COLUMBUS, Ga. – Three members of the Auburn men’s golf team, Josiah Gilbert, Jackson Koivun and Brendan Valdes, have been named to the final fall watch list for the 2025 Fred Haskins Award presented by Stifel, as announced by the Haskins Foundation and Golf Channel Tuesday.
Dating back to 1971, the Haskins Award is given annually to the top male U.S. collegiate golfer as voted on by only college golfers, coaches and members of the golf media. Past winners of the Haskins have captured 33 major championships and more than 400 professional tournaments around the world.
Last spring, Koivun became the first Auburn player to be named a Haskins winner. He was also the first freshman to earn the honor in over a decade.
Auburn leads this year’s 23-man watch list as one of five schools with multiple representatives and as the only program with three. Arizona, LSU, Texas and UCLA also have multiple players on the list.
Gilbert led the Tigers through the fall season with an impressive 70.08 scoring average over his 13 rounds of competition. The sophomore from Australia captured his first collegiate win at the Valero Texas Collegiate in late September and concluded the fall with three straight top-15 outings.
Gilbert also secured the match-winning point in the semifinals of the East Lake Cup against Florida State with a 2&1 win over Carson Brewer.
Koivun started his sophomore season with a bang, coming out on top as the low medalist in the season-opener at the Inverness Intercollegiate. Over 13 rounds, he’s amassed a 70.54 stroke average with the aid of 46 birdies.
Koivun closed the fall with back-to-back top-15 showings at The Williams Cup and The East Lake Cup. At East Lake, Koivun clinched the trophy for the Tigers with the third and final point against Georgia Tech via a 2&1 defeat of reigning national individual champion Hiroshi Tai.
Auburn’s most consistent performer of the fall, Valdes, has finished inside the top 20 in all five events of the season. His best outing was a 6-under, runner-up finish at the Ben Hogan Collegiate.
At the Hogan, Valdes also set a new program record with his 19th career top-10 finish.
Halfway through his final season on The Plains, the senior from Orlando, Florida owns a 70.46 scoring average along with a team-leading 52 birdies and one eagle.
No. 3 Auburn returns to action in early February at the Amer Ari Invitational in Waikoloa, Hawai’i.