AUBURN, Ala. – Thanks to a day’s best round of 6-under-par, Auburn men’s golf extended its lead to 18 strokes after two rounds of competition at the NCAA Auburn Regional at Auburn University Club.
Heading into Wednesday’s final round, the Tigers sit comfortably at 19-under. No. 12 Texas A&M sits in second place at 1-under. The projected cutline is 4-over.
"We’re not here to qualify. We’re playing to win,” head coach Nick Clinard said. “We’re good enough to win anytime we tee off, and that’s the mentality we’ve had all year.”
Auburn’s leader after 36 holes is sophomore Jackson Koivun. The Chapel Hill, North Carolina native sits in second place, one shot back of Kennesaw State’s Claes Borregaard by one. Koivun shot 70 (-2) Tuesday to bring his total score to 7-under. He made par or better on 17 of 18 holes with birdies on 10, 11 and 13.
“It’s great to see all of us playing well,” Koivun said. “This course is definitely hard. It’s got some teeth, and it shows in regionals. There were some pins today I’d never seen before, but it’s a fun course to compete at.
“We’ve got a pretty good lead going into round three, and we want to grow that. It’s our home course. We want to defend our title here at our home track.”
One shot back of Koivun are both Carson Bacha and Brendan Valdes. Bacha made just one bogey on 11 and picked up six birdies on 1, 2, 3, 7, 10 and 13 for an impressive 67 (-5).
“Pins were a bit tougher today, but I took control of my game and took advantage of the holes I needed to,” Bacha said. “Just played pretty solid from start to finish. I’m happy to contribute toward the team.”
Valdes shot 73 (+1) and added one birdie on 7 to inch closer to becoming the program’s career leader. He now needs just two more to overtake Jovan Rebula’s (2016-21) record of 543.
Sophomores Cayden Pope and Josiah Gilbert also sit inside the individual top 20 at 1-over apiece. Pope shot 73 (+1) Tuesday while Gilbert carded an even-par 72.
Following Wednesday’s final round of play, the top five teams and the top individual on a non-advancing team will punch their tickets to the 2025 NCAA Championship in Carlsbad, California. The tournament is set for May 23-28 at the Omni LaCosta Champions Course.