May 29, 2015
Freshman Ben Schlottman led the Tigers with a 74 in the NCAA Championship first round
BRADENTON, Fla. -- The No. 8 Auburn men's golf team went 5-under on the final two holes, including level par on its inward nine en route to a five-way tie for 20th with a 13-over 301 after the NCAA Championship first round at The Concession Club while playing in Friday's morning wave.
The Tigers are three shots off the 15-team cutline after Sunday's third round. First-team All-SEC and SEC Freshman of the Year Ben Schlottman led the Tigers with a 2-over 74 for a tie for 54th while senior Dan Stringfellow is tied for 72nd with a 75.
First-team All-SEC Matt Gilchrest and fellow sophomore Ryan Benton are tied for 79th with a pair of 76s. Junior All-SEC Michael Johnson is tied for 108th with a 78.
"I'm encouraged with the way we played our final nine holes and especially with our closing two holes," said Auburn head coach Nick Clinard. "We had a very slow start, but the way we finished is definitely something to build on for tomorrow."
No. 1 Illinois leads with a 2-under 286 followed by No. 9 Georgia (288), No. 13 Southern California (289), San Diego State (290), No. 7 LSU (292), Florida (293), No. 9 Georgia Tech (293), No. 13 South Florida (294), No. 2 Texas (294) and No. 16 UCLA (294).
No. 21 SMU is tied for 11th with TCU at 296 ahead of Duke (297), No. 1 Florida State (298), Charlotte (298) No. 18 Oklahoma State (298), No. 3 Arizona State (299), No. 25 Virginia (300) and No. 10 Oregon (300).
No. 8 Auburn is in a five-way tie for 20th at 301 with No. 4 Vanderbilt, Houston, No. 13 Washington and No. 6 South Carolina.
No. 22 UNLV is in 25th at 302 followed by No. 8 Texas Tech (304), Clemson (306), UAB (308), No. 5 Stanford (310) and No. 11 Oklahoma (312).
The second of three rounds is Saturday as the Tigers tee off in the afternoon wave off No. 1 at 11:20 am Central with UCLA and Washington. The 30-team field will be cut to 15 teams and the low nine individuals not on those teams following Sunday's third round.
That is followed by a final day of 18 holes of stroke play on Monday to determine the top eight teams that will advance to match play as well as the 72-hole individual champion.
The match play quarterfinals and semifinals both take place on Tuesday at 6 am and 12:30 pm Central, respectively. The NCAA Championship match is on Wednesday, June 3 at 1:10 pm Central.
Golf Channel will televise the NCAA Championship live on Monday from 3-6 pm Central, Tuesday from 9:30-11:30 am and 2:30-6 pm and Wednesday, June 3 from 2-6 pm.
The Tigers are one of only eight teams to appear in four consecutive NCAA Championships. It is Auburn's 20th overall appearance.
Auburn is destroying the school's team single-season stroke average record by averaging 281.80 strokes per round. The current record is 285.30 set in 2011-12. In fact, Clinard-coached Auburn teams have the four lowest averages in Tiger history.
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