AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn men's golf's road to a national title will run through Athens, Georgia, as the Tigers have been appointed the national No. 1 seed for the third straight season and will begin their championship push at the NCAA Regional hosted by the University of Georgia Golf Course from May 18-20.
“I’ve never been to this course before, and none of our guys have played there, so we certainly have a new challenge ahead of us,” head coach Nick Clinard said. “Everything in life is earned, much less golf, so we’ll have to go there and play well to get through.”
Thirteen teams and 10 individuals will battle it out in the three-day stroke-play tournament for a ticket to the sport's biggest stage. The low five teams and low individual from a non-advancing team will receive bids to the National Championship at the Omni La Costa Champions Course set for May 29 - June 3, in Carlsbad, California.
Auburn will begin Monday's round of competition playing alongside No. 12 Illinois and No. 13 Vanderbilt with the first tee time set for 8 a.m. ET. Spectators are welcome as attendance is free all three days of the regional.
Teeing it up for the Tigers will be the same five that suited up for the SEC Championship — juniors Josiah Gilbert, Jackson Koivun and Cayden Pope and freshmen Jake Albert and Logan Reilly.
Sophomore Billy Davis will travel to Athens as the reserve player; however, postseason rules allow for the substitution of any individual into the lineup prior to the start of any round.
In its 15 previous tournament berths under Clinard, Auburn has advanced to the NCAA Championship 12 times, including each of its last four attempts.
Last season, Auburn dominated on its home trek, shooting 32-under-par to win by 27 strokes, which was the second largest margin-of-victory in NCAA Regionals history. A then sophomore Koivun became Auburn’s first low medalist at a regional in 35 years with his 12-under performance.
In order, the complete regional field in Athens this year includes No. 1 Auburn, No. 12 Illinois, No. 13 Vanderbilt, No. 24 BYU, RV Georgia (host), Louisville, Kansas, Northwestern, College of Charleston, Rice, Southern Miss, Harvard and Howard.