Auburn men’s golf misses NCAA Championship cut by one stroke

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EUGENE, Ore. (auburntigers.com)– No. 9 Auburn men’s golf missed the 15-team cut for the final round of stroke play in the NCAA Championship by a shot on Sunday at the Eugene (Ore.) Country Club.

The Tigers tied for 19^th with a three-round 28-over 294-281-293—868 as they dropped 12 shots on the final five holes. Auburn entered the third round in a five-way tie for 15^th after climbing 12 spots after the first round.

“We had it rolling there for a while through 13 holes, and the par 5 15^th killed us,” said Auburn head coach Nick Clinard of the Tigers. “We just have to get better emotionally. We have to putt better.

“There is no excuse for the doubles we made coming down the stretch, and those guys need to address it this summer. We are going to get better this summer, and our goal next year is to make match play.”

Junior All-SEC Matt Gilchrest tied for 20^th at 3-over 71-69-73—213 finishing with back-to-back birdies on the 17^th and 18^th after a triple bogey on the par 3 14^th, as his tee shot headed straight for the hole but fell just short of the green into the water.

Senior All-SEC Michael Johnson, who is a semifinalist for the Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus Awards, tied for 50^th at 6-over 74-70—72—216. The Birmingham, Ala., native set the Auburn single-season school record with a 70.37 stroke average.

Freshman All-SEC Jacob Solomon tied for 62^nd at 7-over 73-71-73—217 while Will Long tied for 118^th at 78-71-75—224 and All-American Ben Schlottman tied for 125^th at 76-74-75—225 with a pair of double bogeys on the 15^th and 18^th.

No. 8 Vanderbilt leads at 5-over 283-280-282—845 followed by No. 2 Texas (289-281-277—847), No. 3 Southern California (283-282-285—850), No. 12 LSU (286-282-283—851), No. 20 Oregon (291-277-284—852), No. 21 Arkansas (282-284-289—855), No. 7 Arizona State (290-281-286—857), No. 11 California (287-284-287—858), No. 5 Oklahoma State (285-289-285—859), No. 4 Illinois (290-280-289—859), Kentucky (289-286-288—863), No. 19 South Carolina (287-285-293—865) and No. 16 Florida (286-287-293—866) in 13^th.

A five-way tie for 14^th for two spots was claimed by Louisville (291-282-294—867) and No. 18 Oklahoma (290-288-289—867), which won in a fifth-player score playoff while TCU (282-299-286—867), No. 10 Clemson (291-284-292—867) and No. 6 Georgia (291-284-292-867) were eliminated.

Auburn tied for 19^th with No. 13 Florida State (285-294-289—868) and Houston (296-287-285—868) ahead of Virginia (292-294-283—869), No. 14 Wake Forest (289-289-293—871), No. 17 Alabama (290-279-302—871), No. 22 San Diego State (283-292-297—872), No. 15 South Florida (291-294-291—876), Baylor (293-296-291—880), No. 1 Stanford (292-294-298—884), Purdue (299-305-294—898) and UAB (294-305-303—902).

Oregon’s Aaron Wise holds the individual lead at 6-under and has a three-shot lead over Vanderbilt’s Matthias Schwab and Texas’ Beau Hossler.

Finals play for the 30-team field consisted of three days of stroke play, after which the top 15 teams and nine individuals not on an advancing team will be determined. That is followed by a final day of 18 holes of stroke play on Monday to determine the top eight teams that will advance to match play as well as the 72-hole individual champion.

The team national champion will be determined by a match-play format that will consist of quarterfinals and semifinals conducted on Tuesday, followed by the finals on June 1. The Golf Channel will televise the NCAA Championship from Mondaythrough Wednesday.