May 12, 2017
AUBURN, Ala. - The No. 19 Auburn men's golf team opens play in the NCAA West Lafayette, Ind., Regional on Monday at the Kampen Course. The Tigers are the No. 4 seed in the 13-team regional, which features five of the nation's top 28 teams in the Golfstat rankings.
The top five teams and one individual not on those teams qualify for the 121st NCAA Men's Golf Championship at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill., May 26-31.
The West Lafayette Regional teams in order of seeding include No. 5 Florida, No. 8 Illinois, No. 17 UNLV, No. 19 Auburn, South Carolina, Colorado, host Purdue, New Mexico, Augusta, Saint Mary's, Campbell, Richmond and Cleveland State.
The Auburn lineup features All-SEC Matt Gilchrest, All-SEC Trace Crowe, All-Region Jacob Solomon, senior Ryan Benton and freshman Jovan Rebula.
The Tigers have a Sunday practice round before opening NCAA Regional play Monday at 7:20 am CT off No. 10 with South Carolina and Colorado.
Auburn has faced seven teams in this regional going 6-7 against UNLV (1-0), Purdue (1-0), Richmond (1-0), Florida (1-1), Saint Mary's (1-1), South Carolina (1-3) and Colorado (0-2).
The Tigers are making their 26th overall NCAA Regional appearance in the last 28 years as eighth-year head coach Nick Clinard has led the Tigers to eight-straight NCAA Regionals while advancing to five-straight NCAA Championships.
Auburn is one of seven teams in the nation ÃÆ'¢Ãƒ¢'¬¦ Florida State, Georgia, Illinois, Oklahoma, Texas and Southern California the others ÃÆ'¢Ãƒ¢'¬¦ who have made at least five-straight NCAA Championship appearances.
This will be Auburn's second postseason tournament at the Kampen Course as the Tigers finished 16th in the 2008 NCAA Championship in West Lafayette.
Auburn has four tournament wins this year at the Inverness Intercollegiate, Jerry Pate National, Tiger Invitational and the Gary Koch Invitational. Sophomore Trace Crowe won medalist honors at the Gary Koch, finishing the last two rounds with a pair of 66s.
Live-scoring of the NCAA Regionals is on www.golfstat.com.