AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn men's golf returns to action for the fifth time this spring at the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate Sunday through Monday in Awendaw, South Carolina.
"It's a great event, and it's really nice to see how much Darius Rucker and crew supports our game," Tigers head coach Nick Clinard said. "It can be a tricky links course that really requires you to lean on your preparation and take a wide variety of shots, but we've played there many times before and had a good bit of success. We're looking forward to going back out there getting after it once more."
The Tigers have made 13 total appearances at the Hootie since 2005, including tournament victories in both 2012 and 2014. Clinard has led his teams to seven total top-three finishes at the event, three of which have come in the Tigers' last four appearances.
To claim its third victory of the year, Auburn will need to edge out a field of 15 competitors. Also playing for top honors at Bulls Bay will be the College of Charleston, RV ETSU, Furman, Iowa State, Kent State, Kentucky, Limestone, Missouri, NC State, RV New Mexico, No. 25 Ole Miss, RV Purdue, RV South Carolina, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
The deadly freshman duo of Brendan Valdes and Evan Vo will return to the links this week. Valdes will man the leadoff spot for Auburn while Vo will be the Tigers' fourth player in the lineup. The pair looks to stay consistent in what has been a stellar freshman campaign for the both of them up to this point.
Two weeks ago, Valdes was named SEC Freshman of the Week following a program record-setting performance at the Tiger Invitational. Just seven days later, after a blazing run at the General Hackler Championship, Vo followed suit, combining for the first back-to-back conference weekly honors by Auburn freshmen in school history.
Sophomore J.M. Butler, the only Tiger to win SEC Freshman of the Week three times in a season, adds to the loaded underclassmen talent that has pushed the Tigers along all season. Butler will golf as the fifth player in the Auburn lineup this week.
Rounding out the Tigers' five-man team will be juniors Austin Coggin and Alex Vogelsong. Coggin leads the Auburn roster with 76 birdies made at a 4.22 per round clip while Vogelsong has come on strong as of late, firing four of his last six rounds at par or better, including a 5-under, 211 last time out. Vogelsong will be the second player in the Auburn lineup, and Coggin will hold down spot No. 3.
Seeing individual action this week will be sophomore Carson Bacha. The York, Pennsylvania native had a career-best outing at this year's Tiger Invitational, firing a 1-under, 215 to set new lows for 18, 36 and 54 holes.
The Tigers will be paired with New Mexico and Furman for Sunday's round of play. Valdes will kickstart the round for Auburn on the 10th hole at 9:30 a.m. CT.
Live scoring for the entirety of the tournament can be found at BirdieFire.com.
