Auburn did not win the Southeastern Conference Championship, falling in the match-play semifinals. The Tigers finished in third place in the NCAA Athens Regional.
No, Auburn, the No. 1 team in the Scoreboard, powered by clippd, rankings, saved its best stuff for when it mattered the most, the NCAA Championship at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa’s North Course in Carlsbad, Calif.
Auburn claimed the top seed in 72 holes of qualifying for match play and then capped a 3-0 run through the match-play bracket at La Costa Wednesday with a 4-1 victory over plucky UCLA, the Big Ten champion and No. 30 in the Scoreboard rankings, in the NCAA Championship’s Final Match as the Tigers claimed the national crown for the second time in three years.
“It brings tears to my eyes,” Auburn head coach Nick Clinard told the Auburn website. “I love them so much and I love Auburn and our program. I am very gratified. Our guys just kept doing what they’re doing. We played some really good golf this week right from the start in the first round.
“It was windier today and probably the windiest day we’ve had since we’ve been here. I knew that we were good ball-strikers.”
It is a lot of golf. You play four rounds of stroke play and then three more rounds of match play in two days of the most pressure-packed environment that college golf offers.
Auburn dethroned defending champion Oklahoma State in Tuesday’s semifinals. The Tigers were greeted by an unexpected opponent in the Final Match in UCLA. And while the Bruins were as feisty as they’ve been all week in their run to the Final Match, they just couldn’t quite match Auburn’s talent and experience.
Yes, Auburn had experience with Jackson Koivun, a junior from Chapel Hill, N.C. and the No. 1 player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), and Josiah Gilbert, a junior from Millbrook, Ala. and No. 12 in the WAGR, having both been in the lineup when Auburn captured the program’s first national championship over Florida State in the Final Match two springs ago at La Costa.
But just as Koivun and Gilbert had been the precocious freshmen two years ago, Auburn got huge contributions from a pair of freshmen this spring.
Jake Albert of Blacksburg, Va. put the first point on the board Wednesday for Auburn as he capped a 3-0 run through the match-play bracket with a 5 and 3 victory over Taylor Loree, a freshman from Kula, Hawaii.
Koivun put the Tigers on the brink of the title by finishing off a 4 and 3 decision over Baylor Larrabee, a sophomore from Ferndale, Wash. who had been UCLA’s best player all week.
Then it was another freshman, Logan Reilly of Lovettsville, Va., who put Auburn over the top by earning a 1-up victory over Alex Papayoanou, a junior from The Woodlands, Texas, in the most entertaining match of the day.
Papayoanou is the most maddening of match-play opponents as he was getting it up and down from everywhere, arriving at the tee at the par-5 finishing hole all square with Reilly.
But a poor drive by Papayoanou opened the door for Reilly and his par at the last capped a 3-0 run for him in match play and clinched the crown for Auburn.
Clinard had entrusted Cayden Pope, a junior from Lexington, Ky. and No. 47 in the WAGR, with the anchor position and he had a 4-up lead with four holes to play over Kyle An, a senior from Alisa Viejo, Calif., when Reilly assured the outcome in Auburn’s favor.
But Pope showed he was there, just in case.
UCLA’s lone point was awarded to Josh Kim, a freshman from Danville, Calif. and the Big Ten’s individual champion, as he had a 3-up lead over Gilbert through 14 holes when the overall match was decided.
Gilbert, though, had been Auburn’s most consistent player all week, finishing in third place in 72 holes of stroke play and claiming a pair of match-play wins in Tuesday’s quarterfinal and semifinal victories.
It has clearly been Koivun who has been in the middle of the most successful era of Auburn golf.
He won the SEC individual crown by a whopping seven shots at the Sea Island Golf Club’s Seaside Course on St. Simons Island, Ga. and was named the winner of the Fred Haskins Award that honors the Player of the Year in men’s college golf for a second time in three years Tuesday.
Koivun has proven he can compete on the PGA Tour in several forays on the biggest stage in professional golf.
Koivun participated in the practice session for candidates for the United States team for this year’s Walker Cup Match at Lahinch in Ireland. We’re certainly looking forward to seeing him tee it up in the U.S. Amateur this summer at Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course in our backyard in the Ardmore section of Haverford Township.
But it wouldn’t be a total shock to see him turn pro sooner rather than later. If, however, he decides to play out his senior season with the Tigers, well, back-to-back titles for Auburn would certainly be in play.
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