May 24, 2017
Auburn NCAA Championship notes
SUGAR GROVE, Ill. - The No. 20 Auburn men's golf team opens NCAA Championship play in Friday's first round at Rich Harvest Farms on No. 10 at 6:45 am Central as the Tigers are one of only six teams to appear in six consecutive NCAA Championships. It is Auburn's 22nd overall appearance.
The Tigers' lineup will be the same that finished as the runner-up in the NCAA West Lafayette Regional in senior All-Region Matt Gilchrest, senior Ryan Benton, sophomore All-SEC Trace Crowe, sophomore Jacob Solomon and freshman Jovan Rebula.
Gilchrest led the Tigers in the NCAA Regional with a season-best tie for third at 2-under, one shot behind the co-medalists to lead Auburn, which finished three shots behind UNLV.
Twenty of the 30 teams in the NCAA Championship, taking place 46 miles west of Chicago, are nationally-ranked including No. 1 Southern California, No. 2 Oklahoma State, No. 3 Vanderbilt, No. 4 Stanford, No. 5 Baylor, No. 6 LSU, No. 8 Illinois, No. 9 Oregon, No. 11 Kent State, No. 14 Texas, No. 15 Clemson, No. 16 UNLV, No. 17 Oklahoma, No. 18 Virginia, No. 19 Duke, No. 20 Auburn, No. 22 Ole Miss, No. 23 Pepperdine, No. 24 Arizona State and No. 25 Florida State.
Unranked teams include UCF, North Carolina, Alabama, Lipscomb, Kennesaw State, Purdue, Jacksonville, New Mexico, Iowa State and Penn State.
The Tigers will tee off on No. 10a at 9 am in Thursday's practice round and will begin Friday's first round off No. 10 at 6:45 am and Saturday's second round on No. 1 at 12:05 pm CT. Auburn is paired with Duke and Ole Miss in the first two rounds.
The 30-team NCAA Championship field will be cut in half along with the low nine individuals not on those teams after three rounds of stroke play after Sunday. Those teams will be paired down to the final eight after Monday's round to compete in match play. The NCAA Championship medalist will be determined Sunday.
The match play quarterfinals and semifinals both take place on Tuesday at 7 am and 1:30 pm, respectively. The NCAA Championship match is on Wednesday at 2:10 pm.
Golf Channel will televise the NCAA Championship live on Monday from 4-7 pm Central, Tuesday from 10:30 am -12:30 pm and 3:30-7 pm and Wednesday from 3-7 pm.