AUBURN, Ala. – Looking to build off its season-opening victory a week ago, the Auburn men's golf team will pick up play at the SEC Fall Preview at Old Overton in Birmingham this week.
"The SEC Fall Preview will be another great opportunity for us to work on some areas that we can tighten up while also being challenged by some great programs," Tigers head coach Nick Clinard said. "Obviously, there is so much history with SEC golf, so we are honored to be able to step out on the course and represent such a strong conference. We hope to keep our momentum rolling and make Auburn proud."
Action will commence Sunday with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. CT. SEC squads will play 36 holes the opening day followed by 18 holes Monday and a round of match play Tuesday. The Tigers will play the first two rounds paired with Tennessee and Mississippi State.
Of the 14-team field, Vanderbilt leads the pack ranked No. 2 nationally. Following the Commodores in the polls are No. 3 Auburn, No. 6 Texas A&M, No. 10 Florida, No. 13 Alabama, No. 20 Tennessee and No. 24 Georgia.
Teeing off in the Orange & Blue will be juniors Carson Bacha, J.M. Butler and Ryan Eshleman and sophomores Brendan Valdes and Evan Vo, all five of which saw action in Auburn's record-breaking outing at the Maui Jim Collegiate to open the year.
Vo led the Tigers in the championship performance, firing a 197 (-13) to finish tied for third in the 90-player field. Eshleman also made noise at Mirabel with his opening round 60 (-10), setting the new school record for lowest 18-holes by a single player.
Also at Maui Jim, Bacha carded 201 (-9) and Butler carded a 204 (-6), both finishing inside the top-25. At the Maui Jim individual event, Valdes pieced together a 204 (-12) to finish third of 37 players.
At the 2021 edition of the SEC Fall Preview, when teams strictly played four rounds of match play, Auburn dropped bouts to Ole Miss and Missouri before collecting wins over Mississippi State and Kentucky. Bacha and Butler both played in the event hosted by Shoal Creek Golf Club a year ago.
It's a quick turnaround for the Tigers after the fall preview, switching gears and heading up to Milwaukee, Wisconsin for the Marquette Invitational Oct. 2-3. The event will be the third of the team's four fall tournaments.
