Tag: Auburn golf

Auburn golf finishes off fall season with East Lake Cup Championship victory

The Tigers have now finished among the top three teams in every tournament so far this season.

The No. 2 ranked Auburn Tigers golf team continued their year-plus long run of dominance last weekend, ending the fall season by adding another trophy to this team’s ever growing resume. Led by sophomore sensation Jackson Koivun and seniors Carson Bacha and Ryan Eshlemen, the Tigers took down No. 11 Georgia Tech to claim the East Lake Cup Championship on Wednesday.

Auburn’s path to another championship was led by the same cast of characters that have provided pivotal moments on the links over the last two seasons for the Tigers. Senior Carson Bacha was the bright spot in stroke play, leading all Tigers, and finishing second among all golfers, with a 5-under-par to open the tournament. Jackson Koivun and senior Brendan Valdes weren’t quite as impressive as Bacha, but they did both shoot under par to help Auburn finish second (-7) in stroke play, setting up a matchup with the team they took down in the National Championship, Florida State, in the semi final round.

Valdes, along with seniors Ryan Eshleman and Josiah Gilbert, carried the Tigers from there, winning their respective match ups to help Auburn defeat the Seminoles by the same score (3-2) they did in last year’s Championship. Eshleman continued his fantastic week with another win in the final against Georgia Tech’s Aidan Trann, while Koivun and Bacha provided wins to help Auburn earn another 3-2 result in the final round.

The Tigers have now finished among the top three teams in every tournament so far this season. It is extremely possible Auburn re-claims the No. 1 ranking in the Polls before Koivun and company return to play in February.

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Josiah Gilbert takes home win at Valero Texas Collegiate

Gilbert’s 12-under par total helped him finish lead the No. 1 ranked Tigers to a tie for third on the team scoreboard in Texas.

For the second weekend in a row, an Auburn golfer has won a tournament. After uber-talented sophomore Jackson Koivun opened up the Tigers golf season with an individual victory at the Inverness Intercollegiate a week ago, fellow sophomore Josiah Gilbert captured his first ever win on the collegiate tour this weekend.

Gilbert’s 12-under par total helped him finish lead the No. 1 ranked Tigers to a tie for third on the team scoreboard in Texas. Led by Gilbert and Koivun, Auburn’s golf team has now finished in the top 3 in back-to-back tournaments to start the year and collected two individual wins. The defending national champions have seemingly not lost a step as they begin their title defense.

Head coach Nick Clinard has been proud of what he’s seen from his team, although he sees some room for improvement as well, and he reiterated that when speaking to the media after the tournament. “Top three in a field this stacked is always something to be proud of. We definitely left some shots out there…but I am proud of our overall effort and the way we finished strong today.”

That effort, led by Gilbert, will likely keep the Tigers ranked in the No. 1 spot before they return to Texas for the Ben Hogan Collegiate in Fort Worth next weekend. We’ll see if the Tigers can capture their first team win of the season in what could be an easier field starting next Saturday.

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Auburn golf alum Patton Kizzire wins Procore Championship

Kizzire captured his first win on the PGA Tour since 2018 at the SONY Open in Hawaii.

Auburn’s recent run of golf greatness extended beyond the collegiate game last weekend, as former Tiger Patton Kizzire took home the win at the Procore Championship in Napa Valley, California. Kizzire shot a tournament-best 20-under par in the victory, outlasting California native David Lipsey’s 15-under par for his third PGA Tour win.

The first-place finish was a long time coming for Kizzire, who last won a PGA Tour event in 2018 at the SONY Open in Hawaii. The win was his third top-10 finish of the season, and first since finishing in a tie for eight at the Barracuda Championship in July. Kizzire’s win vaulted him into the top 100 of the world golf rankings, as the Auburn alumni now sits at No. 99 heading into the final few tournaments of the season.

While the 38-year-old is unlikely to develop an end-of-career win streak, the momentum could help him climb towards his highest-ever ranking of No. 51 in the world, which he accomplished in 2018. Kizzire is likely going to take a week to enjoy the victory before a possible return to action when the PGA Tour makes its way down south for the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, MS on October 3.

