AUBURN, Ala. – College golf's No. 1 team, the Auburn Tigers, continue their fall slate this week, Oct. 9-10, at The Williams Cup presented by STITCH at Eagle Point Golf Club in Wilmington, North Carolina. The tournament features a 10-team field, half of which are ranked or receiving votes.
To walk out with its third consecutive tournament title, Auburn will not only have to beat the host school, No. 2 North Carolina, but it will also need to outplay No. 6 Arizona State, Elon, No. 17 Florida, Louisville, Missouri, NC State, RV North Florida and UNCW.
Teams will play 36 holes on Monday, following by the final 18 on Tuesday.
"You can't ask for much more this week," Tigers head coach Nick Clinard said. "We're playing on a great course against some great competition, and we're supposed to have some great weather. The fall season is about having fun, learning about your game and connecting with your teammates, so this is a wonderful opportunity for that."
Auburn's top five this week are seniors J.M. Butler and Alex Vogelsong, junior Brendan Valdes, sophomore Reed Lotter and freshman Jackson Koivun. Butler, Valdes, Lotter and Koivun all contributed to the Tigers' previous pair of wins in stroke play and match play at the SEC Fall Preview a week ago.
Koivun was awarded as the SEC Freshman of the Week after carding the low score by any freshman in the field at 9-under. He followed his hot stroke play outing with a defeat of Gordon Sargent on the first hole of a playoff to secure a crucial point in Auburn's 3-2 match win over Vanderbilt.
Butler, Valdes and Koivun have led the charge to open the season as all three have finished inside the top-10 of both respective tournaments' individual leaderboards.
Vogelsong is set to play in the 41st tournament of his storied career this week. He opened his fifth-year season earlier in the month at the Maui Jim Individual by shooting a career-low 10-under to finish tied for sixth overall.
Also making the trip to Wilmington are senior Ryan Eshleman and freshman Josiah Gilbert. Both players will compete as individuals at The Williams Cup. Their scores will not count toward the team's total; however, they will still be in contention for the individual championship.
Live scoring for The Williams Cup can be found at Golfstat.com. A shotgun start at 7:30 a.m. CT will kickstart the day. The Tigers will tee off on holes 1-4. Auburn will play alongside North Carolina and Arizona State for the opening two rounds.
