Auburn advances to round four of NCAA Championship

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Securing its 10th top-15 national finish in program history, Auburn men's golf advanced to the final stage of stroke play at the NCAA Championship with a tied for ninth finish on Sunday thanks to a 288 (+8) third round at Grayhawk Golf Club.
 
Of the program's 10 top-15 national finishes, seven have come in the last 11 seasons under head coach Nick Clinard's tenure.
 
"I thought the course played pretty receptive and pretty easy for the first 10 or 11 holes, then the wind started to really pick up and the greens started to dry out, so the difficulty increased," Clinard said. "The team battled through it, and that's exactly what you want to see.
 
"We have a couple of guys who haven't been able to string it together yet this week, but our younger guys are really playing well," Clinard said. "(Brendan) Valdes played some beautiful golf and (Carson) Bacha played very well. Those two came through in the clutch and kind of carried our team today."
 
Valdes and Bacha shot 70 (E) and 71 (+1), respectively, to bring themselves to 217 (+7) through 54 holes. On Sunday, Valdes matched three bogeys with a trio of birdies on holes 5, 10 and 13 while Bacha lit up his front nine, making birdie on 3, eagle on 4 and birdie again on 6. Bacha is also one of only five players in the 154-player field to record an eagle thus far into the tournament.
 
Junior Alex Vogelsong chipped in the third tally on the Tiger scorecard with a 73 (+3). The Palm City, Florida product birdied on holes 2, 4 and 11. He also made birdie on the second hole in Friday's opening round. On the year, Vogelsong has amassed 102 total birdies, firing at a 3.40 per round clip.
 
Rounding out the Auburn lineup was the underclassman duo of Evan Vo and J.M. Butler. Vo knocked off three shots from his previous outing to shoot 74 (+4) on the day. Butler rebounded from a slow start to his day with a solid back nine, making par on seven holes to shoot 75 (+5).
 
 Flexing the depth of its lineup, Auburn is one of four schools in the top-15 to have all five men situated inside the top-100 prior to the fourth round. Additionally, the 17-seeded Tigers are one of two schools currently inside the top 10 that do not bear a top-10 seed.
 
Ahead of Monday's stroke-play finale, No. 1 Oklahoma carries the torch at 1-under 839. On the player leaderboard, it is Gordon Sargent of Vanderbilt chasing down the individual championship at 4-under 206.

Following play on Monday, the individual title will be awarded to the golfer with the lowest tally through 72 holes of stroke play while the team field will be cut to eight, forcing each program to duke it out in match play until only one remains.
 
The Tigers will lead off round four with Vo, teeing off of hole 10 at 1:06 p.m. CT. Auburn's fivesome will play the day alongside Texas and Arkansas.
 
Live scoring for the NCAA Championship will continue to be provided via GolfStat.com.