ATHENS, Ga. – Auburn men’s golf stands in third place at 14-under-par following Tuesday’s Regional round at the University of Georgia Golf Course, where the No. 1 Tigers shot 7-under for the second consecutive day.
Following Wednesday’s final round, the top five teams will earn a spot at the 2026 NCAA Championship, set for May 29 – June 3 at the Omni LaCosta Champions Course in Carlsbad, California. Auburn currently stands four shots ahead of sixth place.
“We’ve hit a lot of good shots; the guys are playing well, but we aren’t making any putts,” Tigers head coach Nick Clinard said. “We’ve got to flip that switch and start making those. Once we do that, I have a feeling we’ll get on a roll.”
No. 13 Vanderbilt used a 15-under day to climb into the leading position. The Commodores hold at 22-under through 36 holes. Louisville sits five shots ahead of Auburn at 19-under.
All five Auburn players shot even par or better in Tuesday’s middle round, with three men – Josiah Gilbert, Jake Albert and Jackson Koivun – all going subpar.
Gilbert continues to pace the Tigers as he sits in third at 9-under. He shot 68 (-3) with 34s on the front and back.
“I kind of scrapped it around pretty good today,” Gilbert said. “I didn’t have much working for me. I hit some poor iron shots, one of them cost me a double, but I made a couple putts when I needed to.”
Albert responded from a suboptimal performance on Monday with a great 68 (-3) of his own on Tuesday. He birdied 16 and 17 coming in to get himself back to even for the week. Koivun shot 70 (-1) for the second round in a row to bring his total to 2-under. He made 15 pars with birdies on the par-5 seventh and the par-5 17th.
Junior Cayden Pope and freshman Logan Reilly also matched their scores from the previous day with two 71s (E). Reilly played the front at +3 but quickly made three birdies after making the turn, on holes 10, 11 and 12, to erase his earlier mistakes. Pope also went birdieless on the front but found a pair on 12 and 14 to finish on a high.
For Wednesday’s deciding round, Auburn once again tees off the first hole in 11-minute intervals starting at 8 a.m. ET. The Tigers are set to play with the Cardinals and Commodores again.
Live scoring for the 2026 NCAA Athens Regional can be found at scoreboard.clippd.com.