ORLANDO, Fla. – No. 3 Auburn men's golf clinched its third win of the fall season as well as the best start in the 75-year history of the program with a dominant victory Tuesday at the Isleworth Collegiate.
As a team, Auburn shot 27-under 837 to beat its nearest competitor, No. 11 Florida, by 12 shots. Sophomore Brendan Valdes earned the first individual championship of his early career with a 10-under 206 week on the links.
"Obviously, I was trying to keep myself in the running for the individual title, but my main focus was just helping the team pick up a win," Valdes said. "It's incredibly rewarding to be able to leave Orlando with both. This team works harder than any group I've been a part of. We're super proud of our fall, but now our sights are set on improving over the break so that we can continue to roll throughout the spring."
The Orlando native shot even par in the finale to draw with North Florida's Nick Gabrelcik for top honors.
With three championships in the fall, Auburn stands a single victory from tying the program record for single-season teams wins. Additionally, no Tiger team has ever began the year by winning three of its first four tournaments.
"This team is truly a special group," Tigers head coach Nick Clinard said. "Not only are they athletically gifted, but they have a passion, work ethic and unity that rivals any team I've coached before. Each individual success is celebrated like a team success, and that is sometimes rare to see. Coach (Chris) Williams and I are thankful to have been able to lead these guys through an incredible fall, but as we all know, how you play in May is what matters most. We'll head back to Auburn and focus on being better players and people than we were yesterday."
Another heavy contributor for the team, junior J.M. Butler locked up the eighth top-five finish of his tenure with a solid back nine that consisted of a trio of birdies and no bogeys. Butler finished the tournament in third place.
"What an awesome finish to the fall season," Butler said. "Kudos to Brendan (Valdes) for the great performance this week. We all battled and continued to prove why we are one of the best teams in the country. We're ready to improve over the offseason and be ready to hit the ground running come spring."
Butler went low in all three of his outings on the week to raise his career total for below-par rounds to 38, now standing just four away from cracking the program's top-10 list.
Third on the Orange & Blue scoresheet for the event was senior Alex Vogelsong. The Palm City, Florida native picked up a 70 (-2) in his third round to fall to 210 (-6) for the tournament and place tied for fifth. Junior Carson Bacha checked in as the team's fourth player to finish inside the top-15 with an 11th place performance at 213 (-3). Bacha shot 68 (-4) on Tuesday.
Junior Ryan Eshleman finished at 57th with a 229 (+13) on the scorecard.
As the fall season comes to a close, Auburn boasts a 57-3 head-to-head record, including a 20-3 clip versus ranked opponents.
The team will return to competition Feb. 8-10, 2023 in Waikoloa, Hawai'i at the Amer Ari Invitational hosted by Hapuna Golf Club.
| Placement | Golfer | R1 | R2 | R2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | Brendan Valdes | 67 (-5) | 67 (-5) | 72 (E) | 206 (-10 |
| 3 | J.M. Butler | 68 (-4) | 69 (-3) | 71 (-1) | 208 (-8) |
| T5 | Alex Vogelsong | 66 (-6) | 74 (+2) | 70 (-2) | 210 (-6) |
| T11 | Carson Bacha | 72 (E) | 73 (+1) | 68 (-4) | 213 (-3) |
| 57 | Ryan Eshleman | 77 (+5) | 78 (+6) | 74 (+2) | 229 (+13) |
| 1 | TEAM | 273 (-15) | 283 (-5) | 281 (-7) | 837 (-27) |
Team Standings
1. No. 3 Auburn 837 (-27)
2. No. 11 Florida 849 (-15)
3. No. 9 Illinois 857 (-7)
4. Purdue 862 (-2)
T5. RV LSU 869 (+5)
T5. RV North Florida 869 (+5)
7. No. 22 Arizona 874 (+10)
8. Cal-Berkeley 879 (+15)
9. UCF 880 (+16)
10. South Carolina 881 (+17)
11. West Virginia 884 (+20)
12. Minnesota 889 (+25)
13. Utah 901 (+37)
14. UNLV 915 (+51)
15. Augusta 926 (+62)