SEC Match Play: Auburn edges out Vanderbilt in the championship match
9/27/2023 | by Justin Golba of AmateurGolf.com
see also: View results for SEC Fall Preview, Country Club of Birmingham - West Course
Extra holes were needed to determine a champion, but the Tigers came out on top thanks to clutch play from JM Butler.
Vanderbilt also finished runner-up in this event last year, falling to Tennessee in the championship match.
For Auburn, along with Butler, Ryan Eshleman secured wins in their matches. Koivun defeated Gordon Sargent of Vanderbilt in 19 holes.
For Vanderbilt, Matthew Riedel and Cole Sherwood won their matches to earn two points.
In the rest of the matches, all of the results finished 3-2. Texas A&M defeated Tennessee, Arkansas defeated Ole Miss, Alabama defeated Florida, Mississippi defeated LSU, Georgia defeated Missouri, and South Carolina defeated Kentucky.JM on 20!!
— Auburn Men's Golf (@AuburnMGolf) September 27, 2023
Auburn defeats Vanderbilt 3-2 🏆 pic.twitter.com/Rypi70FunR
Dunlap shot 15-under with rounds of 70-65-63, while Sargent finished at 14-under with rounds of 64-65-70.
Dunlap birdied No. 18 to win dramatically.
The victory is Dunlap's second collegiate win of his career and first of the season. He set personal-best marks this week for an 18-hole score with his round of 8-under 63 and 54-hole total score vs. par at 15-under.
Dunlap becomes the fifth Alabama golfer to card a round sub-200 score for a tournament and the first to do so since Robby Shelton achieved the feat in the 2015 Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate.
Dunlap's total of 198 is tied for the second-lowest 54-hole tournament total in Alabama school history, second only to Bobby Wyatt's school record of 192 in the 2014 SEC Championship.
Brendan Valdes of Auburn finished in solo third place at 12-under, and JM Butler and Phichaksn Maichon of Texas A&M finished T4 at 11-under.
Results: SEC Fall Preview
| Place | Player | Location | Pts | Scores |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntsville, AL | 700 | 70-65-63=198 | |
| 2 | Mountain Brook, AL | 500 | 64-65-70=199 | |
| 3 | Orlando, FL | 400 | 69-63-69=201 | |
| T4 | Louisville, KY | 400 | 66-67-69=202 | |
| T4 | Beverly Hills, CA | 400 | 65-68-69=202 |
About the SEC Fall Preview
Men's college match play tournament, with each team match consisting of five individual matches. A player match win is worth 1 point, and a tie is worth 1/2, and the winning team is the one with the most points in the five player matches. 54 holes of...
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