If the longtime professional can manage back-to-back top-10 finishes, it could give him the momentum to compete for more championships when the Tour field expands next spring.

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Auburn sophomore Jackson Koivun wins Inverness Intercollegiate

Koivun shot 9-under par over the course of three days at the Inverness Intercollegiate in Ohio.

Following an extremely impressive freshman campaign in which he led Auburn golf to a national championship, sophomore Tiger Jackson Koivun flashed his dominance again, taking home the individual victory in his first tournament of the season on Tuesday.

Koivun shot 9-under par over the course of three days at the Inverness Intercollegiate in Ohio, including a 6-under par 63 in the opening round. Koivin’s dominance helped propel his team to a second place (+2) finish in the team portion of the tournament, behind only No. 6 Virginia (-2) in the field. The second place finish ended Auburn’s historic streak of seven-straight tournament wins to end last season.

Unfortunately for Auburn, the team loss will likely drop the defending champions from their current No. 1 ranking. Still, Koivun’s dominant outing shows he can carry this Tiger team to at least another opportunity at defending its 2023-2024 National Championship.

Koivun and teammates Brendan Valde, Josiah Gilbert, Carson Bacha, and Reed Lotter will look to start a new first-place streak when they travel to Texas to take part in the Valero Texas Collegiate next Saturday.

As for the star sophomore, Koivun now has 3 individual wins under his belt and should finish with many more by the end of his second collegiate campaign.

Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on  X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Brian on Twitter @TheRealBHauch

Auburn golf continues historic run as they head to NCAA Championship

Auburn golfers shot a combined 21 under par for the tournament, 8 strokes better than second place Virginia Tech’s 13 under.

The No. 1 ranked Auburn Tigers men’s golf team has had quite the season on the links. That season continued this week, as the Tigers paced the field at the Baton Rouge Regional to win their sixth straight tournament.

Auburn golfers shot a combined 21 under par for the tournament, 8 strokes better than second-place Virginia Tech’s 13 under and 21 strokes better than the final team to qualify, Ohio State.

While junior Brenden Valdes was the star of the tournament (-6), freshmen [autotag]Josiah Gilbert[/autotag] (-4) and [autotag]Jackson Koivun[/autotag] (-4) joined him in the individual top 5 in Baton Rouge. A solid top 15 showing from senior [autotag]J.M Butler[/autotag] (+1) was enough to offset a rough final round from junior [autotag]Carson Bacha[/autotag] (+6) to give the Tigers a comfortable tournament win.

Auburn’s golfers are rolling right now, and they’ll look to parlay the momentum into a National Championship at the Omni La Costa Champions Course in Carlsbad California starting on May 24. As the nation’s top-ranked team, the Tigers will certainly be one of the favorites to take home the trophy on May 29.

Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on  X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Brian on Twitter @TheRealBHauch

Auburn Morning Rush: Auburn sees great start to early signing period

Many programs on the Plains got better Wednesday thanks to the Early Signing Period.

Good morning Tiger fans, it is time for the Thursday edition of the Auburn Morning Rush.

In a time that is dominated by football and basketball, there were many programs around Auburn University that got better thanks to the early signing period.

The early signing period began on Wednesday, and many athletes made their commitments official. Today, we take a look at Women’s Basketball, Volleyball, and both Men’s and Women’s Golf teams.

Women’s Basketball signed two centers in this class, providing extra size for next season’s roster. Head coach Johnnie Harris is excited about the added height coming to the Plains.

“They both provide much-needed SEC size and skills that will help boost our program to the next level,” Harris said. “This is an instant impact class that we’ve needed to rebuild this program.”

Volleyball signed a great class as well, which includes two top-10 prospects from their respective states. As for Golf, the men’s team signs three players from the top 25, while women’s golf adds a valuable transfer from the Ivy League.

Get caught up on all of the latest signing day news in today’s Auburn Morning Rush.

Auburn Morning Rush: Gymnastics earns rings, Bruce Pearl to serve as Honorary Starter at Talladega

Basketball news, as well as interesting notes from Golf and Gymnastics headline today’s Auburn Morning Rush

Good morning, Tiger fans. It is time for another edition of the Auburn Morning Rush.

