Auburn's Clinard seeks 12th trip to NCAA finals
Defending national men’s golf champion Auburn will begin its postseason run at home, while Alabama and Troy will be on the road in their quest to dethrone the Tigers.
Auburn was given the overall No. 1 seed for the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship and will host the Auburn Regional May 12-14 at the Auburn University Club.
Alabama begins its men’s national tournament on the road at the Reno Regional as a No. 3 seed. Troy, of the Sun Belt Conference, heads to Illinois for the Urbana Regional.
There are six regional tournaments, with the top five teams advancing to the national tournament in California at the Omni La Costa Champions Course May 23-28.
The other three regional sites are Poplar Grove GC, Amherst, Virginia (Host: Liberty); Gold Mountain GC, Bremerton, Washington (Host: Washington); and Tallahassee, Florida (Host: Florida State).
In addition to the three state teams headed to regional competition, South Alabama’s Hyggo Thyr and North Alabama’s Xing Luo earned invitations as individuals. Thyr will play in the Florida State regional, while Luo will play in Auburn’s regional. Luo is the first UNA player to qualify for the national tournament since the school moved from NCAA Division II to Division I in 2018.
“We’re excited about playing at home,” Auburn coach Nick Clinard said. “We get to sleep in our own bed, and we’re familiar with the golf course. We look forward to having our fans out there cheering us on as we compete to make it back to California.”
Clinard’s expected lineup will be the same five that saw action last week at the SEC Championship — seniors Carson Bacha and Brendan Valdes and sophomores Josiah Gilbert, Jackson Koivun and Cayden Pope.
Senior Ryan Eshleman will begin the week as the sixth reserve player; however, postseason substitution rules will be in effect, allowing for the substitution of any individual into the lineup following the completion of a round.
In its 14 previous tournament berths under Clinard, Auburn has advanced to the NCAA Championship 11 times.
Auburn beat Florida State 3-2 in the 2024 national championship match.
Alabama is bound for Reno
Alabama is coming off a seventh-place finish in the stroke-play portion of the SEC Championship. After winning their quarterfinal match in match play, the Crimson Tide fell to Texas A&M in the semifinals.
Coach Jay Seawell’s team will play at Montreux G&CC in Reno, Nevada. The regional is hosted by the University of Nevada. Reno. It will be the Tide’s 14th NCAA appearance during Seawell’s tenure. Alabama has two national championships and two national runners-up under Seawell.
Alabama’s expected lineup for the regional likely will remain the same as it was for the SEC Tournament. Dominic Clemons, Connor Brown, Nick Gross, Jonathan Griz and Jones Free will represent the Tide in Reno.
Troy returns to NCAA Championship
Troy heads back to the NCAA Championship for the first time since 2017 after earning an at-large bid. The Trojans are a No. 9 seed and will tee it up at the Atkins Golf Club in Urbana, Ill.
The Trojans enter the NCAA regionals ranked No. 51 after putting together the best all-around season out of the Sun Belt. Troy won a pair of events as a team for the first time since 2017, led by All-Sun Belt First Team selections Brantley Scott and Jake Springer.
“I am super excited for the guys,” second-year coach Clay Bounds said. “We knew we were going somewhere, but finally knowing where is a good feeling. This team has worked hard all year; we’re going to continue that work at regionals, and if everything goes our way, make it to the NCAA Championship.”
The No. 9 seed is the highest in Troy’s Division I history after the Trojans came in as the No. 10 seed in 2015 and 2016 and the No. 11 seed in 2017. While not qualifying as a team for the NCAA Championship any of the three seasons, Troy has had an individual advance out of the NCAA Regional in 2015 – Tolver Dozier – and 2016 – Cam Norman.
Bounds became the first Troy coach to earn Sun Belt Men’s Golf Coach of the Year honors in program history as the Trojans set a program record with a 286.79 stroke average and 0.24 score vs. par this season.
Troy’s Regional appearance is its first since qualifying three straight years in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
Featured image of the Troy Men’s Golf Team courtesy of Troy University Athletics
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