ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – The No. 12 Auburn men's golf team produced a season-best round with an 11-under 269 in the second round of the 2019 Southeastern Conference Championship Thursday afternoon. The Tigers tied for the third-lowest round all-time at the annual postseason tournament during their second tour of the par-70 Seaside Course at Sea Island Golf Club.
"I thought we played great again today," head coach Nick Clinard said. "Mindset is so important, and our guys came down here ready to go. Their state of mind in the practice round and now the first two rounds has been phenomenal.
"We got a nice, positive vibe over a 3-4-5-hole stretch on the back nine and one of the guys said, 'There's red everywhere.' We hit a lot of quality shots."
Auburn's quintet of Trace Crowe, Graysen Huff, Brandon Mancheno, Jovan Rebula and Jacob Solomon combined for 12 birdies and just one bogey on the back nine as the Tigers now hold a nine-shot lead over second-place and No. 4 Vanderbilt at 19-under overall.
Huff once again led the way with a 4-under 66. He is tied for the lead on the individual leaderboard at 7-under (67-66--133). Despite sitting at 1-over after the opening two holes, the junior carded five birdies and 11 pars across the final 16 holes to surge to the top of the field.
Rebula is just two shots back of Huff and tied for fourth at 5-under (68-67--135). The George, South Africa native went birdie-birdie to start his round and then went 1-under for the rest of the round, which included three birdies on No. 7, No. 10 and No. 15.
Crowe and Mancheno are also in the top 20 overall at 3-under (69-68--137) and 2-under (68-70--138), respectively. Crowe, who is tied for 12th, carded a bogey on the first hole, but buckled down for 11 straight pars followed by birdies on three of the final six holes. Mancheno, tied for 17th, turned in a team-high 16 pars in a steady second circuit.
Solomon carded his best round of the week with a 2-under 68 and moved up to a tie for 22nd at 1-under (71-68--139) overall. Mirroring the performance of his teammates, the senior started slow, but had five birdies and nine pars in his final 14 holes of play.
Auburn finds itself atop the team leaderboard at 19-under (272-269--541), followed by No. 4 Vanderbilt (550), No. 16 Georgia (551), No. 22 Tennessee (554), Texas A&M (554), Arkansas (555), Kentucky (555), South Carolina (556), Ole Miss (558), No. 11 LSU (564), No. 25 Alabama (570), Mississippi State (570), Missouri (576) and Florida (578).
The Tigers are paired with Georgia and Vanderbilt for the final round of stroke play Friday morning. Tee times begin at 8:10 a.m. CT off the first tee box.
At the conclusion of the final round, the top eight teams remaining will qualify for match play and will be seeded based on their finish in stroke play. Quarterfinals and semifinals will take place on Saturday.
Live scoring for the SEC Championship is available all week on Golfstat.com.
Team Scores
1. Auburn: -19 (272-269--541)
2. Vanderbilt: -10 (277-273--550)
3. Georgia: -9 (272-279--551)
T-4. Tennessee: -6 (280-274--554)
T-4. Texas A&M: -6 (281-273--554)
T-6. Arkansas: -5 (281-274--555)
T-6. Kentucky: -5 (275-280--555)
8. South Carolina: -4 (279-277--556)
9. Ole Miss: -2 (275-283--558)
10. LSU: +4 (282-282--564)
T-11. Alabama: +10 (292-278--570)
T-11. Mississippi State: +10 (290-280--570)
13. Missouri: +16 (289-287--576)
14. Florida: +18 (291-287--578)
Auburn Individuals
T-1. Graysen Huff: -7 (67-66--133)
T-4. Jovan Rebula: -5 (68-67--135)
T-12. Trace Crowe: -3 (69-68--137)
T-17. Brandon Mancheno: -2 (68-70--138)
T-22. Jacob Solomon: -1 (71-68--139)