Reigning national champion Auburn appears to have every intention of competing for another NCAA crown this spring.
The Tigers, also the reigning Southeastern Conference champion, rolled to their second straight team title, capturing the crown in the General James Hackler Championship, presented by Carolina Wealth Advisors, which wrapped up Tuesday at The Dunes Golf & Beach Club in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Behind individual champion Brendan Valdes, a senior from Orlando, Fla. and No. 8 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), Auburn, the top-ranked team in the latest Scoreboard, powered by clipped, rankings, led from start to finish to cruise to a 17-shot victory over a strong field.
The Tigers opened with a 10-under 278 over the 7,233-yard, par-72 Dunes layout, added a 4-under 284 in Monday’s second round and then blew away the competition with a sizzling 19-under 269 in the final round for a 33-under 931 total.
Valdes opened with a 5-under 67, matched par with a 72 in Monday’s second round and contributed a sizzling 7-under 65 to Auburn’s fast finish to edge Duke’s Ethan Evans, a junior from Mercer Island, Wash. and No. 47 in the WAGR, by a shot with a 12-under 204 total. It was Valdes’ third individual title in his college career.
Valdes was a quarterfinalist in last summer’s U.S. Amateur at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn.
Auburn had three finishers in the top three in the individual standings as Jackson Koivun, a sophomore from Chapel Hill, N.C. and No. 2 in the WAGR, and Josiah Gilbert, a sophomore from Australia and No. 22 in the WAGR, were among a group of four players tied for third place at 8-under 208, three shots behind Duke’s Evans.
Koivun teed it up in the PGA Tour’s Arnold Palmer Invitational at the Bay Hill Club in Orlando, Fla. earlier this month and played the weekend after making the cut. It was the third time Koivun has survived the 36-hole cut in four PGA Tour starts.
Koivun, winner of both the Fred Haskins and Ben Hogan awards that go to the player of the year in college golf for the wraparound 2023-2024 season, is closing in on joining his friend and rival, Florida State’s Luke Clanton, the No. 1 player in the WAGR, as an owner of a PGA Tour Card via the PGA Tour University program.
Sounds like both guys plan to play out the college season as Clanton and the Seminoles are hoping to avenge their loss to Koivun and the Tigers in the NCAA Championship’s Final Match at the La Costa Spa & Resort in Carlsbad, Calif. last spring.
In Myrtle Beach, Koivun added a 3-under 69 in Monday’s second round to his opening round of 1-under 71 before closing with a 4-under 68.
Gilbert matched par in Monday’s second round with a 72 after opening with a solid 3-under 69 and contributed a 5-under 67 to Auburn’s final-round surge.
Louisville, out of the Atlantic Coast Conference and No. 37 in the Scoreboard rankings, closed with an 11-under 277 to earn a solid runnerup finish with a 16-under 848 total. The Cardinals got off to a slow start as they opened with a 1-over 289 before adding a 6-under 282 in Monday’s second round.
Louisville was led by Sebastian Moss, a senior from Pearland, Texas who ended up in the group with Koivun and Gilbert tied for third place at 8-under. Moss posted back-to-back 2-under 70s in the first two rounds before closing with a 4-under 68.
Louisville failed to advance as an eight seed in the Baton Rouge Regional to last spring’s NCAA Championship at La Costa.
Louisville’s ACC rival Duke, No. 17 in the Scoreboard rankings, was another two shots behind the Cardinals in third place with a 14-under 850 total.
The Blue Devils only trailed Auburn by three shots following an opening round of 7-under 281, but struggled in Monday’s second round with a 2-over 290 before closing with a 9-under 279.
Evans led the way for Duke as he added a sizzling 6-under 66 in difficult conditions in Monday’s second round to his opening-round 69 and took a three-shot lead into the final round. A final round of 2-under 70 left him a shot behind Valdes in second place with an 11-under 205 total.
Evans was the runnerup in qualifying for match play in last summer’s U.S. Amateur at Hazeltine National and the Chaska Town Course.
Duke also received a bid to the Baton Rouge Regional last spring and failed to advance to the NCAA Championship as a five seed.
Another ACC entry, Wake Forest, No. 41 in the Scoreboard rankings, and Big 12 representative Baylor, No. 78 in the Scoreboard rankings, finished in a tie for fourth place, each ending up 12 shots behind Duke with a 2-under 562 total.
The Demon Deacons struggled in the opening round with a 5-over 293, but recorded a 3-under 285 in Monday’s second round and a 4-under 284 in the final round.
Wake Forest survived a playoff with BYU for the final berth to the NCAA Championship as a five seed in the Austin Regional last spring.
Baylor opened with a 2-under 282, struggled a little in the tough conditions in Monday’s second round with a 4-over 292 and matched par in the final round with a 288.
