AUBURN, Ala. – No. 2 Auburn men’s golf picks up fall competition this week, Oct. 20-22, at The Williams Cup at Eagle Point Golf Club in Wilmington, North Carolina.
“We’ve played some good golf this fall, but we’ve yet to really play our best,” Tigers head coach Nick Clinard said. “These guys want to earn another win. They’re competitors. No one out here is going to hand it to us, so we’re going to have to work hard and play smart if we want to take it home.”
Representing the Orange & Blue in Wilmington are seniors Carson Bacha and Brendan Valdes, sophomores Josiah Gilbert, Jackson Koivun and Cayden Pope and freshmen Billy Davis and Tyler Spielman. Pope and Spielman will play as individuals for the week.
This week marks the second consecutive appearance for the Tigers at the Williams Cup. Last season, Auburn shot 7-over 871 to finish second behind host North Carolina at 11-under 835. Valdes was the team’s low man with a sixth-place, 1-under performance.
Through three fall events, Valdes leads the lineup with a perfect, three consecutive top-20 outings. At the last tournament, the Ben Hogan Collegiate, Valdes set a new program record with the 19th top 10 finish of his career. Davis, Gilbert, Koivun and Valdes each have one top five finish as well. Koivun earned his third career win to open the year at the Inverness Intercollegiate while Gilbert was low medalist for the first time as a Tiger at the Hogan.
In addition to the No. 2 Tigers, this week’s field includes No. 3 Arizona State, No. 9 Florida, No. 10 North Carolina, No. 23 Notre Dame, RV Louisville, Augusta, Missouri, New Mexico, NC State, North Florida and UNC Wilmington.
Auburn opens the tournament playing alongside the Sun Devils and Tar Heels in Sunday’s first set of 18 holes. Bacha kickstarts 10-minute tee intervals at 8:05 a.m. CT from hole 1.
Live scoring for the 2024 Williams Cup presented by STITCH Golf can be found at Golfstat.com.