Auburn, No. 10 in the latest Golfstat rankings, has to be considered a legitimate contender for
a national championship.
The Tigers have displayed plenty of match-play chops, first
in winning the Southeastern Conference championship by defeating arch-rival
Alabama in the final last spring and
then making it all the way to the semifinals in the NCAA Championship at
Karsten Creek Golf Club before falling to eventual champion Oklahoma State.
Alabama got a rematch with Auburn in the final of the East
Lake Cup as the fall portion of the 2018-’19 neared its conclusion and the
Tigers again knocked off the Crimson Tide to capture the title.
They shot 37-under par in their spring opener, The Amer Ari
Invitational in Hawaii, but that left them 10 shots behind Oklahoma State,
which carded an otherworldly 47-under total to claim the team title. But Auburn
proved it has a pretty potent stroke-play team.
If you’re not one of the eight teams that survives stroke
play in the NCAA Championship at The Blessing Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark.,
it doesn’t matter how good a match-play team you have.
Auburn was the host this week for the Tiger Invitational,
presented by Jason Dufner, which wrapped up Tuesday at the Grand National Golf
Course in Opelika, Ala. You would expect Auburn to win the title and it did,
but there was some decent competition there and the Tigers played pretty well.
Maybe even more impressive is that the five-man Auburn B
team finished tied for sixth, 26 shots behind the starting lineup, in the
16-team field. If anyone in the top five falters, there are some pretty good
players willing and able to step in. It is the kind of depth only the top
programs possess.
Auburn struggled a little in the opening round with a 5-over
293, but then fired a pair of 8-under 280s over the 7,289-yard, par-72 Grand
National layout for an 11-under 853 total. That was 10 shots clear of No. 6
SMU, which closed with a solid 7-under 281 to finish second with a 1-under 863
total.
The Tigers were led by Brandon Mancheno, a sophomore from
Jacksonville, Fla. who was so strong as a freshman during their run to the NCAA
semifinals last spring. Mancheno made a birdie on the 17th hole to
catch Kennesaw State’s Wyatt Larkin, a redshirt senior from Morganton, Ga., at
4-under 212 and force a playoff.
Mancheno then dropped a 12-foot par putt on the first hole
of the playoff to claim the individual title. Mancheno opened with a 2-over 74,
but got in the hunt with a 4-under 68 in Monday’s second round. He finished up
with a 2-under 70 to get it to 4-under.
No. 96 South Alabama finished up with a 1-under 287 in the
second round and an even-par 288 in the final round to end up alone in third at
8-over 872, nine shots behind runnerup SMU.
No. 21 Arkansas State had grabbed the opening-round lead
with a solid 5-under 283 before falling back with a 300 in the second round and
a final-round 290 to finish a shot behind South Alabama in fourth at 9-over
873. No. 63 Kennesaw State, behind Larkin’s strong showing, closed with a solid
7-under 281 to finish fifth at 14-over 878, five shots behind Arkansas State.
No. 81 North Carolina Wilmington, the reigning Colonial
Athletic Association champion, shared sixth place with the Auburn B team at
15-over 879, a shot behind Kennesaw State. UNC Wilmington bounced back from a
shaky 301 in the opening round with a pair of 1-over 289s in the last two
rounds. Auburn’s B team matched par in the final round with a 288 to get its
share of sixth.
Backing up Mancheno for the Tigers was Trace Crowe, a senior
from Bluffton, S.C. who finished up with a sparkling 5-under 67 to end up alone
in seventh place at 2-under 214, just two shots behind Mancheno and Larkin.
Jovan Rebula, a junior from South Africa and No. 37 in the
World Amateur Golf Ranking, gave Auburn three players in the top 10 as he ended
up among the group tied for 10th at even-par 216. Rebula, the nephew
of Ernie Els and winner of The Amateur Championship at Royal Aberdeen Golf Club
last summer, bounced back from an opening-round 74 with a 3-under 69 before
finishing up with a 1-over 73.
Graysen Huff, a junior from Eagle, Idaho, carded a 2-under
70 in the final round to finish among the group tied for 17th at
2-over 218. Jacob Solomon finished up with a 2-over 74 to end up in the group
tied for 25th at 4-over 220. But the pair of 1-over 73s Solomon
posted in the first two rounds were both counters.
Mancheno, Crowe and Rebula were all in the starting lineup
when Auburn fell to Oklahoma State in the NCAA semifinals at Karsten Creek.
Andrew Kozan, a sophomore from West Palm Beach, Fla., led
the way for Auburn’s second five as he landed in the group tied for 12th
at 1-over 217. Kozan carded an impressive 3-under 69 in the second round before
closing with a 1-over 73.
Larkin opened with an even-par 72 and added a 1-under 71
before finishing up with a 3-under 69 to get in the playoff with Mancheno.
Georgia State’s Josh Edgar, a junior from Australia, owned a
four-shot lead over Mancheno heading into Tuesday’s final round after opening
with a 4-under 68 and adding a 2-under 70 in the second round. He fell back in
the final round with a 3-over 75 and headed a group of four players tied for
third at 3-under 213, a shot behind Mancheno and Larkin.
SMU had a pair of players, Mac Meissner, a sophomore from
San Antonio, Texas, and Noah Goodwin, a sophomore from Corinth, Texas, in that
foursome tied for third at 3-under 213 and both finished strong, sparking the
Mustangs to their closing 7-under team score.
Meissner fired a 5-under 67 in the final round and Goodwin,
who won the 2017 U.S. Junior Championship at Flint Hills National Golf Club in
Andover, Kan., posted a 4-under 68. Goodwin was the American Junior Golf
Association’s Rolex Player of the Year in 2017 and joined the SMU program after
the midseason break last year.
Rounding out the quartet at 3-under 213 was Louisiana
Monroe’s Guillaume Fanonnel, a junior from France who fired a pair of 3-under
69s after opening up with a 3-over 75.
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