Baylor advanced to last spring’s NCAA Championship at La Costa by finishing in fifth place as a six seed in the Chapel Hill Regional.
Kent State, playing out of the Mid-American Conference and No. 74 in the Scoreboard rankings, finished five shots behind Wake Forest and Baylor in sixth place in the 16-team field with a 3-over 867 total.
The Golden Flashes opened with a 2-over 290 and added a 6-over 294 in Monday’s second round before closing with a solid 5-under 283.
Auburn ended up with five players among the top nine finishers in the individual standings as Ryan Eshleman, a redshirt senior from Birmingham, Ala., and Cayden Pope, a sophomore from Lexington, Ky. who was competing as an individual, landed among a group of four players tied for ninth place at 5-under 211.
Eshleman carded back-to-back 1-under 71s in the first two rounds before contributing a 2-under 69 to Auburn’s final-round surge.
Pope was just three shots behind Evans in the individual chase going into the final round after Pope signed for back-to-back 3-under 69s in the first two rounds. He closed with a 1-over 73.
Rounding out the Auburn lineup was redshirt senior Carson Bacha, the PIAA Class AAA champion in 2019 as a senior at Central York and No. 24 in the WAGR, as he finished among the group tied for 33rd place with a 2-over 218.
According to the Auburn website, Bacha was battling illness while opening with a 1-under 71 and adding a 1-over 73 in Monday’s second round before closing with a 2-over 74.
Bacha has been playing some tremendous golf as he led the Tigers to the team title in the Southern Highlands Collegiate in Las Vegas earlier this month with Koivun staying home to prepare for his Arnold Palmer Invitational start by finishing in second place in the individual standings. It was the third straight tournament in which Bacha was the low Tiger.
Bacha, Valdes, Koivun and Gilbert were all in the lineup in Auburn’s 3-2 victory over Florida State in the NCAA Championship’s Final Match at La Costa last spring.
Rounding out the quartet tied for third place in the individual standings at 8-under was Coast Carolina’s Max Bengstrom, a junior from Sweden. Bengstrom was only three shots out of the lead going into the final round after carding back-to-back 4-under 68s in the first two rounds. He closed with a 2-under 70.
Wake Forest’s Scotty Kennon, a senior from Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. and No. 82 in the WAGR, and East Tennessee State’s Kristian Bressum, a senior from Denmark, finished in a tie for seventh place, each landing on 6-under 210, two shots behind the foursome tied for third.
After matching par in the opening round with a 72, Kennon posted a 5-under 67 in Monday’s second round before closing with a 1-under 71. Bressum also matched par in the opening round with a 72 and added a 1-under 71 in Monday’s second round before finishing strong with a 5-under 67.
Joining Auburn’s Eshleman and Pope in the quartet tied for ninth place at 5-under 211 were Duke’s Bryan Kim, a sophomore from Brookeville, Md. and No. 100 in the WAGR, and North Florida’s Brett Schell, a sixth-year player from Saint Augustine, Fla.
Kim, winner of the U.S. Junior Amateur in 2023 at the Daniel Island Club in Charleston, S.C., recorded back-to-back 1-under 71s in the first two rounds before closing with a 3-under 69. Schell had identical splits as Kim, posting back-to-back 1-under 71s in the first two rounds and finishing up with a 3-under 69.
The North Carolina State lineup included freshman Hunter Stetson, winner of the Bert Linton Invitational for the Inter-Ac League’s individual championship in 2021 as a sophomore at Episcopal Academy.
Stetson posted back-to-back 5-over 77s in the first two rounds before closing with a 3-over 75 that left him in the group tied for 57th place at 8-over 224. Give the kid credit, though. He has worked his way into the lineup at an ACC school as a freshman.
The Wolfpack, No. 53 in the Scoreboard rankings, finished in ninth place in the General Hackler with a 10-over 874 total.
A couple of Pennsylvania scholastic standouts of recent vintage were in the lineup for Liberty, an Atlantic Sun Conference representative, and senior Josh Ryan, who represented Norristown as a high school golfer, and freshman Michael Lugiano, who starred at Lake Lehman, both landed among the group tied for 48th place in Myrtle Beach at 6-over 222.
Ryan, who finished in a tie for third place behind Bacha in the Class AAA state tournament at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York County in 2019, opened with a 3-over 75 at the Dunes and added a 1-over 73 in Monday’s second round before closing with a 2-over 74.
Lugiano, who capped an outstanding scholastic career by finishing in second place in the PIAA Class AA Championship in the fall of 2023 at Penn State, opened with a solid 2-under 70 at the Dunes and added a 2-over 74 in Monday’s second round before struggling a little in the final round with a 6-over 78.
Liberty, No. 110 in the Scoreboard rankings, finished in 15th place in the General Hackler with a 20-over 884 total.
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