Today’s rush kicks off with Auburn Men’s Basketball news.  The Tigers have matched up with the West Virginia Mountaineers in this season’s SEC/Big 12 Challenge. We reveal what time this year’s battle will take place in late January.

The energetic atmosphere of a NASCAR race at Talladega Superspeedway will receive a boost on Sunday, as Bruce Pearl has been selected as the honorary starter for the YellaWood 500.

In Gymnastics news, the team finally received their Final Four rings after completing the most successful season in program history. In today’s rush, we take a look at the hardware that each athlete earned.

Finally, Auburn Golf had two representatives on the SEC Weekly honors list.

Take a deeper look into the world of Auburn Athletics with today’s Auburn Morning Rush.

Auburn Morning Rush: Tigers retain pitcher for upcoming season, NBA player visits facilities

An Auburn southpaw returns to the team in this edition of the Morning Rush:

There’s always something happening on the Plains.

Today, we have a pitcher Auburn will be very happy to have back after an exodus of players to the NBA draft. A former Tigers basketball player and top-five pick returned to campus on Monday, Auburn coach Bruce Pearl is hosting a camp he used to put on in his Tennessee days and Auburn men’s golf released its schedule for the upcoming 2023 season.

It can get hard to keep up with Auburn news as the work week blazes by, so we here at Auburn Wire like to do it for you — here is everything you may have missed in this edition of the Auburn Morning Rush:

Former Auburn golfer Andrew Kozan shares why he committed to Auburn over Clemson

Always love hearing why Auburn athletes committed to Auburn.

Former Auburn golfer Andrew Kozan recently shared the story of why he chose to attend Auburn University over Clemson.

Kozan appeared on the “Dad Bod Golf Pod” podcast and told the story. The former Tiger has found some recent success on the Korn Ferry Tour and among discussing that, he talked about his college days.

“I loved Clemson, was a huge fan…pretty sure I was going to Clemson.  I was in the store buying all the apparel. I was so sure, I ordered a custom Clemson yardage book with my name on it and the shipping was four to six weeks so by the time it came in, I was committed to Auburn. I still have it, my dad has it sitting around the house somewhere. But I loved Auburn from the second I got here.  The coaches were phenomenal, real nice people could tell they really cared about the program. The facilities are awesome too… the top 3 to top 5 in the country in my opinion. I just knew they had what it took to prepare for the next level of golf.

“Clemson was one of the first I visited. The coaches were awesome and I got a home vibe kinda like Auburn. I visited Auburn a week later. I liked it but got a better vibe from Clemson. But then, Corey (Corey Maggard) and Nick (Nick Clinard) showed a lot of interest in me and that made me switch a bit cause they were coming to every golf tournament showing interest and I felt like the Clemson coaches assumed I was going to pick them so they back off a bit before the decision was made and that made a huge impact on me.

“Corey (Corey Maggard) came down (to West Palm Beach, FL) and the next day I was gonna commit to Auburn but knew I needed to call the Clemson coaches first.  The joke was going to be that I call them and say, hey coach, I wanna be a tiger but the Auburn Tigers, not the Clemson Tigers, but I didn’t do that.”

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Former Auburn golfer talks about beating Alabama in dramatic fashion

Man… this is always fun to watch.

Wells Padgett had one of the most clutch moments you could think of while on The Plains.

The former Auburn golfer was a crucial part in beating Alabama in the SEC Championship than to a clutch walk-off putt that sealed the win.

He talked about his time at Auburn when he appeared on the “Dad Bod Golf Pod” podcast.

“I knew about three feet out it was tracking outside the right edge and I was like, yep, that’s money,” Padgett said when he was asked about his historic putt.

The former Auburn standout spent time talking about how awesome the support was from the Auburn fanbase. “It’s just really cool,” he said. “Auburn family really is a family.”

It’s always fun to hear why athletes pick to spend their collegiate careers at Auburn. They all seem to have a feeling as soon as they step on campus.

Padgett was no different.

He said, “I just loved everything about it, they checked the box on everything, and I just fell in love at first sight.”

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