Brendan Valdes, Jackson Koivun, and company finished their opening rounds a collective 2-under par at Omni La Costa.
The Auburn golf team may not have flashed the dominance it did in the Regional Round of the NCAA Tournament, but the Tigers started their bid for back-to-back NCAA Championships in solid fashion on Friday. Brendan Valdes, Jackson Koivun, and company finished their opening rounds a collective 2-under par at Omni La Costa in Carlsbad, California. The score placed the Tigers within the top five programs on the leaderboard entering the weekend.
Valdes (-3) was the best Tiger of the opening round, as the senior from Orlando was a magician with his putter throughout the day, knocking home 5 birdie putts on his way to a team-best 69 scorecard. Jackson Koivun was nearly as impressive, but an unfortunate double bogey on the par-4 No. 15 hole, a hole which Valdes birdied, spoiled an otherwise great round for the sophomore.
Fellow sophomore Josiah Gilbert finished with the same score (-1) as Koivun, albeit in much calmer fashion. While the SEC Golfer of the Year’s scorecard, specifically on the back nine, lit up like a Christmas tree thanks to 5 birdies, 2 bogeys, and a double bogey, Gilbert simply hum-hoed his way to 15 pars. After an uncharacteristic bogey on the par-5 No. 2 hole, Gilbert finished his round with 2 birdies and 14 pars on his final 16 holes.
Freshman Cayden Pope (+5) and redshirt senior Carson Bacha (+3) did not fair nearly as well in their opening rounds. Pope, who was the first Tiger to tee off on Friday, managed just 2 birdies in an attempt to offset 4 bogeys and a double bogey. Bacha, who notoriously starts his tournaments slow, didn’t manage a single birdie during his round which featured 15 pars and 3 bogeys.
The Tigers collective score of 2-under par put them in a tie for fifth place on the leaderboard with a a pair of other teams. Oklahoma (-8) led the way after day one, while last year’s national runner-up Florida State (-3), finished in a tie for second place with Florida and Texas. Arizona State and Illinois finished tied with Auburn at 2-under par.
Friday’s result put Auburn in prime position to reach Monday’s final round of group play, where the top 15 teams on the leaderboard will battle it out for the final eight spots in the Quarterfinal Match Play round on Tuesday.
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