The teams that win their respective Division I conference championships are given automatic spots in the regionals.

In addition, the best player in each tournament from teams not qualified also advance to the next round as individual competitors.

[2] Americans had captured all of the titles from the tournament's inception, until James McLean of Australia won in 1998.

Alejandro Cañizares of Spain won in 2003, followed by James Lepp (2005) and Matt Hill (2009), both from Canada, Thomas Pieters of Belgium in 2012, Fred Biondi of Brazil in 2023 and Hiroshi Tai of Singapore in 2024.

Only Jack Nicklaus (1961), Phil Mickelson (1990), Tiger Woods (1996), Ryan Moore (2004), and Bryson DeChambeau (2015) have managed the feat in the same year.