AUBURN, Ala. – Making the trek to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for the 21st Annual General Hackler Championship Sunday and Monday, Auburn men's golf looks to continue its steady play and build off a 19-under team finish last week at the Tiger Invitational.
"As always, we're excited for another opportunity to get out there and compete," Tigers head coach Nick Clinard said. "We're facing the challenge of playing 54 holes in two days, but that's exactly what we did last week, so we're going to be using a lot of what we learned at the Tiger Invitational to shape our game plan and help us to play smart golf. Our six guys are going to go out there and give their all every time they step out on the links, and that's all I can ask for."
Teams are set to kickstart play on Sunday, playing two rounds before the initiating the final round on the following day. The Tigers have made one prior appearance at the General Hackler Championship, in 2011, during Clinard's second year on The Plains. As a team, Auburn finished third in a field of 17 and were led by sophomore Michael Hebert who shot 6-over to finish in a tie for 10th place. Tigers' volunteer assistant Blayne Barber also played in the event, shooting 7-over to place 13th.
For this year's event, Auburn sends a crew of two freshmen, one sophomore and three juniors to battle it out at The Dunes Golf Club.
Making his return to the lineup is Auburn's leading scorer from the Tiger Invitational and the reigning SEC Freshman of the Week, Brendan Valdes. Valdes shot 11-under last time out to solidify his first career top-five finish and the first SEC Freshman of the Week honor for the Tigers since J.M. Butler a year ago.
Valdes is joined by another freshman in Evan Vo. The Austin, Texas native boasts a 72.58 yearly scoring average and has carded eight of his 12 rounds at par or better.
Sophomore J.M. Butler will be the third underclassman in the Tiger lineup this week. Butler has finished inside the top-10 in four of his five outings this season and boasts a 70.60 scoring average on the year.
Leading the trio of juniors slated to hit the links this week is Austin Coggin. Coggin enters the tournament with three top-20 finishes, seven rounds below par and a team-leading 66 birdies made on the year. The Birmingham, Alabama native's best outing of the season came in the spring-opener with an 11-under tally at the Amer Ari Invitational.
Oxford, Mississippi native C.J. Easley will round out Auburn's five-man lineup and Palm Beach, Florida product Alex Vogelsong will golf as the Tigers' individual player. Easley has arguably had the most consistent season for the Tigers and has carded top-15 finishes in each of his last two outings.
With a 2-under 54-hole score last week, Vogelsong now meets the minimum 60 career rounds to etch his name into the Auburn record books with what is currently the sixth-best career scoring average, 71.90 strokes per round, in school history.
In order to come away with their second team title of the season, the Tigers will need to outplay competitors from 14 other universities. Set to join No. 19 Auburn this week is host Coastal Carolina, East Carolina, ETSU, Kent State, RV Liberty, RV Louisville, NC State, RV North Florida, No. 3 Oklahoma State, Penn State, South Carolina, UCF, UNCG and Virginia.
Live scoring will be available both days at Golfstat.com.
