AUBURN, Ala. – Celebrating Auburn's fifth consecutive Tiger Invitational championship presented by Jason Dufner, sophomore C.J. Easley reflected on last year's victory, the one that came one day before the Southeastern Conference canceled the men's basketball tournament at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
"We were playing really well as a team," said Easley, who finished second last season and tied for 11th this year in a field that included 11 SEC teams. "We had won three of our last four events. It took a little bit of patience. It's good to be back out there playing again. Looking forward to the rest of the year."
Sophomore C.J. Easley, the 2020 Tiger Invitational runner-up, finished T-11 this yearThe cancellation of the final three regular season tournaments and 2020 postseason created an opportunity for seniors to return for a fifth season in 2021, allowing super seniors Graysen Huff and Jovan Rebula to remain on the Plains.
"It's awesome. I love Auburn," said Huff, who logged Auburn's highest Tiger Invitational finish by tying for sixth at 7-under par. "I love being here. There's no other place I'd rather spend this year. It's awesome that I get to do it again.
"I spent the whole round Tuesday and the last three holes today thinking, 'Hey this is my last go-round on this course in our tournament.' It's special to be out here. I'm excited to take these guys to postseason and see what happens."'It's special': Senior Graysen Huff led Auburn to victory in the 2021 TIger Invitational As head coach Nick Clinard handed the trophy to his team for the seventh time in eight years, he credited the players who competed as individuals for their role in motivating the first five golfers who formed Auburn's tournament lineup.
"All you guys are pushing each other to be great," he told them. "It's about all of us. We win as a team, we lose as a team. Enjoy it. Wins are hard to come by."
Auburn will compete in two more tournaments before the SEC Championship at St. Simons Island, Georgia, April 21-25. All five events before the conference tournament will have consisted primarily of SEC opponents, providing stiff competition and the ultimate tune-up for postseason play.
"We've got some challenging golf courses that we don't know well that we've got to get used to and adapt really quickly, and that's what great players do," said Clinard, referencing Old Waverly in Starkville, Mississippi March 26-28 and Shoal Creek in Birmingham April 5-7. "We're looking forward to competing in the regular season and getting into the SEC Championship, which is kind of what we've played all year it seems like due to COVID. Then getting into regionals and hopefully over at Grayhawk [Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, site of the NCAA Championship] and competing for a national championship."
Huff and Rebula, the super senior teammates who finished tied for medalist honors at the most recent SEC Championship in 2019 before Rebula won in a playoff, will be ready to lead their younger teammates.
"Coach has said it all year, even last year, we have horses, we just want to let them run," Huff said. "We've got the depth. If we can get the right mindset going into it and a little bit of luck and some putts to fall, I think we can do it."
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer