CARLSBAD, Calif. – The reigning national champions hit the links for one final time this week as Auburn men’s golf looks to be the first program to win back-to-back national titles in over a decade as one of 30 programs set to compete at the 2025 NCAA Championship May 23-28 at the Omni La Costa Champions Course in Carlsbad, California.
“For this team, it comes down to having a lot of dog in you and having confidence,” Tigers head coach Nick Clinard said. “Having that will to win is key. It’s hard to put a finger on the X-factor, but you have to have that belief that you’re not going to lose.”
Auburn is the No. 1 overall seed this week and will begin Friday's opening round playing alongside No. 2 Oklahoma State and No. 3 Ole Miss. The group will go off the 10th tee beginning at 1:50 p.m. CT.
All 30 teams will duke it out in three rounds of stroke play Friday – Sunday. Following the third round, the field will be cut in half to the top 15 scoring squads who will play a fourth round Monday. After the completion of 72 holes of stroke play, the top eight teams will face off in match play with the quarterfinal and semifinal matches set for Tuesday and the championship finale slated for Wednesday.
Auburn rolls with the same lineup that ran away with a regional championship last week. Seniors Carson Bacha and Brendan Valdes and sophomores Josiah Gilbert, Jackson Koivun and Cayden Pope will be the starting five to begin the tournament. Four of the five were a part of the championship-clinching run last season. Pope is the only newcomer to Carlsbad, replacing J.M. Butler.
Senior Ryan Eshleman will make the trip and be available to substitute into the lineup following the completion of any round.
This season, the Tigers have already faced 25 of their 29 NCAA Championship opponents and boast a 66-12-1 head-to-head record against them. Auburn has the most wins versus RV Georgia Tech (6), No. 16 Vanderbilt (6), No. 22 Georgia (5), No. 11 Texas A&M (5), No. 23 Tennessee (4), No. 24 Texas Tech (4) and Wake Forest (4).
Its previous trip to the NCAA Championship proved to be the breakthrough one for Auburn as it claimed the program’s first national title one year ago. The Tigers shot 19-over in stroke play to earn the No. 6 seed for match play. Auburn defeated Virginia 3-1-1 in the quarterfinals and Ohio State 3-2 in the semis. A 3-2 win over Florida State in the finals clinched the title.
Back-to-back national championships have only been achieved twice in the last four decades, and just once over the last 14 years. Augusta won the 2010 and 2011 NCAA titles, followed by Alabama in 2013 and 2014.
Auburn has made four consecutive NCAA Championship appearances and has made 12 of the last 13 under Clinard. Prior to 2024, the Tigers’ lone match play appearance came in 2018. Auburn bested Oklahoma 3-2 in the quarterfinals before falling 3-2 to eventual national champion Oklahoma State in the semifinals.
In 1995, Chip Spratlin became the program’s first and, so far, only NCAA Individual Champion. At The Ohio State University Club in Columbus, Ohio, Spratlin carded a 1-under 283 to come out on top of a talented field that included a freshman named Tiger Woods.
The seeding for this year's championship is No. 1 Auburn, No. 2 Oklahoma State, No. 3 Ole Miss, No. 4 Texas, No. 5 Arizona State, No. 6 Oklahoma, No. 7 Florida, No. 8 Florida State, No. 9 Virginia, No. 10 Texas A&M, No. 11 Illinois, No. 12 UCLA, No. 13 Vanderbilt, No. 14 BYU, No. 15 South Carolina, No. 16 Pepperdine, No. 17 Georgia, No. 18 Tennessee, No. 19 Texas Tech, No. 20 Georgia Tech, No. 21 USF, No. 22 Colorado, No. 23 UNLV, No. 24 Purdue, No. 25 San Diego, No. 26 Wake Forest, No. 27 New Mexico, No. 28 Troy, No. 29 California and No. 30 Augusta.
Golf Channel will provide live coverage of the tournament starting at 5 p.m. CT on Monday and Wednesday and at 11:30 a.m. CT on Tuesday.
Fans wishing to purchase tickets for the tournament should click here.