No. 1 Auburn defeats Vanderbilt, wins SEC men’s golf championship
SEA ISLAND, Georgia. (WBRC) - You couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day in southern Georgia for the final match of the SEC men’s golf championship Sunday morning.
The Auburn Tigers, who are #1 in the country, were taking on the Vanderbilt Commodores, the #2 team in the country, for the chance to crown themselves as champions of the SEC. Auburn won the stroke play portion of the event before defeating Alabama and Arkansas in match play to advance to the championship match Sunday. Vanderbilt finished third in the stroke play event before defeating Florida and Texas A&M to advance to the finals.
The two teams teed off bright and early Sunday morning with Carson Bacha getting things started for the Tigers in their first match of the day at 7 a.m. CST.
It was a great start for the Tigers as they quickly had the advantage in almost all five matches on the front nine after a birdie from Carson Bacha.
However, Vanderbilt, who is consistently one of the top teams in the country, was not going to go away quietly. The Commodores got themselves back in the mix in two of the five matches before Auburn claimed the first point of the day.
Auburn star freshman Jackson Koivun was in complete control of his match all morning long en route to a 7&6 victory over Matthew Riedel.
Carson Bacha was able to hold onto his match coming down the stretch with a 1Up victory over William Moll after he made the clinching putt on the 18th green.
Auburn lost their first match of the day after Jackson Van Paris of Vanderbilt defeated Auburn’s Brendan Valdes 3&1.
With just two matches left on the course, the Tigers were looking for just one more point to win their first SEC Championship since 2018. The Tigers Josiah Gilbert held a 3Up lead on Birmingham native Gordon Sargent with three holes left to play while Cole Sherwood was up in his match over Auburn’s J.M. Butler.
Gilbert hit two fantastic shots on the 16th hole and had his birdie putt conceded to him, giving him the win in the match in what was was the final point that the Tigers were looking for to clinch the title.
“Wow, what a week,” said Auburn coach Nick Clinard said when speaking after the match. “Match play is so difficult, especially when you’re playing teams that have some of the best players in the world. We got on them early and we stayed there, we hung tough. Our guys were very motivated, they got some good rest last night.”
Next up for the Tigers? NCAA Regionals May 13-15.
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