to have to sit there and try to sell them something that maybe they didn't believe in. I think they're super motivated to win the whole thing this year. Now, it doesn't mean we will. There's a lot of things that have to go right, but they're certainly motivated to win another ACC championship and win the NCAA.”
Lee echoed those comments. “It’s very easy to be complacent with a second-place finish. It's not something many people can do. But I think just knowing that it's my last year, Ben's last year, and Paul's last year, it'd be a really nice way to finish our college career by winning another ring, but this time the national championship.”
James said he and his teammates are “just all trying to get better. We don't really think long term. I know Coach may think long term, but we don't really think long term. We just want to enjoy the process, push each other every day, and just try to get better, and the results will happen when they happen.”